Help with homemade PVC watering setup.

[cheeseheadken]

Good afternoon friends,

I've put together a watering setup for my new coop and have run into an issue. I'm hoping someone out there can spot it, or confirm what I suspect.

You'll see a picture of the outside of the coop below. Basically, I have a "tank" made of 4" PVC, which reduces to 1/2" PVC and has a shutoff valve connected to it (It's the black thing under the left corner of the nest box). After the shutoff valve, the 1/2" PVC continues under the nest box where it makes a left turn through the wall into the coop. On the inside, the 1/2" pipe makes another right turn down into a reservoir for the chickens to drink from. All of the joints are glued except for the 1/2" pipe that goes through the wall (in case I needed to detach the pipe) and the cap on top of the 4" tank.

The issue I have is that when the valve is open, the water runs out of the reservoir onto the floor of the coop--even though the bottom of the pipe from the tank is submerged under the water. It is my understanding that if there is an air-tight seal, the reservoir would only fill to the bottom of the pipe, at which point no air could get in, and the water would stop. So, I put a plastic bag over the top of the tank and put the cap on over it in hopes it would be air tight. It still overflows in the coop. So, I keep the valve shut off and go out there a few times a day to let some more into the reservoir--which defeats the purpose of the whole darn thing.

So, I guess my questions are:

1. Am I correct in my understanding that if all joints are air tight, the reservoir should only fill to the bottom of the fill pipe (which, again, is lower than the edge of the reservoir)?

and

2. If #1 is correct, it basically means that I have air seeping in between the cap and the tank, or the pipe and the 90 degree fitting which turns it into the coop, right? If that is the case, then I need to glue the pipe to the fitting and/or find some way to keep the cap from leaking air, while at the same time keeping it easy to take on and off.

Any suggestions?

PS - coop still needs trim and paint - but between grad school and the heat there as been no time or motivation.

 

[mnferalkitty]

Where you put the water has to be lower then what the water goes into, I can't tell from the picture if your water dish is same level as where you put the water in or if its lower etc.?

Here is a thread where someone had the same problem.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/670581/help-with-barrel-waterer/10

 

[Roosterloo]

This is an interesting idea. We have a dog water bowl that works on a similar principle. It is a miniature ceramic toilet that uses a 2 liter water bottle inverted in the "tank" that continuously fills the "bowl" with enough water to keep it at a drinkable level for the dogs. What I think is at work is that the combination of the force of the vacuum inside the bottle and the force of the water outside of the bottle (in the bowl) are balanced at the mouth of the 2 liter bottle when the water in the bowl is at a certain level. To replicate this situation in your coop my thoughts on how you might fix your problem are: 1) further step down the 1/2" pipe to a narrower tubing, like 1/4" inside diameter; 2) step down and glue on another ball valve to the cap end of your water reservoir. With this you could completely seal this end, but still open it to add water.

 

[cheeseheadken]

Thanks for your suggestions. I really do think that I have air leaking in through one or both of those unsealed joints--I am going to glue the one elbow that is not sealed this evening and see if that changes anything. If not, I may go ahead and add a valve to the top of the tank, as you suggested Roosterloo, to provide a seal. I'll update once I have it figured out. Thanks!

 

[Roosterloo]

I hope it ends up being a quick/cheap fix. Let us know.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

You can contain the system so there is nothing opena nd attach waterer cups to the pvc. Then you would not have any leaks. I can't tell from the picture what the water goes into so I don't knwo if it would work with your setup or not.