Frozen hoses, watering livestock, my solution

[Tracy]

Last summer I saw this nifty hose winder uppper at home depot.

http://www.hydro-industries.com/faqs_group.asp?id=1

It was $30.00 and I actually thought that was a lot to spend but I thought the concept was pretty cool if it worked so I bought it.
Didnt really use it so much in the summer fall as my livestock have a spring fed pond to drink from but winter is always a challange. Pond freezes so we need to make sure the stock tank [with heater] is filled as well as buckets for the stalls.
We built a box around the water supply in the barn and insulated it well. The hose real was put inside this box. I can pull out the hose, fill buckets, stock tank etc and then this thing drains the hose and winds it up. It is so COOL . When it gets super cold we have a heat lamp in the framed box as well. This keeps the water line from freezing and also the spicket on the hose. It has been really cold [teens] the last few days and this has not failed me yet. Sure beats lugging 5 gallon buckets. It was $30.00 well spent.

[rzrubek]

Well, I really wanted to see the thing but their website is non-functional

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

I drain my hoses each time. No water - no freeze up.

[Darren]

It looks nice if it works for your conditions. I use 3/4" hose to get the flow plus I'm out 200'. I don't think that reel will work. You could use a regular manual large capacity reel and keep it heated during the winter.

[Cat]

*gasp*! I bought one of these for my Mom from WalMart this fall (might not be the same brand, but the same idea...water pressure used to reel the hose back in.) for like, $6 or some insane clearance price like that! I never dreamt (?) to bring it out here because I'm too hard on stuff like that and I didn't figure it'd hold up under the stresses.

I'm elated that I got such a good deal on it, though, and that it actually works well!

[Tracy]

zrubeks, try these links:
http://www.hydro-industries.com/productsFull.asp?id=35
http://www.hydro-industries.com/demo.asp

YuccaFlatsRanch, I know you can drain hoses manually and wind them up and not have freeze up but 100 feet of hose is a lot and that is what I need to get to the outside stock tank. Plus there are days that I really dont feel like fighting with a hose and getting dirty.

I think the key to these functioning in the winter is a framed insulated box around them with a heat lamp on really cold spellls. I love it.

[WindowOrMirror]

... we have the stock tank for the horses about 200' from the house (and no water in the barn, yet). We keep the hose in the basement, then all dress up warm (me and three kids) grab the hose, and RUN it out to the tank, hook it up and turn it on. Several minutes later, we run out, turn it off, and reel it in by hand over hand across the deck (to drain it) and back into the basement it goes!

We have to do this every few days (100 gal tank with a heater) and we keep the hose in a large plastic barrel in the basement (it coils nicely that way).

R