Nipple drinker issue- dripping?

[Squishypuff]

I made one of the DIY waterers out of a 2 liter soda bottle and one of the orange nipples... The issue I'm having is one that does not make sense to me. The nipple is dripping at a very steady rate. Drip drip drip drip. But it is not dripping like you'd expect, from around the drilled hole. The actual nipple just won't stop dripping. What am I doing wrong? There is zero leakage from around the edges, just directly from the nipple. I'm so frustrated! It's dripping at a fast enough rate that in about 5-6 hours the entire 2 liters of water was in the dish I set underneath to catch the drips.

Help!

 

[donsmit5]

Question for you, do you have the bottle level? That is one of the biggest problems with nipple waterers. Hope this helps you out.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Yes, the nipple itself MUST hang vertically, or the little metal "tap it" thing is offset and water drips.

 

[Squishypuff]

Hmm... It might not be perfect. I punched little holes at the top (ok, technically the bottom) of the 2-liter to run a string through for hanging, and they are not exactly right. I will try again tomorrow and see if that fixes the issue.

Thank you, I never would have thought of that!

 

[zekii]

I bought these

http://www.qcsupply.com/420011-push-in-style-nipple.html

and they do not leak even thou my plastic milk jugg is not hanging perfectly level.

The 1st one I installed I cracked the milk jugg around the hole, it was a hairline crack but it did leak.
You might want to check and be absolutely sure you did not crack the bottle around the nipple hole

 

[Squishypuff]

I have the "heavy duty" version of what you posted.

The leaking isn't from around the nipple, it's coming from the nipple itself- like the nipple has no "shut off" to it like it ought to. I'm thinking this one might just be a dud, and maybe I need to try a different one.

 

[coloradonewbie]

This may sound like a dumb question, but believe me, it's a real question for some of us: do you have the nipple turned the right way?

My housemate and I both thought that the small end was what the chickens drank out of, but upon perusal of the picture at Farmtek.com (although I bought the ones from QC pictured in the previous post), it's the LARGE end that hangs down.

Now that I've installed it correctly, it works well, even though the frosting plasic 'can' that we're using isn't level -- with knife punctures in the top . . . . .

Good luck!

 

[Squishypuff]

Ok, well now I feel like an idiot! You hit the nail on the head. I thought they drank from the small end. OOPS! LOL! I will fix that today. Thank you everybody!

 

[BellevueOmlet]

Is it a push-in style nipple? If so, the big side is down, if it is screw in, the small side is down. I stopped using nipples because they always leak at least a little because my chickens will sometimes press the nipple and let the water flow onto the ground.

 

[Squishypuff]

I finally figured it out. Apparently, there is no room for error in drill bit size. I did not have an 11/23 (23/11?) bit, so I used a different size... Hence the drippage. I bought the right size today and made 2 non leaking waterers, one small one out of a Simply Orange container for the brooder, and a big bucket one for outside for the bigger chickens. Moral of this story- read the directions and adhere to them. LOL.