Automatic water lines freezing

[sbrandewie]

Hi everyone. This is my first post, so forgive me if I forget to include some information.
My husband and I have recently replaced our rabbits' water bottles with an automatic watering system with 5 gallon buckets and flex tubing. It has saved us a lot of time and frustration from constant refilling and leaky bottles. However, we are now facing freezing temperatures and having problems with keeping the water lines from freezing. We purchased submersible bucket water heaters and that has kept the bucket water from freezing, but not the lines. What would you suggest we use? Thanks for any input. Here are a couple of pictures of the system.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The only way you can do it is to use a pump to circulate the warm water through the lines. There isn't enough movement to keep the water in the tubes from freezing.

 

[Tumbling K]

they make an electric tracing, you could put on the lines. I've used it before on a water hose supplying water to an RV, when I was working for an extended time from home.

after you get the tracing on, use some of the cheap foam pipe insulation. this worked for me, when temps got down to single digits, and stayed there for three days, stayed below freezing temps for ten days.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Frost-King-30-ft-Automatic-Electric-Heat-Cable-Kit-HC30A/100196471