Coop and Water Heaters Keep Breaking

[Turnips]

First time chicken owner here, and I was wondering if anyone else had trouble with their heated chicken tools breaking very quickly. I have a coop heater and heated water bottle that both came from tractor supply, and both stopped heating after about 4 weeks. The water bottle actually only worked for about 3 days of actually using it. Do these things usually break so fast? Any ideas of something I could be doing wrong?

If anyone has advice on how to fix these or more durable products, I'm all ears.

 

[chickentrains]

I got a TSC water heater and it still works fine. we use it all year round, and just plug it in during the winter. Sometimes it cant keep up with how cold it is, but thats the only issue

 

[Sheepheart]

We usually don’t have problems with our heated products, though my duck water did a strange thing, water was somehow getting in the base and shorting it out and the heating element when bad in my geese’s heated bucket. I had just bought these things in November. The receiver at the farm store I work at said they lasted longer than she expected, so it may be some brands are just producing lower quality products?

I got a TSC water heater and it still works fine. we use it all year round, and just plug it in during the winter. Sometimes it cant keep up with how cold it is, but thats the only issue

From what I’m told using a heated water all year, even if unplugged can mess up the thermostat, which would cause it to struggle to keep up. It could also be that the heating element it going bad?

 

[Tre3hugger]

General consensus seems to be that TSC products are hit or miss. Personally I have had decent results but if you read through the reviews you will always see a handful of people's products who fail quickly for no reason. For products that would be catastrophic if they failed, it might make sense to spend more on a reputable brand (brisnea, premier1supplies etc), double so if it has a warranty. Also, TSC typically offers a warranty for a few dollars. It's probably worth it for item's that are their brand and may just not hold up.

 

[Mellowmalt]

Maybe there is an issue with condensation or water getting to the electrics. They shouldn't really burn out that fast but I find some chicken products are overpriced and mostly cheap chinese components. A lot of people use plant seedling heat mats to place under watereers and heat mats for reptiles do the same job as a coop heater although you will have to check the rated wattage to make sure you are getting something equivalent to what broke.

I buy most my supplies either meant for the fish or reptile trade. I find the products to be safer, more durable and more waterproof but anything can break.

 

[Sheepheart]

We'll just get a new one, we probably will need it anyways, because its plastic. It was the first year we used it, so that might be why it still worked just fine. It is still out there now, because it holds more water than the orginal one we bought, and the girls will drink half of the 3 gallon water in a day, so I can change the water every 2 days, and not every day like the other one.

I get that, I have three different waterers and I have to fill all of them every morning and every night. Big part of it is because they are ducks but ya, poultry waterers, especially when not heated, always seem to be inconveniently small.

 

[Turnips]

I got a TSC water heater and it still works fine. we use it all year round, and just plug it in during the winter. Sometimes it cant keep up with how cold it is, but thats the only issue

It got down to about 18 degrees F (not too bad for this time of year) the other night when I noticed it was broken. I feel like it should be able to keep up with that. Maybe I am just unlucky

 

[chickentrains]

From what I’m told using a heated water all year, even if unplugged can mess up the thermostat, which would cause it to struggle to keep up. It could also be that the heating element it going bad?

We'll just get a new one, we probably will need it anyways, because its plastic. It was the first year we used it, so that might be why it still worked just fine. It is still out there now, because it holds more water than the orginal one we bought, and the girls will drink half of the 3 gallon water in a day, so I can change the water every 2 days, and not every day like the other one.

 

[chickentrains]

we get all of our chicken supplies from TSC because its the closest feed store/farm store, but I didn't think it was over priced. It was 40 bucks for a 3 gallon heated water. Seemed like a good deal to me?


https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/farm-innovators-heated-poultry-fount?cm_vc=-10005

the OG water and feeder we bought was this one, and it was almost just as expensive https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/harris-farms-2-gal-double-wall-drinker



So inside the coop we have the red one, up by the house we have the stainless steel one, and then a couple of dog bowls full of water that both the chickens and the dogs drink from

 

[Sheepheart]

If you continue having problems with traditional poultry heated waterers, the heated water bowls seem to last, I have one we’ve been using for five or six years now, and I just got another in a bundle at an auction, who knows how long it was used but it’s working great for me so far. And if you have ducks that like to splash around, I have the bowls set in small plastic pools to keep the run a bit dryer. The pool is also at an angle to the water collects away from the bowl.