MiraFount water freezing

[firesweepranch]

Does anyone have any experience with these? We installed one this last summer (where we could not get electricity), and it has worked great. We have had some unusually cold weather this week, with wind chill factors taking us into negative numbers. It has worked great, until today. Yesterday I had the kids go check the water tank, and my daughter informed me that one side the tank ball was frozen, but she sat on the blue ball and the ice broke under it and the cattle could drink it. Today, I had the kids go check again (remember, very cold weather), and it was half full and not filling. The cattle could not reach the water in it because they could not get their head in far enough. So, husband had been working LONG hours and that leaves me to fix. I removed the top, and ran warm water over the blue value and elbow. Still did not work, so we decided to put a tank in for the night and fill with a hose until I could get husband to work on it this weekend. Just as I got the lid screwed back down, it started flowing again, so it obviously had been frozen.
So, my question is, how do I prevent it from freezing again or is this a freak thing because of the cold?  We have insulation running up the pipe to the elbow, but not the rest. Is there another kind of insulation I should be using to cover the elbow? I think the freeze occurred in the blue valve, where the float attaches, since there was a small icicle was hanging from there...
Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[WhoaFlicka]

my sugestion take off throw in the burn hole there is no such thing as a no freeze water but if need it you might try taking the insulation off the pipe and elbow because your heat coming up from  the ground is suppse to keep it thawed also make sure your tile is free and clear of debris  <beer>

 

[hamburgman]

My old man always says it takes more damn energy in hauling hot water to energy free waterers than a good electric waterer ever uses. (clapping) (lol)

 

[savaged]

I have the same water tank and have had great success with it.  There are several factors that could be a cause, including 1) Installation - it is key that the ground tube underneath is of proper depth and diameter, 2) a sufficient number of animals drinking from it , 3) the location of the waterer near loafing/feeding areas, and 4) wind break.

You could wrap insulation around the supply clear to the blue valve, but it will tend to get wet and lose it's insulating value near the valve.  Your best immediate solution is to make sure and feed round bales adjacent to the tank, and take metal fence posts and a sheet of plywood to create a wind break to the tank. 

Once the balls drop and the tank freezes you have a limited time to heat it up (use a torpedo heater if you can) before you end up with a solid block. 

 

[LostFarmer]

I have had the Mira font and the Richie energy free waterers for years.  We are a cold climate at 6000 feet elevation.  They have never worked well with one exception.  If you have enough animals drinking then can work well.  The dairy barn had a 2 hole and 50 cows working on it.  With that many cows it worked pretty well.  A bucket of hot water once or twice a year and never more than one bucket.  The other 2 now have a 250 watt heater in them and have worked fine since.  Dairy cattle drink more and drink all the time as apposed to the beefers that will drink once every other day. 

 

[SWMO]

We have both Mirafount and Pride of the Farm energy free waterers.  You have to have sufficient numbers of animals drinking from them to keep an adequate amount of water flow to keep the tanks warm.  Also as stated above installation is key to the success of these waterers.

The balls will tend to freeze tight on the Mirafounts if your water level inside the tank has them tight against the hole and as livestock drink from them they will rotate and develop ice over the perimeter of the ball.  We do have to break ours free from time to time during exteme cold weather.  However the advantages of these waterers outweigh the disadvantages. IMO.

There is nothing more frustrating in extreme cold weather to have anything freeze.   

 

[Will]

We have several of these waters.  Occasionally the balls get frozen to the top and we use a rubber mallet to break loose.  We do have one that the valve freezes like you are talking about in extreme cold weather.  What we did is get a flexible dryer vent pipe and zip tie it to the truck exhust then put the other end in the tank and within less than a minute it will be running again.

 

[LostFarmer]

At -40 with a 10 mph breeze all waterers freeze without heat.  (dog)

 

[BadgerFan]

put a heat tape on the pipeline between the insulating tube and the valve.  Not sure about that particular brand, but with many waterers you can also add a "drop in" ring style heater.

My Franklins have heat tapes and a drop in.  They work pretty good, knock on wood.  ;D

 

[firesweepranch]

put a heat tape on the pipeline between the insulating tube and the valve.  Not sure about that particular brand, but with many waterers you can also add a "drop in" ring style heater.

My Franklins have heat tapes and a drop in.  They work pretty good, knock on wood.   ;D

The problem is, there is no electricity where this water is located; thus the energy free kind we installed. I think our problem is not enough head; we have 5 head of cattle and 5 head of horses in that pasture. I guess I need to throw a few more out there (those 5 our my spring calvers - the others are closer to the house to watch for heat and one due to calve in 10 days)...
So, what can you do if you do not have enough out there drinking? This is a pasture with stockpiled fescue and clover, so we do not drop hay (except for this last cold spell- we put hay down just so they can bed somewhere warm with below zero temps!).

 

[GoWyo]

We installed a Cobett last fall and so far it has done well.  We used the floatless setup.  At -10 F and a 30 mph wind it did freeze about an inch and a half in the bucket, which was expected and we chop out the ice AM and PM.  So far the plumbing has not frozen, and so long as the bucket does not freeze all the way to the bottom it would have no reason to freeze.  Need some -30 to really test it, but not looking forward to any Alberta Clippers around here.

 

[Top Knot]

When you break the balls loose in the morning make sure there's no ice film in the top that can hold the float up. Otherwise the cattle drink it down, it doesn't fill with water, and everything freezes REAL good. If the cattle don't drink when you check it, scoop enough water out (I know, not real fun in the cold) to make sure its flowing. If not pour in a pail of hot water. As was mentioned, a windbreak will help some. And maybe when it's very cold you'll just have to remove some water twice a day to keep some "fresher, warmer" water coming in.

 

[CAB]

We installed a Cobett last fall and so far it has done well.  We used the floatless setup.  At -10 F and a 30 mph wind it did freeze about an inch and a half in the bucket, which was expected and we chop out the ice AM and PM.  So far the plumbing has not frozen, and so long as the bucket does not freeze all the way to the bottom it would have no reason to freeze.  Need some -30 to really test it, but not looking forward to any Alberta Clippers around here.

I know that you have to kind of use what you have, but if anyone is replacing one, I couldn't recomend anything that would come close to the Cobbett waters. I just love the one that I have and have been around a lot of different kinds and types of water tanks and systems over the years. There's only one system that I can think of that is better and that would be a continuous free running spring. Last winter was the first year that I had a Cobbett and we had those extremely cold days and night. I keep a small hammer close by to crack the ice morning and some nights, but it takes les than a miute to break and throw out. I use to spend hours thawing out the Mirafont waters when it was exrtremely cold. Not what you need on top of those days. If someone offered to give me a Mirafont, I wouldn't take it.

 

[DakotaCow]

We installed a two place MiraFount 8 years ago. We have a 6 foot 18 inch ID stand pipe that is insulated with 3/4 inch Mylar coated insulation. We havent needed a heat tape or a lightbulb in it yet and have yet to have it freeze up. In fact we took one of the balls out the first fall we used it to make sure the calves could find water...havent put it back in yet! If you think its because we live in such a balmy warm climate you can check the average winter temps for Leonard ND! I would gladly take the free watere thta CAB wont. <cowboy>

 

[Show Dad]

You would think that some one could develop a good solar waterer.

 

[JTM]

Your issue is definitely the number of cattle drinking out of it. Especially if it is a two hole. I just installed some mirafounts and some Efounts. We have not had any issues with the mirafounts. 35 head of cows on one of the single hole waterers and 25 head of replacement heifers on the other single hole. These are open to the wind and I am in mid Ohio. It's been a cold winter so far and I am really happy with the waterers. I would be a lot more concerned if I only had 5-10 head on one of them. You really need a minimum of 15-20 head on these waterers.

 

[steerpimp]

I, used to work on farm where I installed 14 mirofounts. Here is the deal I saw with them freezing. They worked well, except when the water level was to low or to high. You may have to adjust your float just like on your commode.If the water is to low the ball will not seal and cold air will get around the ball and freeze the water. I the level is to high water will seep around the ball and freeze up.

 

[wfq]

We have had two Mira Founts for about twenty years.  We have problems with the balls freezing if we don't have enough cattle drinking at them.  We have had only one time where the valve froze and we took the generator and a hair dryer and thawed it out.  When it is real cold here (Kansas I'm talking around + 10 to zero) we will drain the old water out at least every other day and let it fill with warmer water if we don't have adequate cattle running to it.  It sure beats chopping ice at water tanks but it doesn't even compare to running spring water!!

 

[firesweepranch]

We have had two Mira Founts for about twenty years.  We have problems with the balls freezing if we don't have enough cattle drinking at them.  We have had only one time where the valve froze and we took the generator and a hair dryer and thawed it out.  When it is real cold here (Kansas I'm talking around + 10 to zero) we will drain the old water out at least every other day and let it fill with warmer water if we don't have adequate cattle running to it.  It sure beats chopping ice at water tanks but it doesn't even compare to running spring water!!

Awesome idea! We will try that next time it gets real cold (next week, it was 40 today; nice)  ;D
We have one cow due to pass over her cycle by Wednesday, when she does we will kick her back over into the pasture with the Mira Fount, along with another cow/calf pair. We are watching her because we plan on taking her to a bull for a "conjugal visit" if she does cycle (she was AI'd, but last year had problems sticking to AI and ended up visiting the bull). Having her close to the house helps watch, and getting her loaded just in case. Then we will have enough head out there to keep it from freezing, I hope 

 

[kanshow]

We used to have Mirafounts in our feedlot but have gotten away from them for this - along with some other major reasons.  When there are adequate numbers drinking and the float is set right, most would not freeze hard.  We had only a couple that would freeze no matter what and they were the ones that were openly exposed to the west and/or north winds.  Also we found that if you had mirafounts on 2 sides of the pen - one in each fenceline, often cattle would drink from one and not the other.. so we would shut the water off & drain one during winter months.