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
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.
~Mark
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
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.
~Mark