Methods of watering without freezing

[beck2325]

So here in Michigan we already have our tank freezing. So now I am looking at ways to get water to our emu without freezing nor consuming massive amounts of power. Our chickens and ducks have a water system that I made with carbon heat tape on the outside of pvc then the tube put into a larger tube and spray foam insulated inside it then drill the holes and install the nipples. That way chickens couldn't eat the insulation and it barely consumes power. However I am not sure how well an emu can take to using maybe a larger version of a chicken nipple. I am looking at other options like just running a pump and having a continuous flow to keep from freezing or designing a bowl that fills via a lever when the beak goes in and doing the rest of the build the same as the chicken watering system. Any other ideas?

 

[Shadowfire]

Poultry supply companies usually offer water heaters, or you maybe could use a heat-ring that is intended for ponds; it's a floating heating coil encased in plastic that floats on the surface of the water to keep it from freezing. If your tub or waterer is open-topped and less then 55 gallons, it should work but I'll research to make sure there aren't any harmful chemicals that could leach into the water.

 

[beck2325]

Poultry supply companies usually offer water heaters, or you maybe could use a heat-ring that is intended for ponds; it's a floating heating coil encased in plastic that floats on the surface of the water to keep it from freezing. If your tub or waterer is open-topped and less then 55 gallons, it should work but I'll research to make sure there aren't any harmful chemicals that could leach into the water.

It's 1/3 of an ibc tote. The emu likes to drink from it because she used to swim in it and she likes to skim her beak across a big area of water. A lot of water surface area to lose heat with so the current tank just won't work. The water heating coils in our winter would chew up to $5/day($150/month) and barely keep up in January. The chicken system used to be an insulated heated bucket that was about $20/month so insulation of the tank should help but how much I'm not sure as the same issue applies of the water surface area leaking heat. My current chicken watering system is less than $5 of electricity a month. That is why I am so curious if an emu can use maybe a large version of a chicken nipple as i could make a big version of my chicken system and maybe only use $10/month of electricity instead of 15x that. I will have to check what the cost would be to make a continuous running water from the well at maybe a slow rate. It might cost about the same per month but not as much work to setup or have to get the emu adapted to using it. I guess not many people test these things to see what works best.