Frozen hose

PP, move your 55 gallon barrel to the south side of your barn/shed/whatever. 350' of extension cord will draw a bit more power (due to resistance) if it freezes in NC, but unless someone drives over the thing, it is unlikely to break.

Get an aquarium heater from a pet store (about $10), put it in your 55 gallon drum of water, plug it in...no frozen water. The aquarium heater plus the drum being on the south side (in the sun) will keep it from icing over in your climate. If you pain the drum black, it will also act as a thermal mass and heat that portion of your barn.shed at night.

No hefting water out of hoses every day. Fill the thing as needed.

Hope this helps!

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Peace,
Caliann

"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck

I use brass quick connects on every hose. I can unhook the short 25 foot barn hose at the hyrdrant and let it drain on a small slope. Smaller hoses are easier to manage and quick connects speeds things up. Buried is best I agree. Waterlines of course.

one idea I have tinkered with is getting the hose sloped along its entire length so when the water is turned off, th ehose drains by gravity

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In most places (with codes) it is illegal to bury water and power in the same trench, because 10 years later people forget about it when they dig it up to fix a leak. (I think wells must be an exception)

I did before I knew better, but I put the electric below the water and had it in conduit.

just sayin'...

Many cities require that your utilities, power, phone. gas and TV share the same trench. They just require a 2' separation, so you use a 30" bucket and opposite ends of the trench. With water you run the water on one side of the trench, with a #12 wire and a direct bury coating with in a few inches of it for locating the line. Water gets buried @ 5 feet and power @ 30 inches on the opposite side of the ditch.

I second the good advice you've gotten. We do the same but in NW wyoming where winter temps hit-30-40 every winter. We have had pipes freeze 8' down in cold dry winters so burying sometimes wont work. If you do bury use poly or pex pipe. Pex is especially good because it wont burst after freezing and will come back fine. A ranch hydrant at the animal end will drain when it is closed but our hydrants. freeze out here sometimes despite proper installations. I would let the hose run a decent trickle as the most cost effective so A very cheap and dirty solution would be a shallow bury in a shallow trench easily made with a tractor ditcher and just letting the other end trickle. A proper bury with quality pipe and a ranch hydrant draining into a gravel bed will cost you a bundle.

If you put the hose on a winding reel like this one...



...then make sure you wind the hose onto the bottom of the reel. this way when you wind it, the water will naturally run out the end as you wind it. You can keep winding after the hose is fully retracted and more water will escape from the hose with each revolution. This is basically a water screw and will eventually completely empty the hose.