Best way to water the flock?

[lfreem2]

Quote:
You can google it for yourself and see. On average it's 13 PSI. Like I said the nipples and cups can't handle anything over 4 PSI.

I tried that without luck. Maybe I used the wrong phrase or question with google...I'll take your word for it though. My 10 nipples came in today...I almost hate to give it a try since I'm set on using the 55 gallon barrel. Essentially I just wasted 20+ bucks!

Well join the club--so did I! You can try to find a pressure reducer and hopefully that will help. I'm abandoning ship on it and have ordered the Little Giant chick waterer. As I said, my 55g barrel is only half full, so I'm only experiencing partial PSI, and still they leak for me. Perhaps you'll have better luck, dunno! I just don't want water everywhere, so am tying the cup feeder instead. Will let you know how that goes.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

I do not recognize any of the BYC handles in this thread that are having troubles as people who got nipple drinkers from me. If you are experiencing difficulties PLEASE contcat me. I will try to work you out of those problems.

 

[lfreem2]

Neil, if you've got a solution, I'd love to hear it!

Thanks!

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
It's fairly simple math. Each foot of hydrostatic head (the height of the water) is .433 PSI. A 36" tall drum placed at the height of the nipples can only give 1.3 PSI. To get 10 PSI of pressure you need a water height of 23 feet.

 

[Fool]

lfreem No. Siphoning has no bearing on this issue. My barrel just has the lid sitting on top, so there is no vacuum happening. a ling running out of the top of the barrel does no good as that is not gravity feeding. Gravity feeding means that the point of water that is exiting must be slightly higher than the nipples to feed it water using gravity and no power. To raise the water up and out the top of the barrel would require a pump.

It's just simple math here. The nipples require 1-5 PSI of water pressure max to function. A barrel the size of mine provides way may PSI thanks to the weight of the water. Therefore, the nipples will leak because there is more pressure than they need involved. The PSI has to match up. The Little Giant waterer allows for up to 70 PSI, therefore it will work perfectly.

lfreem2, I don't think you understood my thoughts on siphoning here. Perhaps you have never siphoned a tank of gas, nor emptied a waterbed. It does not matter that you have a lid and therefore have no vacuum. You are not looking to make a feed store waterer that requires suction to pull air back into an inverted water source. No, you do not need a pump.
If you're opposed to sucking on a hose I have nothing for you

1. Water source must be higher than your waterer (one single waterer, each waterer would require its own hose).
2. Take the top off your water source
3. stick a hose into the top of your water source and down to the bottom of the bucket/barrel. Getting air into this end of the line is where you will loose the vacuum.
4. suck on the hose like you are at the 7-11 and just bought yourself a big gulp. This is to prime the hose.
5. here is where you either hold your thumb over the line/kink the hose/or close your previously installed ball valve in order to connect the water line to your waterer.
6. make the connection
7. open water flow to the waterer

As long as your waterer is lower than the barrel the weight of the water in the water line will "pull" water from the tank. If the intake side of the hose ever gets above the water level in the tank, you will have to reprime. the line.

Each waterer would require its own line. As DickGJ said - multiple in line waterers may let air into the line.​

 

[gdplum]

I have 4 nipples in the bottom of a 35 gallon plastic container....they work great. Hens learned to use them in half hour.

 

[DickGJ]

Quote:
It's fairly simple math. Each foot of hydrostatic head (the height of the water) is .433 PSI. A 36" tall drum placed at the height of the nipples can only give 1.3 PSI. To get 10 PSI of pressure you need a water height of 23 feet.

Mac thanks for the critical data I needed "Each foot of hydrostatic head (the height of the water) is .433 PSI" That being the case (I'm at my office right now so I can't measure to verify), I'll estimate my 60 gallon barrel to be approx 60". That means that the psi is: 2.165 and well under the <5 psi required for nipples. Does the width of that foot of water change the data any. Meaning...if the "column of water" is 1 ft high by 1 ft wide, 1 ft high by 2 ft wide or 1ft high by 3ft wide, does the psi remain .433 psi? Very interesting...thanks for the assist. You're right, it is fairly simple math once you have the data needed...I never heard of hydrostatic head before, so once again..."I learn something new everyday." That phrase always amazed me when I heard my 96-year old grandfather say the when I was a kid.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
The width of the water column doesn't matter, only the height.

That's how most municipal water systems operate. Water is pumped into a water tower or a reservoir high on a hill. To get 50 PSI at your kitchen sink faucet , the height of the water in the water tower has be at least 115 feet above the faucet.

While the watering nipples may work from 0-5 PSI, the pressure sets the amount the of water that is discharged each time a bird triggers the nipple. If you are using them inside a henhouse you don't want a lot of water going on the floor from the birds drinking. Take a look at the these management procedures for commercial nipple watering systems. Take note that pressure is usually well under 24" of water column.

http://www.ziggity.com/pdf/cont/cont_document_pdf_pdf_5.pdf/Broiler_Applications.pdf

http://www.ziggity.com/pdf/cont/con..._Pressure_Settings_for_Floor_Applications.pdf

 

[Fool]

Mac - interesting stuff there.

This suggests that if you siphon out of the top of the barrel, thus raising the water column before going to the waterers this increases water pressure, no?

Also, that there is no increase in water pressure from the weight of the water bearing down on a spigot, regardless of the size of the tank?

That nipple waterers are meant to function at a pressure that creates some leakage. "2. If the litter under the drinker line is totally dry, increase the water column pressure gradually until a slight dampness develops."

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Yes, if you siphon out of the top of the barrel you will raise the height of the water column and increase the pressure.

The size of the tank does not matter, only the height of the water. Yes, there is a lot of water weight there, but the pressure is measured per square inch. If you have a 12" water column with a cross section of 1 sq inch, you have 12 square inches of water, which has a weight of .433 lbs. Hence .433 lbs on that square inch, or .433 PSI. If you double the cross sectional area of that column to 2 sq inches, you now have .866 lbs of water bearing on 2 sq inches, which is still .433 pounds per square inch.

No, the nipples are not designed to leak. The dampness is from the birds drinking and spilling water. If the water pressure is too high, more water than a bird can drink in one sip is being discharged when the nipple is triggered with the excess going on the ground and creating wet litter. If the litter is too dry that means the birds are getting less than they can drink in one sip, aren't spilling any, and may not be getting enough water. Their recommendation to maintain the litter with a slight dampness ensures that the birds are only getting slightly more than a beak full with each sip, vs way too much or not enough.

Our 2500 birds drink 125 gallons a day. If the water pressure is set too high and for every drop that a bird drinks another drop goes on the floor, I'd have 125 gallons of water going on the floor every day. Obviously that would be quite a problem.