Hi folks,
Some great discussions going on here! My 2p worth follows
Submersible Heater: There's some more info on this later on in
this thread. The disadvantage is you need electricity, but if you do have that, you're laughing! I used a 50W aquarium heater two winters ago to great effect for the hens. It was this model and cost me all of £8 delivered from Ebay.
For an IBC, you'd just drop it down inside, and try and get it near to the valve to stop that from freezing.
You can also get anti frost trace-heating tape for pipes, which you could wrap around the valve and base to keep it from freezing.
More details here, other suppliers are available!.
In the end, we went for a frost free tap, instead of trace heating. It's as yet unproven, but I think it will work fine. More details on
this thread.
Just thinking aloud, pigs give off quite a bit of heat. Couldn't you strap one securely to the IBC to stop it from........ ok, maybe not!
Insulation: For an IBC, how about a few thicknesses of bubble wrap cut to make a jacket, then join with duct tape?
Slippy shoes: My Mum (bless!) gave me some of those elasticated shoe cover thingies last Christmas, but basically they're just a hard abrasive pad glued onto some rubber. I tried glueing sandpaper onto the bottom of some old shoes, but that wasn't a great success
. Does anybody know where I could get a rigid plastic board with a rough surface from?
I have a runner friend at work who drives short versions of these screws into the soles of his shoes for winter running.
It's the raised bits of the screw heads that give the grip. I guess you'd have to get the length right, or it's going to be painful
. However, I've saved an old pair of wellies to try it on, and I'll report back once we get some decent ice!
Hands: I tend to wear these gloves in the winter, and they work ok. They don't last forever, but they're only £1.20 a pair from Screwfix, so that works out alright. They sell a longer version for £2.50 too.
OK, too many photos! I really need to get back to work now!