K&H Pet Products Ultimate Stock Tank De-Icer

Details

Stock that has to break ice, or wait for someone else to do it, drinks less than it should, and reduced water intake in cold weather shows up in the feed bill soon enough. A tank de-icer takes the chore off the list entirely and keeps water available all day rather than only at chore time. The unit ships with a full protective cage, a float ring and a cord safety clip. Unscrewing the float ring turns it into a submersible unit that sits on the tank bottom, which suits tanks where a floater gets shoved into a corner or knocked around. An internal thermostat holds the water just above freezing and cannot be adjusted higher. The cord runs 1.7 m (5.5 ft). It is MET listed, carries a two-year limited warranty, and is rated safe for plastic tanks as well as steel. The line is offered in several wattages, and matching output to your tank size and climate zone matters. An undersized unit in Alberta cold runs flat out and still loses ground, while an oversized one is a needless load on the circuit. K&H publishes a zone chart for exactly this; check it against your tank volume before choosing. The element has to be fully submerged whenever it is powered, and there is no on-off switch, so unplug it before draining or moving the tank. Use a grounded, outdoor-rated circuit with GFCI protection sized for the wattage you have chosen, clip the cord up and out of the tank so it is not lying where animals can chew it, and inspect the whole lead each fall before freeze-up.