- Jan 8, 2012
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Finally got my watering nipples in the mail yesterday after almost three weeks. (Turns out it was not the senders fault, it was my lazy no good neighbor down the street and mailman. He put them in wrong mailbox, and instead of neighbor walking 3 doors down and placing them in mine, she sent them back to post office...oh well)
Anyways, I made a setup out of an old 5gal water cooler. I took out the spout that was in there and found some 1/2" pvc parts to fit it, then expanded to 3/4" for my main run. I added 4 nipples to it. I drilled each hole with a 11/32" bit and put each nipple in with a wrench, snug but not over tight, just till the little clear washer started expanding. I let all the pvc dry for a few, flushed it with a full jug of water to get all the plastic dust out(I made a clean out at the end of the line for this purpose), and checked for any major leaks. I filled it back up, let the air get out of the system and went to get my kid from school. When I got back I noticed all 4 nipples were leaking(dripping) where it is screwed in. Not talking a ton of drippage...maybe one drip every 45 seconds to a minute...maybe more
I guess my question is, has anyone else had them not seal well to 3/4" PVC? I am thinking I need to use teflon tape. But my concern is this...I did a test drill on a scrap piece of PVC to make sure everything would fit before I drilled the main piece. When I unscrewed the nipple from the test piece (only finger tight) I noticed the threads were boogered up. I am afraid if I back these nipples out and teflon tape them, then try to reinsert they are going to be too boogered up to go back in, and it will leave the nipples unusable.
I just want to eliminate this leak issue before I build a similar watering system for inside the coop(currently using a shallow pan in the coop).
Second question?..
I have been using a bucket since I got my hens. Should I eliminate the bucket immediately and let them figure it out, or leave bucket in for a while? They paid no attention to it, but it was late afternoon before I got done. Sorry for all the silly questions. I usually succeed in over-thinking everything
Some pics of the setup



Anyways, I made a setup out of an old 5gal water cooler. I took out the spout that was in there and found some 1/2" pvc parts to fit it, then expanded to 3/4" for my main run. I added 4 nipples to it. I drilled each hole with a 11/32" bit and put each nipple in with a wrench, snug but not over tight, just till the little clear washer started expanding. I let all the pvc dry for a few, flushed it with a full jug of water to get all the plastic dust out(I made a clean out at the end of the line for this purpose), and checked for any major leaks. I filled it back up, let the air get out of the system and went to get my kid from school. When I got back I noticed all 4 nipples were leaking(dripping) where it is screwed in. Not talking a ton of drippage...maybe one drip every 45 seconds to a minute...maybe more
I guess my question is, has anyone else had them not seal well to 3/4" PVC? I am thinking I need to use teflon tape. But my concern is this...I did a test drill on a scrap piece of PVC to make sure everything would fit before I drilled the main piece. When I unscrewed the nipple from the test piece (only finger tight) I noticed the threads were boogered up. I am afraid if I back these nipples out and teflon tape them, then try to reinsert they are going to be too boogered up to go back in, and it will leave the nipples unusable.
I just want to eliminate this leak issue before I build a similar watering system for inside the coop(currently using a shallow pan in the coop).
Second question?..
I have been using a bucket since I got my hens. Should I eliminate the bucket immediately and let them figure it out, or leave bucket in for a while? They paid no attention to it, but it was late afternoon before I got done. Sorry for all the silly questions. I usually succeed in over-thinking everything
Some pics of the setup