Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyFarm34
There's no place to plug to keep water from freezing and want the barn cats to have access to water in the COLD months of winter.
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Why can't you just replace any frozen water with a new bowl of warm water once a day? I mean, you aren't planning on locking yourself inside and never venturing out to the barn all winter, are you?
But to prevent freezing in extreme temperatures where a bowl of water would freeze in less than twelve hours, I would device a self-watering system with a large reservoir made of plastic, placed on the ground surrounded by hay and away from doors/windows.
A self-watering device will keep the water moving. Moving water takes a lot longer to freeze than still water.
A plastic container won't freeze as quickly.
A larger container will take longer to freeze. Even if ice starts to form, it will take a while for the entire thing to freeze.
Hay will insulate.
An elevated surface will freeze faster than the ground (just as bridges freeze faster than roadways). A concrete pad will freeze faster than bare dirt.
If you locate the water bowl in the most interior part of the barn, it will be less susceptible to drafts that would expedite freezing.
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