Nipples keep blocking, any ideas?

[spikennipper]

I have a small 2.5 litre bucket that I am using as a drinker for my quail with 2 nipples attached, the first week it was fine, today I noticed they were desperate for water and found the drinker was not dispensing water even though it was virtually full, I took it apart cleaned it and replaced the nipples and it worked for a bit but has stopped again, any ideas? the water here is quite hard but I saw no deposits in the nipples when cleaning and don't expect it to cause blocking this soon so I am at a loss, I have a larger 6 litre for my chooks using the same type of nipples and it is fine too, there is a lid attached to the buckets too.

 

[chfite]

One thought is that the pressure in the smaller container is not keeping the nipples as clean as the larger container. Nipples are sensitive to water pressure.

I have a 5 gallon bucket supplying the nipples on my watering system. If it fill the bucket, the nipples leak until the water level falls to the appropriate point. I don't worry about the leaking, because the run has sand in it. If the pressure falls too low, it may not flow through your system to feed the nipples.

If the lid fits tightly so that air cannot enter, it can keep the water from flowing through the nipples. I learned that the hard way with a bottle of water with a tightly fitting lid and no water flowing from the nipples. Air must be able to enter the bucket.

Hope this helps.

Chris

 

[spikennipper]

Thank you for the excellent advice! I have just gone out to loosen the lid and sure enough the water is flowing as it should now