Heated Waterer Review / comments

cockadoodle

Songster
11 Years
Jan 20, 2009
199
1
111
Denver
Ok, so it's been bone chilling cold here lately. Dethawing the waterer / refilling / checking it every 2 hours is not an option anymore. Bought this guy at Murdoch's today -

http://www.amazon.com/Farm-Innovators-All-Seasons-Plastic-Fountain/dp/B001CCSJCQ

same price locally. I figured hey, I need a plastic waterer anyways because I'd like to put apple cider vinegar in it from time to time and my galvanized steel one is a no-starter for that. Anyways. Brought it home. Instructions are pretty straight forward. Open the unit up to take the instructions out. Put the plastic water tank back in place. Flip it upside down, pull out the rubber stopper and fill it. Set it down to check for leaks...

the water basin filled and just kept going, all over my kitchen. You'll note in the picture of the product their is a flimsy plastic handle attached to the top. Never use that when it's full to carry it, it simply cannot support the weight. They put a small hole in the handle itself to asumably tie it to something so you can hang it. Good luck with that
smile.png
More importantly, never fill this thing with it resting on anything, for example the bottom of a sink, or the ground. We'll I figured as much about the handle while I was filling it and never did use it, but what broke my brand new one was the filling process. To fill these, you have to invert the entire thing. I simply set it in my sink, upside down and proceeded to fill it up (not even all the way either). The simple weight of the water in the tank, while upside down, is more than enough weight to create stress fractures all around where that handle connects to the tank at the top. These create pinholes and cracks in the plastic which destroys the vac inside the tank, the water will just keep on coming out until the unit is empty. If you buy one of these, do yourself a huge favor and hold the unit supported off the ground while you are filling it. Which in iteself is problematic at best.

I paid cash for mine and for some stupid reason didn't take a receipt. Thankfully these guys are great and replaced it no questions asked.

I almost bought the metal heater base for the typical galvanized waterers, but they want over 50 dollars for it, and I really liked the idea of having an all in one solution. Think twice before buying one of these plastic ones. I just hope it lasts the rest of the season. It's very hard to fill these things without breaking them and having the plug on the bottom raises additional concerns should it come free and flood your coop.

sad.png


~Mark
 
Thanks for the heads up. With temps in the negative digits these days I was looking for a heated waterer. I'll stay away from that one!
 
We got our metal heater base for galvanized waterer from Fleet Farm for $40. It paid for itself in peace of mind (and any residual heat it might kick off is something my hens will take happily in this cold MN weather!)
 
on my way to get the heated dog bowl . . . will let you know how that works . . .
not lugging frozen water anymore . . . not lugging frozen water anymore . . .
what do you think of wrapping heat tape around the metal water cans?
 
Last edited:
I've got 3 of those waterers and have never had issues with them whatsover. I love them! The bases used to be a bit difficult to seat...I'd have to lay on the ground & look up under to get it on. But, as of this year, they now make a "plug" in the bottom so you just leave the base on, and refill it through the plug. (Of course, you still need to take it apart to wash it when it gets icky!)
 
I just bought one of these, with the plug in the bottom, and it works really well. This week in the Northwest we've had temps below freezing for several days now (into the teens overnight), and every time I look there's liquid water available. No leakage to report yet. So far, so good!

Update: it's a good thing it holds 3 gallons, because you lose a gallon just flipping it over after filling it. Also, I don't like how close the water level is to the top of the basin; it gives you very little wiggle room in moving it without splashing. I'll hang onto this one as a backup, but I can see myself switching to a metal base and separate metal waterer that fits.
 
Last edited:
It's 4 degrees farenheit right now and falling. The new one I picked up is working better (well it's working anyways
smile.png
) . It will only leak if god forbid, you end up with a crack (microscopic or otherwise) in the plastic. It is terribly easy to damage based on the one I had to return and the woman that helped me return my first one told me she's had a lot of them come back for one reason or another, perhaps I ended up with one that was just extra thin or something. Just something to keep an eye out for. I think you'll know almost immediately if you got a junk one or not in any case. I guess I haven't had to baby a poultry waterer before or be all that concerned about them. Amazon shows a 2 star rating, (probably 1 when my review posts) so it's a pretty common complaint. Good luck with yours if you have one (or more) and wish me luck with mine
smile.png
At the end of the day I'm just happy that I won't be spending 30 minutes out of the 45 I have to get ready for work making sure my girls aren't going to be pecking at glacier ice mid morning. We're getting into the negatives tonight and it's not even winter yet. So much for global warming
smile.png
Stay warm everyone if you are in the freeze right now. Time for some Bailey's and another log on the fire.
 
I have the parts to MAKE a metal-base type water warmer.

I plan to put a 25-watt bulb inside one of those circular "fruit-cake" tins and then set the plastic bowl on top ( plastic bowl is the bottom of a 5-gal plastic bucket). I'll make it sometime this week.

I think it will work fine. We shall soon see.

idunno.gif


-Junkmanme-
old.gif
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom