Has any here heard about or tried a method of keeping a stock tank free from ice by burying a large pipe vertically and setting the tank over it? The tanks that I working on are not close to any electricity, and I would like to find a solution that uses no energy source other than the sun or earth.

I would really be interested in what methods our members in Canada use.

 

I visited an old ranch in Montana, and what they did was sink two 14 inch drainage pipes vertically about 8 foot deep and filled them with gravel, then set teh tanks on top. the warmth rising from teh ground thru teh pipes suppossedly kept teh tanks from freezing.
I did not go back that winter to see for myself, but I beleive them ....

 

Hmmmm, I've never heard of that method, makes sense but sounds sketchy to me. Probably depends on how cold it gets yin your area. We see -40 a few times a winter, hard to keep anything even with power to it frost free.

In a remote pasture we had a solar setup, solar panel on top of the pump shack that powered the pump, pump filled a tank (set up to drain everytime the pump stops working) and then there was a propane powered burner that kept the water clear.

Had to check on it on a fairly regular basis but worked ok.

 

Someone makes a propane tank heater. Works well, several in use around here.

 

have seen people us old heavy equipment tires for H2O tanks, black rubber will collect enough heat to keep a small area from freezing. at home on dial-up or I would have done some searchs for you.


DuaneW.

 

Depending on the size of tank you can either get RR ties or if need longer you can use bridge panks and simply lay them over the tank covering about 80% of the tank and then cover them with dirt if you think you need to get more frost protection. We have several and they have no more than a skiff of ice on them even at -20. We are in a fairly airid environment so rotting isn't a big issue for us but if you want you could lay down a layer of tar paper to keep the wood from rotting prematurely.