Freeze proof automatic watering system

[Rich386]

Not having to carry water for a few months sounds good to me.Hope you had a great Christmas.
Rich

 

[3 NH reds]

Not having to carry water for a few months sounds good to me.Hope you had a great Christmas.
Yea I hope your was good as well

 

[Island Roo]

I like the repurposed toilet setup - it adds a certain charm to the project

I've got freezing temps too. This is the valve I'm installing in my tank - people use these for ponds. In the summer I'll leave it connected to a hose. I'll probably only need 2 or 3 fill ups for the winter - I'll just drag a hose out for that.

 

[bruceha2000]

I then added a plastic floating water heater and a small fountain pump. I recirculate the water using pex tubing with fittings that go to the pvc pipe. We had some cold nights in the high teens and everything works. I plugged into a temperature activated outlet so the pump would not run unless the air temp is below 35*. Even if I ran it 24/7 the cost would be low enough.

Where do you live? Looking at your setup, I'm pretty sure those nipples will freeze if it gets much colder than what you have seen. Mine did (well, OK, not MINE but the ones in the pipe) the day the outside temp got down to 7F. Not sure what the temperature threshold was. I'm using saddle nipples though so there may be a bit more distance between the circulating water and the pin. On the other hand, yours is fully exposed to the weather and apparently for a great distance. The temp of the water in the pipe can drop pretty fast when it is really cold.

I modified mine by making a radiant floor nest box that also holds the water pipe with just the metal pins sticking out below the 3/8" plywood. Hasn't been cold enough to see if it works better though. I have a 250W stock tank heater in a 5 gallon insulated drink container. I am currently working on enclosing the whole mess in a wood sided (because the stupid chickens peck) rigid insulation affair. Figure the less heat that can be lost, the less money I spend on the heater. My pump is a puny thing but it doesn't have to push much vertical. I think I could run it all winter for a few dollars.

I figure it might help keep the eggs from freezing as well as keep the nipples open. I checked the water temp today (it was 22F in the coop) and the water in the container was 55F.

Pipe nestled between 2 pieces of 1" rigid insulation. The piece that is angled for this picture sits on the pipe and the clear tubing then connects to the fitting and loops on top of the top piece.


Nipple pins sticking out under the 3/8" plywood. The girls have been using this same pipe for 4 months when it was just attached to the coop wall so they had no problem figuring out how to get water.


Loops of clear tubing. Nothing scientific about the layout, just put it in. I figure being encased with 1" foam below and on the sides with the 1/4" nest box floor above, it didn't need to be too precise.


Installed in the coop, no shavings or dividers yet. There are now 2 dividers so three nests in ~45"x12" box.
The tubing goes out the back, through the wall and into the drink container. You can just see the top of the container through the clear plastic on the wall.


The stock tank heater and pump. I said it was small didn't I?



Insulated drink container


The pump pushes the water out the right side directly to the end of the water pipe. It then goes through the pipe to the loops of tubing under the 1/4" plywood floor of the nest box on the way back to the left side connection of the container. I'm planning to cut a slot in the top edge of the container so the electric cords can be just below the lid and I can screw it on. The other option I guess is a hole just big enough for the plugs dead center in the lid. In either case, there will be an air gap so the container doesn't air lock as the water level drops.

What you see in the last picture worked great when it was just gravity feed through the water pipe in the summer and with the heater and pump before it got really cold. If I had planned this from the get go, I would have made the insulated box for the container as a single unit. As it is, I'm piece-mealing it all together, fitting around what is there and it is a PITA. You might notice that that wall to the right of the container leans out at the top pretty severely. No, your eyesight isn't bad, OLD barn.

Bruce

 

[Rich386]

Excuse my ignorance but I have never seen this valve. What is it called? How does it work?
Thanks for the comment on my watering system. The word CHARM never entered my mind! LOL

 

[Rich386]

I had to read your radiant heat idea twice to make sure I didn't miss any thing. I regret to inform you that this is not a good idea IT IS A GREAT IDEA!!! I wonder if it could not be expanded to heat the floor of a coop. The problem to solve, get the temperature high enough to heat the floor and have the nipples in the system at the right temperature. I can't say enough I am really impressed!!!
Rich

 

[bruceha2000]

Excuse my ignorance but I have never seen this valve. What is it called? How does it work?

It looks like a float valve. The brass fitting is unscrewed, then the threaded part is put through a hole (from the inside) in the side of the water tank at a position where you want the top of the water to be and the brass fitting screwed back on from the outside. Water line connects to the brass fitting and when the float drops enough, water is let in until the float pivots back up. Like a toilet valve, the old kind with the giant ball that floats in the water in the tank.

Like Island Roo said, a summer set up as you don't want to freeze the water in the hose coming from the sill cock. Or worse, freezing and then cracking the sill cock. The only safe outside water in cold areas is a spigot that has it's shutoff below frost level. Around here that is 4', There was one in the barn when we bought this place. Very convenient. Takes little while for the water to come all the way up since it is 4' below ground level plus another 3' to the handle and when you shut the faucet off, the water that was in the vertical pipe above the valve drains into the ground. You aren't going to leave that open in a set up like Island Roo's either unless you want to crack an expensive 4' long faucet.

I had to read your radiant heat idea twice to make sure I didn't miss any thing. I regret to inform you that this is not a good idea IT IS A GREAT IDEA!!! I wonder if it could not be expanded to heat the floor of a coop. The problem to solve, get the temperature high enough to heat the floor and have the nipples in the system at the right temperature. I can't say enough I am really impressed!!!
Rich

Thanks, now I have to see how well it works.

I'm sure it would work to heat the coop floor as well. It is just a poor man's version of radiant floor heat with a lot cooler water running through the tubing. The water pipe is the first thing the warm water hits as it exits the container for just the reason you mentioned. The primary purpose of the setup is so the girls have water all the time. The warm floor nest box is a "bonus" since I don't think there will be lot of temperature drop now that the pipe is encased in foam board. There are threads dedicated to "heat or not". I'm going with the "they have personalized down coats so I don't heat" crowd. I'd rather feed them a little more and "spot heat" individual chickens from the inside than pay to heat the coop. Besides, if the power goes out and the girls are feathered for 55F instead of 0F, they would likely die from the cold.

I had put up a single open nest box (corner horse grain feeder) and some of the girls seem to prefer that and those are the ones using the new box. The rest as still using the enclosed community box. I put my hand under the shavings of the heated box and it was definitely warmer than the ambient air. I'm hoping the girls don't decide they want to use it as a heated bed,

Bruce

 

[Rich386]

Keep me currant I could not stop thinking about this all day! SOOOOO COOL

 

[3 NH reds]

I went out today after our snow storm and the buried pvc pipe that brings water between two runs had melted the snow My camera is a cheap one and the entire system is spread out over all the runs so it is not possible to get it all in one picture. But someone pm'd me looking for more info so I will try to explain it better.
The 55 gallon tank has a Farmers Innovator's floating 1250 watt pond heater rated from 50 gallons to 600 gallons and a Little Giant fountain pump The pump discharge fitting takes a 1/2" npt 3" pipe I then attached a Shark Bite fitting that goes from the 1/2" npt to pex tubing that snaps in. The pex tubing goes from the drum into the farthest run. From the in coming pex tubing it goes into a shark bite fitting that attaches to 1/2" npt pipe.this threads into 3/4" pvc pipe that has threaded nipples screwed into it. I then used 90* fittings to make all the bends. The pvc pipe is buried between two runs to prevent a trip hazard and comes into the next run where again it is a 3/4" pvc pipe with nipples threaded in. Finally the pvc pipe using 90* fittings returns to the bottom of the 55 gallon drum making a continuous loop of heated water . For warm weather I unplug the pump and heater and this makes a simple gravity fed system.
Now that I am Turkey free for the winter water use is way down but it is still good to fill a 55 gallon drum and walk away. Bad pics ot the melting snow between the runs and the pex tubimg going into the pvc pipe are bellow.

 

[bruceha2000]

Good description and the pictures are fine. Not everyone has a humongous pixel camera and besides, I don't think BYC would want a bunch of 10M photo uploads anyway!

Bruce