Poultry cup leak

[stoopid]

Maybe bump up the supply line to 3/4". I know you put alot of time and money into this, but I think 1/2" is just too flexible to use...JMO

 

[DanEP]

I just put t's in the water line and screwed into those .

 

[BellevueOmlet]

I think you are right since the cups are rated for up to 5 lbs of pressure so pumping high pressure into them overloads the nozzle and the water will run over. If you hook it up to a bucket, you will not have that problem and if using a pressure regulator, make sure it is as low as it will go.

 

[clanreed]

Quote:
I am using mine with a pressurized system. I have a pressure reducing valve(red thing in photo) installed and am able to adjust the pressure between 0 and 10 psi. It seems to work best around 4 psi as the sensitivity for activating the yellow "ball/lever" to let water into the cup works for my young chicks.

I have had leaks at any pressure.

~Shannon

 

[clanreed]

Well I glued in the cups with pvc cement and 4 of the five are leak free. On the leaky one I went ahead and used epoxy around the fitting try and stop the leak, but it is still leaking.

My new plan:
I am now going to take my cups off this 1/2 inch supply line and go with a larger supply line. I am also going to look at the hardware store and see if I can get "T" fittings that can be correctly sized(either by themselves or with extra fittings) for the cups to screw into.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I Will let you all know how it goes...

~Shannon

 

[FarmerJ0hn]

Quote:
As I mentioned in the other thread try these these

I have a better idea of what happened now. The original fittings that cracked, they cracked where you screwed the cup in correct? You really don't need more then 2 turns, the more you screw them in the more chance of cracking, they are NPT threads which means the opening starts big and gets small and the cup threads start small and get big, so the more you screw them in the more they "wedge" and then crack. Not a problem with metals, big problem with plastics both because they are weaker and because they provide less friction. Just because they don't feel tight doesn't mean it's not sealed.

Also teflon tape is NOT a sealer, it's a common misconception. Teflon tape can act as a sealer but it is not designed to and can eventually fail in this respect. Teflon tape is designed to make it easier to screw NPT threads together (its TEFLON tape after all), making it easier to get to the point the threads seal where it would otherwise be very difficult (like larger metal threads). This is just like another pet peeve of mine, which is that wd-40 is a lubricant, it is not, it can work as a lubricant, but was not designed to be and if that's what you need you're better off using an actual lubricant.


PS I specifically avoided epoxy because it's nasty stuff, I would not drink out of something that used it, so I wouldn't let my chickens either.

 

[clanreed]

Leak Problem solved!

I redid the pvc line gluing in "T" fittings this time and then using another fitting/bushing to get the correct size hole for the cups to screw into and there have not been any leaks with the new set up. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

~Shannon

 

[Animalian]

good work!

 

[Happywife]

Very interesting thread!! I'm in the midst of re-vamping an old chicken house and have been working on feeders/waterers. I bought some of the poultry cups and installed them. I've got them hooked to a 1" pvc line. Using an old cooler chest as the reservoir for the water. The cups haven't leaked where I attached them to the pvc....they're leaking from the actual cups. Two of the four cups just keep filling and filling until they overflow. It's not a TON of water, since they re-fill rather slowly. But it's more water than I want leaking around the floor of my chicken house. Has anyone else had a problem with the CUPS leaking? This cooler chest isn't huge, just a regular-size chest. But maybe it's too high above the ground and causing more pressure than necessary for the water flow? The cooler is set on top of a 55-gal drum. Any ideas? Do I just have a faulty couple of cups? (Which is very weird to have 2 of the four I ordered be faulty.) I'm certainly open to suggestions.
Thanks all!

 

[plowboybunny]

I'm curious what size Tees you used? I can't find any that fit locally so I'm looking into ordering online and want to get the right size