Automatic watering

[Our Roost]

I've heard this reusable coffee filter mentioned several times! I'm stumped! Never seen or heard of one. Whats the diameter and where do you purchase? I might use the filter along with the screening.
P.S. --- If you like the idea of no muss no fuss watering, your gonna love my idea of the automatic feeder! Ya gotta love low maintenance ideas. Thanks Hawgon!

 

[Hawgon]

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I've heard this reusable coffee filter mentioned several times! I'm stumped! Never seen or heard of one. Whats the diameter and where do you purchase? I might use the filter along with the screening.
P.S. --- If you like the idea of no muss no fuss watering, your gonna love my idea of the automatic feeder! Ya gotta love low maintenance ideas. Thanks Hawgon!
[/quote I am in the same boat you are, not sure of how I am going to do the coffee filter thing because I have just heard of it also and have not dug into it to far but when I do I will put info and post up here on this thread. I am always interested in easier especially when it is better.....Let me know of any ideas......

 

[Pico de Gallo]

Jack, Hawgon:
I think the coffee filter everyone's mentioning is something akin to this:
http://www.target.com/p/Universal-R...=appliances&ci_sku=10642736&ci_gpa=pla&ci_kw=

Personally I'd rather save the $9 and use layers of scrap screening, wire mesh, etc as a strainer! But then I'm pretty cheap.

You're right in that chickens can handle ingesting all sorts of natural contaminants like poo, even seeking it out on occasion. The concern I have w the asphalt, tar and other petroleum distillates used in tarpaper and shingles is the release of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)...that's the smelly, oily sheen you see on the road just after a light rain. It's a category of known carcinogens. A little research will yield a lot of state and federal guidelines stating that water captured from such surfaces can only be used for a narrow range of purposes, none of which include ingestion.

Here's a sample of what you'll find:
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/stormwater/PublicationFiles/RooftopRunoff2009.pdf

 

[Hawgon]

Jack, Hawgon:
I think the coffee filter everyone's mentioning is something akin to this:
http://www.target.com/p/Universal-R...=appliances&ci_sku=10642736&ci_gpa=pla&ci_kw=

Personally I'd rather save the $9 and use layers of scrap screening, wire mesh, etc as a strainer! But then I'm pretty cheap.

You're right in that chickens can handle ingesting all sorts of natural contaminants like poo, even seeking it out on occasion. The concern I have w the asphalt, tar and other petroleum distillates used in tarpaper and shingles is the release of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)...that's the smelly, oily sheen you see on the road just after a light rain. It's a category of known carcinogens. A little research will yield a lot of state and federal guidelines stating that water captured from such surfaces can only be used for a narrow range of purposes, none of which include ingestion.

Here's a sample of what you'll find:
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/stormwater/PublicationFiles/RooftopRunoff2009.pdf

Thanks Pico, great info and kinda gross....I am using new poly panels into a new fiberglass gutter and all piping parts are new so I think I will be pretty good on any cross-contamination. I got a chance to look around at coffee filters and I agree with you that the fine mesh screening I get for $2.50 a roll is not much different than the reusable coffee filters and much cheaper. What about running the water through a cheese cloth filter? Any ideas?

 

[Pico de Gallo]

Cheesecloth breaks down quickly, and feeds microbes: my friend tried using it as a stop-gap measure to fix her aquarium filter until the petstore got its next shipment. In less than a week her tank was filled with cotton fibers, following week these became gooey bacterial mats, and within two weeks every fish and invert she couldn't rescue from the tank had died!

I'd stick with plastic screening. Aluminum might work, though low pH rainwater might eventually eat it. You could try using a green kitchen scrubby-pad for extra-fine filtration, though this would greatly slow the flow and might cause overflow. Prolly be overkill. It's all about eliminating the big stuff, anyway: to me, hvy duty window screening seems like the best compromise.

 

[Hawgon]

Thanks for info Pico....You probably saved me from a big mess...I will just probably stick with the screens because my woof on the run is new and there are no major trees over it and the gutter guards should get the major stuff....Thanks again Pico...

 

[Hawgon]

Meant roof not woof.....oops

 

[Pico de Gallo]

Good luck, keep us posted!

 

[Our Roost]

Pico! You have used a word that all people need to become more familiar with. "Carcinogens"!! It is linked to man made products stemming from and incorporating petroleum that are either known to might be, or do cause cancer. Its really much deeper than that brief description, but there are tons of products that havent been tested and are suspect to be related to causing cancer. Example:--Styrofoam plates and cups are a product containing carcinogens. Although we dont eat them, we eat and drink off of them. Tobacco leaves are dried with petroleum based solvents used to dry the tobacco faster during processing, hence the link to cancer for people that smoke. Its not the tobacco! Its the carcinogen based chemicals being used to cure it. Insufficient funds and long term testing of suspicious products linking to or suspect to causing cancer may or will take years. The good news is that they recommend avoidance or caution of the use of products containing carcinogens. My rule of thumb is paper products are better than plastic. Glass or ceramic is even better!
Water running off the tar roof of your garage being used for comsumption may cause some health issues for humans or animals. The theory is becoming more realistic and studies are making it more likely than not. Just not enough testing yet! You made a very good point Pico! Awareness is the key element for now. Thanks!

 

[Pico de Gallo]

My rule of thumb: if it smells and tastes funky, and there's no James Brown playing in the background, it's prolly best to not imbibe.