Help with PVC waterer!

[Korzak]

Hi all!

So I got some poultry nipples and PVC, and a bucket. I made this watering system you see in the picture.

Apart from slight leaks here and there, which I can probably fix easily.

The weird thing is that I used a length of clear hose to feed the pipe from the bucket, so that I could easily see what the water level was.

However, the water doesn't flow in and fill the tube! It only trickles into the tube when the nipples are poked. Is this normal fluid dynamics? Am I not bleeding or venting it properly? This is without a lid on the bucket, so I thought the whole thing would fill up.

Thanks!

 

[Howard E]

Looks to me like it is air locked. Hold a nipple open to bleed the air out of the large tube and it should fill the larger bottom tube. Once all the air is gone, water should continue to flow. That was ALL the air. If any air remains in that bottom tube, it may lock up again.

You may want to post this in the feed and water forum for additional ideas/advice.

 

[MambaJack]

I agree.
If you don't want to bleed it every time, you could add a vent pipe on the end of the watering tube that would extend up to the height of the top of the bucket

 

[Korzak]

Thanks! I didn't quite understand, but I added a pipe on the end that extends up past the top of the bucket. That lets me bleed the air out of the system when I fill it up again, and it works great now.

I had used some threaded plugs on each end at the start, for cleaning it out in the future, but even tightened down with a wrench, the plugs both leaked! I had to seal them shut with PVC cement.