Wiring a horse solarium and shower.......

[farmerboy]

Hi all, my daughter keeps a few horses (we live on a farm) and she has an infrared horse solarium (I know!) for a horse that is what is known as "cold backed".
It is basically two sealed infrared patio heater units (IP67 I think) that are suspended from the barn roof and operated from a ring main just like a standard house set up. They are 1.5KW each on weatherproof/outdoor 13 amp plugs/sockets and work by remote control.
Now she has decided that a horse shower is a good idea and wants it underneath the solarium. (the only drain happens to be there!)  The hot water comes from the house so is just piped in to a mixer valve. In theory all should be well as the solarium wiring is all about 4m above the ground and protected by an rcb. (similar set up to a domestic bathroom with double pole isolator switch)

However, I have some serious concerns about the potential for "accidents" and I am not happy with having water and electricity near to each other when animals are concerned.

I am leaning towards moving the solarium away from the horse shower but thought it might be possible to design a system that will only allow the shower to be on if the solarium is off.

Something similar to a changeover switch maybe? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262262389729?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Could I fit a solenoid valve to the water supply so that when the solarium is switched on the valve shuts off the water and vice versa?

Any comments or advice welcome....

Thanks in advance...

 

[apprentice87]

Ha ha.. If your horse is apparently "cold backed" you need a vet  and NOT a heater....

Durrrrrrrr

john...

 

[farmerboy]

Funnily enough it was the vet that recommended we use an infra red heater before riding and it has worked...  (along with regular check ups with the horse "back man"!)  Damn things get better treatment than me.....

 

[apprentice87]

Would it not be cheaper to just get a new horse??

john..

 

[Manator]

I have grown up all my life with horses, spending a year at Newmarket when I was just 14. I left because being from up north 12 months of abuse is all that we can take!

I have owned Arabs (pure bred) and shown in hand, but my all time favourite was a Clydesdale that I owned from a foal to the end.

In the old days we never went for all the fads that are around these days, we were basically cowboys doing it the old way.

All I will say is that there are many people making big money talking a load of rubbish. The only way any horse suffers from cold back is when it is not broken properly.

What I would suggest is a couple of months extra training, for the first week just throw a blanket over and constantly walk, the next week throw a good fitting saddle over the blanket, without a girth or any stirrup leathers, and again just walk. Then try a loose girth for at least a week, gently tightening over at least a months worth of work. I did this with one thoroughbred that had thrown his rider and had the horse back to him within 4 weeks.

All this lettuced about nerve endings, and such like will depart you with a load of money. Its all in the horses mind, just like ours, do it right, show them that it is OK, and you will end up with a good riding horse.

 

[farmerboy]

Thanks - I shall try that.  Any thoughts ref the wiring question?

 

[apprentice87]

It is exactly as manator said.. I do not know much about horses, but i do know that this supposed "cold back" thing is a load of nonsense...

Farmer boy; Sorry if I was a bit rude in my first answer, was having a bad day yesterday!!

My other half has two of the poxy things; She will spent £180 for TWO months supply of "herbs" to feed to the things...The things cost her, [all in all] between £100 and £140 a WEEK to keep... but me, if i spent £28 a MONTH on HP for a little motorbike i am wasting money. She nearly split up with me because i dared to use more than ONE square of kitchen roll at a time..

I used to know some loonies that used to spend hunreds, and i am talking in the early 1980's here, on a horse chiropractor!! Thinking of it, that was for "cold back" too. The chiropractor would poke and prod the horse and then pronounce that they had; "rotated its pelvis back into position" or some other garbage and then charge them £200

Truth of it was, they were muppets with a "bambi complex" they had this horse and decided that no way were they going to ride it until it was 6 of so "because we are going to wait until its back is full developed"

So, what happened?? They ended up with this huge horse, that had had thousands spent on it, but had never been made to do anything, or shown who was boss, and the muppets were scared of it. Needless to say, there was NO WAY the horse was going to let anyone ride it, and so, "cold back" and so they called in the chiropractor....... What they really needed was a psychiatrist, for themselves..

john..

 

[sprocketflup]

Mrs Flup had one until it popped off (on xmas day!) a few years ago, used to cost me a couple of grand a year to stand in a field and eat. She wouldn't ride it because it was arthritic and had cataracts, but wouldn't get shot because of the sentimental value. Even she got no enjoyment out of the creature the last seven or eight years of its life, just going up to the yard to shovel sh&t.

What a monumental waste of money.

 

[farmerboy]

hmm.... maybe I should not have mentioned horses! 

Just to clarify - I own a farm and run a livery yard and have been working with horses most of my life.  The customers seem happy to spend huge amounts on their horses and I guess that is just what horsey people do!

The horse shower and solarium are just for my daughter's horses but I know that others may want to use it too.  If anyone has any thoughts regarding the isolation of the shower when the solarium heaters are switched on I would appreciate some input.  The installation will meet all the current regs ref "bathrooms/wetrooms" but I would feel happier if it was impossible to use the shower and solarium at the same time.... ie make it idiot proof.  Horses do daft things sometimes!

Basically, I would like to have a switch (dpdt pull cord maybe?) which selects either the shower (via a solenoid?) or the solarium - never both.  Would this be suitable https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/CGCS1004P.html

Thanks for the input so far.

John

 

[Sidewinder]

I have done something similar but for 3ph machinery on a single supply, which was too small to run both machines, as was the LEV, so I fitted a change over switch, used for mains/generators, change over, but wired backward as it were.

With some careful labelling internally.

 

[Manator]

I have done similar in dental surgeries when two x ray machines are fitted within the same room. It should be impossible to use both at the same time so I wire change over switches which automatically disconnects all the power to one machine in order to use the other.

 

[farmerboy]

Thanks guys...  it looks like a changeover switch (wired "backwards") is the answer! 

I shall also buy a solenoid switch so the water supply is isolated and hopefully it will be idiot proof. 

 

[apprentice87]

Mrs Flup had one until it popped off (on xmas day!) a few years ago, used to cost me a couple of grand a year to stand in a field and eat. She wouldn't ride it because it was arthritic and had cataracts, but wouldn't get shot because of the sentimental value. Even she got no enjoyment out of the creature the last seven or eight years of its life, just going up to the yard to shovel sh&t.

What a monumental waste of money.

Got it in one!!!!!

john..

 

[apprentice87]

The customers seem happy to spend huge amounts on their horses and I guess that is just what horsey people do!

Good luck to you!! More mugs the merrier!!!

john..

 

[Manator]

I love horses and would have one in an instant, the only reason I do not have one now is work commitments, and the time I would need to devote to the care of a horse.

I miss tacking up and going out for a ride, I was well known in my home town for walking down the main street with my horse walking behind myself without any alter or rope.

I also have fond memories of horse boxes but that is another story best left untold.

 

[apprentice87]

Ummmm. i think we can guess at that one!!!

john...

 

[Tony S]

I suffer with ostler’s foot. I now have an inbuilt dislike of horses.

 

[sprocketflup]

Mrs Flup had Ostlers face. Her horse kicked her square in the chops, she had to have major reconstructive surgery to the lower half of her face, her two front teeth were next to her nose. Amazingly, she looks exactly the same as she did before, save for a small scar on her chin.

Yet still, she kept the horse. Wierdo

 

[Manator]

@Canoeboy my wife will not allow me to have a motorbike, I had two when I first met her and she refused point blank to get on one. Strangely enough I have been kicked, thrown, bitten and almost trampled but still love the close bond you get with horses.

 

[sprocketflup]

Statistically, horses are more dangerous than bikes.