BriteTap nipple waterer

[amynrichie]

Guess I'll be getting handy and building a new winter waterer   Amynrichie, I'd love to hear how it goes without the pump - am thinking that I'll try first without and add it later if needed. 

Our Midwest temps have been down to 0 this week, and so far no freezing. There is frost above the water line, but the horizontal nipples have not frozen. I keep my bucket in the coop out of the wind.

 

[mamadawn]

Update- we have had below freezing temperatures off and on for a few weeks. Our girls are doing wonderful and the modifications to our BriteTap is holding up great! We have a second BriteTap in our second run, closer to the house that I bring in almost every night as there is no power near it- we may remedy that this next spring

 

[mamadawn]

I wanted to add that I did clip off the some of the ends of the zip ties. I'll add a picture tomorrow...

 

[ellenov]

We do not use the Brite Tap but use a 5 gallon bucket with nipples coming out of the bottom. I am in Utah and it gets cold. Today I noticed the nipples were frozen in the morning from the small drops that remain after they drink. Tomorrow I am going to get a heat lamp and clamp it to the 2X4 that is next to the hanging bucket and direct it toward the nipples. Pretty sure that will work. We have a small bucket heater in through the top of the bucket that comes on when the water gets to 54 degrees and it keeps it all from freezing. Great system, nice clean water but the frozen nipples right now are an issue that we need to find a solution. I don't want to go back to the old style waterer that was so dirty and had to change the water almost daily.

 

[mamadawn]

Still LOVE this Brite Tap fix for freezing temps! I was going to add pictures 8 day ago. Life cought up with me as did continued sub o temptutes. Pictured is a thin layer of ice from
the inside of the 2.5 gal iglo cooler. The majority of inside water was liquid. The clear water reservoir has remained flowing with no ice at all, in reservoir or on the nipples!!! The heat tape has never felt hot if anything slightly warm. My waterer is in a covered outside run. I check unit every morning and evening and perrodically throughout the day as I check for eggs. (we are getting a consistent 5 eggs a day from our six girls! Christmas morning I invited our guest to gather eggs- she came in beaming and giddy as a child- she said it was like getting presents!) sorry I regress...
Back to the topic- my spring plan is to order a new Brite Tap. I will keep the heat tape reservoir as is and store it carefully. My plan is to see how many years it will perform.

Thought I'd add again- I know this is NOT recommended by Brite Tap or Easy Tape but it's working like a charm

 

[townhen]

I just received my britetap waterer in the mail yesterday. I had previously purchased a 5 gallon igloo cooler to go with the waterer. When I read through the instruction manual, however, I discovered that the waterer needs to be used with a "vented" or "spouted" water cooler to function properly, which is really disappointing, since I can't find any 5 gallon water cooler with vent or spout in the lid. Furthermore, I was hoping that the water in the cooler would stay cleaner (not to mention cooler) for longer while sealed up. Does anyone else have advice on how to get around this problem? Any chance that the waterer will work just fine without being attached to a vented cooler? My chicks arrive next week and I would love to get them started directly on the britetap waterer. Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[WVduckchick]

I just received my britetap waterer in the mail yesterday. I had previously purchased a 5 gallon igloo cooler to go with the waterer. When I read through the instruction manual, however, I discovered that the waterer needs to be used with a "vented" or "spouted" water cooler to function properly, which is really disappointing, since I can't find any 5 gallon water cooler with vent or spout in the lid. Furthermore, I was hoping that the water in the cooler would stay cleaner (not to mention cooler) for longer while sealed up. Does anyone else have advice on how to get around this problem? Any chance that the waterer will work just fine without being attached to a vented cooler? My chicks arrive next week and I would love to get them started directly on the britetap waterer. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Funny, I was just looking at their website this morning! I have their Cluck-ulator app on my phone and it had an automatic update, so I ventured over to their website. I saw the part about venting... I'm pretty sure if you don't vent it, it will create a vacuum eventually and no water will drip. I don't think the jug I have, that I was considering using, has a vent either, but their solution is to drill a hole in your lid. I know that isn't a great option if you ever wanna use the cooler for something else later, but I think mine will be committed to the chicks, so I'm ok with drilling it. I don't know if the process will work if maybe you sit the lid on top without sealing it completely?? I'd give that a try if I didn't want to drill a hole.

 

[beyandle]

We have two. We leave the spout open on our 2 gal and drilled a small hole (Whatever size was indicated in the manual) in the top of our 5 gal (didn't have spout). Water stays cool all day (even in summer) and stays very clean. I would highly recommend venting due to the vacuum problem that WVduckchick described. You could freeze Tupperware sized ice cubes and toss those in to stay cooler too. Our 5gal sits directly in the sun for a large portion of the day- and has stayed cool in up to 100 degree weather (we're in the desert). If your water isn't staying cool, make sure your cooler is double walled. We picked ours up at Home Depot for pretty cheap.

 

[townhen]

Ok, I'm glad to see that drilling a hole in the cooler lid worked just fine without compromising cleanliness and coolness, so I'll give it a go. I'm really excited to see how the chicks take to the britetap waterer. Thanks a bunch!

 

[WVduckchick]

I suppose you could tape a piece of mesh or cloth over the drilled hole too, for extra protection from dirt/debris.