- Sep 24, 2012
- 142
- 10
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My watering setup: Its a 2 gallon bucket hanging below the nesting box with 2' of flexible vinyl tubing attached to about 18" of PVC with 2 drinker cups.
We were expected to have temps dip into the 20's and not get much above freezing so I decided to get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GAV33C/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I got the 15' length which was enough to go along the pipe/tubing twice with an extra wrap around each drinker cup and a few wraps around the bucket. The heater line was zip tied in place and the power unit was put in a place where it has little chance of getting wet since this unit is not rated for outdoor use except under mobile homes.
So the first night it was down to about 25 degrees and the bucket and pipe were thawed but the water in the bottom of the cups had frozen making them non functional. However this was solved by creating a heat pipe by wrapping some copper wire around the heating wire and placing the ends into the bottom of the drinker cup in a manner that doesn't interfere with the "tongue". I used 3 strand house wire and kept the insulation on it where it wasn't touching the heating wire or the water so that less heat was lost to the atmosphere. It was tested down to 20 degrees last night and the water flowed freely. I did not need to insulate the pipe, tubing, or bucket but this would probably make it good to go down to below zero.
We were expected to have temps dip into the 20's and not get much above freezing so I decided to get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GAV33C/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I got the 15' length which was enough to go along the pipe/tubing twice with an extra wrap around each drinker cup and a few wraps around the bucket. The heater line was zip tied in place and the power unit was put in a place where it has little chance of getting wet since this unit is not rated for outdoor use except under mobile homes.
So the first night it was down to about 25 degrees and the bucket and pipe were thawed but the water in the bottom of the cups had frozen making them non functional. However this was solved by creating a heat pipe by wrapping some copper wire around the heating wire and placing the ends into the bottom of the drinker cup in a manner that doesn't interfere with the "tongue". I used 3 strand house wire and kept the insulation on it where it wasn't touching the heating wire or the water so that less heat was lost to the atmosphere. It was tested down to 20 degrees last night and the water flowed freely. I did not need to insulate the pipe, tubing, or bucket but this would probably make it good to go down to below zero.
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