There are no tank de-icers in Germany

I've been looking - prove me wrong if you can! For the first time I'm considering buying a frozen water trough solution. I've always been leery of tank de-icers but now I have a fish aquarium and I reach my hand right in there all the time without any thought, so maybe I'm over it.


I don't have much of a network to inquire around. But what are the available solutions for frozen horse water in this country? Since the next 4 months will be Winter Hell, I want to do this right this year. Last year my home-made bucket insulator (towels, foam) worked really well, but now I have two animals needing water.

First I went to my normal online horsey shops, and agri shops (cattle), and found their solutions are mainly heated automatic waterers, which rely on a water supply.

They also sell these very expensive paddock troughs, thick plastic, with or without floating balls, for 500-1000Euros.

They all carry supplies for making the typical automatic waterer (both indoor and out) frost-free.

Here are some outdoor ones I found today in a cattlefield.

Trailer tanks are often used, I've blogged about them before. This company sells insulated ones! Apparently they work without electricity.






Just for fun I went to some American sites and priced tank de-icers. 20-30$. Ugh! I'm trying to fathom why they don't exist here. I think it might have something to do with the power - we are on 220V and America uses 110. But adaptors (transformers?) exist..so..???

The cheapest solution I found is a simple thick plastic bucket insulator (160E) but that's only for one bucket, and I need more liters than that.

It comes with a floating disc that the horses must push down to get to water.








Here is a link to an 80 liter bucket that is actually heated! But check out that price.


Then I spent a few hours looking at horse forums and seeking out answers. I was amazed. 3 people posted that they surround the trough with horse manure, the composting intended to keep the water warm. I cleaned up frozen horse poop today so I know how quickly it freezes solid, and to use the warmth from your compost, you'd have to get your animals directly into it, and since it must be several feet deep to compost properly...

Then I got into some creative solutions.

Some were simple, styrofoam-encapsulated troughs. Not bad, but not effective below -10C.

One lady said she uses aquarium heaters in her horse trough. Oh my...I wonder how that would work. She posted a photo, so that we're clear on what she means by aquarium heater. Yes, just like I have in my aquarium.

Then it got better. In Germany you can buy grave candles at almost any store. They burn for 4 days and are tip-safe.

Go to any cemetery in Germany and you'll see the place lit up with red glowing lights at night. In fact, we found a geocache last weekend with a grave candle at the location, burning, in a tree! So, why not use them to heat up horse water?

This one has a special livestock-tank-propane-heater as well as a candle.

Here's the site for the propane heater for your livestock tank. Unbelievable.


Then my man found this site and I thought, "That's it!" They're called Schlachtkessel, they're for turkey butchering. Or supposedly you can make a lot of bratwurst, fast. You make a fire in the lower portion and the pot up top is full of water. The pot is food-safe and easily removed for cleaning.

And someone patented the idea for livestock waterers! For 333Euros.


When my man said "It's heated with candles" at first I thought I must be misunderstanding him. Later he told me, "When I read it, I thought I misunderstood as well at first!"


So I'll be checking ebay. So far there are none nearby, but some look good.