"...own water trough heater, different one,
- keeps tripping breaker, no problem with socket ( replaced it ) ,
breaker, or GFI. - figure heater, itself, defective..."
It is very common for immersion heaters to develop
a very small leak of electricity from the element to the sheath. In the
days before the invention of the GFCI these little leaks would not be enough to
trip a breaker or blow a fuse, but enough to give horses and humans a nasty
shock.
If a GFCI trips, the first suspect should be the
heater.
I have had better luck with sinking, cast aluminum
stock tank heaters lasting than the floating or skinny elemented sinking
ones. The cast Al ones cost much more, but are worth it in my
opinion.
One way to make sure that the horses don't play
with the heater cord that is perhaps easier than plastic pipe, is to nail 3
pieces of wood together to make a groove. The cord can be run in the
groove next to the tank and the wood attached to the tank by a big "C"
clamp.
Ed
Ed & Wendy Hauser 2994 Mittower
Road Victor, MT 59875
