A way to get your money's worth from galvanized waterers... maybe?

[dcwatson84]

So I've read a lot about trouble with the galvanized waterers. Not that they dont start out working great (though sometimes they are sold with seam issues where the vacuum doesn't work) but mostly issues with future rust and corrosion. I had one that made it a couple years pretty good, but eventually the rust seemed to set in, and everyone says it's bad to let them drink from a rusty drinker. Additionally they are $35, and It's just not acceptable to me to buy two $35 waterers every couple years. So I started looking for some sort of safe paint to put on them, and while there are some safe-ish paints, absolutely none of them are contact-safe and also completely water proof. Until I stumbled upon this stuff:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Pond-Ar...-Gray-Non-Toxic-Epoxy-SKU-GRAY-QT-R/203886511

It's a wildlife safe, water-proof coating for fish/plant ponds. It's epoxy, so it dries to an extremely hard ceramic-like state. I coated one of my 5 gallon waterers and it now looks like the attached pictures. I had to take the interior rubber stopper off before applying the epoxy, and then sand the outlet hole slightly so that it sealed fully after the coating.

I'm really hoping that this thing will now last for.....ever. I realize the epoxy is not cheap, but it's enough to do 3-4 waterers or other containers if necessary. Which is nice since I have multiple coops. I'm still pretty sold on the safety aspect, but I'm open to others opinions. Perhaps I took this wayyy too far and should have just stuck with rusty old waterers, but when they started failing completely it just really annoyed me.

 

[3riverschick]

What an interesting innovation !who would have thunk it? huge kudos for pursuing research till you found a solution !
my husband works at Lowe's. I'm going to ask him if Lowe's carries something like this.
Thanks,
Karen

 

[Folly's place]

It does look interesting, but it's labeled for ponds and ornamental fish. What about drinking water? For birds that we eat, and edible eggs, it seems to me as though it would need to be 'drinking water safe'. Mary

 

[Folly's place]

I too have rusty galvanized waterers. How unsafe? What about the plastic waterers? I've never explored this... Mary