Vertical (gravity) vs. horizontal (spring loaded) watering nipples

[aart]

Quote: You'd have to check with the manufacturer of the product you have.

 

[pdirt]

The US distributor for Solway, the main manufacturer (and maybe the only one? I'm not sure) for the horizontal nipples should be able to answer that for you for the horizontal nipples.

Rich Sabonjohn:
rich386 (at) windstream (dot) net

 

[LoneOak]

ROKDOLL
The pressure on the water cups (as with most all chicken waters) need only about 5psi pressure. They work better if they are set up on a gravity flow only system.

When I first installed one of my set ups, I have several, I was gravity feeding off a 55 gal drum in the loft of my barn and it was like turning on a high pressure hose everytime the chickens stuck their beak in the cup. The cups will not maintain a large amount of water in them, only a few drops. The birds will go to drink this drop and suddenly another drop will appear and get gobbled up. Then the process will repeat itself over and over.

The biggest lesson to learn getting birds to drink out of any of these type feeders is to remove all other forms of water. They should have no other choice than to learn how to use the cups or nipples. Cups work great, don't abandon them yet as you have already spent your hard earned money on them and they DO WORK!

If your problem is pressure from your water supply, then rig you up a holding tank with a float valve to keep it full and gravity feed down to your cups or other drinkers. Search around and look for some of my pictures and they might give you some ideas.

 

[mainechicklet]

I use the horizontal water nipple system. This winter we got down to -18 for 3 days in a row. With my mini stock tank heater setup...no freeze-ups whatsoever.

I have been using the HN since April and my setup is exactly like the bucket above. Three 2-gal buckets with 3-4 HN each. They have worked perfectly fine and I love them. However last week as the temps dropped to the 40-50s, they all began to leak, but it appears that the buckets are leaking from behind the HN and not the HNs themselves. Is there a contraction issue here or do I need to loosen/tighten them as the temps change or do I need buckets that are not hard plastic.....?
Also, where can I purchase the heater pictured above?

Thanks.

 

[pdirt]

Quote:
The HN's seal very well by themselves due to their tapered threads. I have not found using teflon pipe tape necessary. When you say, "...but it appears that the buckets are leaking from behind the HN and not the HNs themselves.", are you saying that you think it is leaking where the nipple inserts into the bucket? If so, then here are few thoughts:

* You may have originally over- or under-tightened the nipples. They should be HAND tightened just snugly, not as tight as possible, otherwise they could leak. If you think you over-tightened them, I'm not sure the best route, but you might be able to rectify with teflon tape or new nipples. Or you could drain, clean and dry the buckets and re-install the nipples while using aquarium grade silicone sealant (the aquarium stuff doesn't have toxic chemicals that can leach into the water).

* Check that you installed the nipples square to bucket surface.

* I drill a 3/8" hole to install HN's, which works perfectly. My hunch is that a hole too big or small might lead to problems.

Not sure about the de-icer list above, but I have used this one the last two years and love it. It fits easily into a 3 to 5-gallon bucket:

http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Stoc...qid=1444254454&sr=8-1&keywords=k&h+stock+tank

I removed the float ring so it sits on the bottom of the bucket. This works just great with HN's, but will NOT work with vertical nipples below about 20F, iirc.

 

[aart]

The HN's seal very well by themselves due to their tapered threads. I have not found using teflon pipe tape necessary. When you say, "...but it appears that the buckets are leaking from behind the HN and not the HNs themselves.", are you saying that you think it is leaking where the nipple inserts into the bucket? If so, then here are few thoughts:

* You may have originally over- or under-tightened the nipples. They should be HAND tightened just snugly, not as tight as possible, otherwise they could leak. If you think you over-tightened them, I'm not sure the best route, but you might be able to rectify with teflon tape or new nipples. Or you could drain, clean and dry the buckets and re-install the nipples while using aquarium grade silicone sealant (the aquarium stuff doesn't have toxic chemicals that can leach into the water).

* Check that you installed the nipples square to bucket surface.

* I drill a 3/8" hole to install HN's, which works perfectly. My hunch is that a hole too big or small might lead to problems.

I've found starting with smaller than 3/8" drill is the way to go
Start small, you can always go bigger but hard to make a hole smaller.
No matter the size of hole, it must be smooth and clean, drilled carefully with a very sharp bit.

Instead of retyping my thoughts, I have linked my previous posts in this thread here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ing-loaded-watering-nipples/210#post_14202676
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ing-loaded-watering-nipples/330#post_14593735

 

[Chaos18]

I use the horizontal water nipple system. This winter we got down to -18 for 3 days in a row. With my mini stock tank heater setup...no freeze-ups whatsoever.

What heater do you use and where can I buy it? I need to get something together before this winter.

 

[mainechicklet]

My horizontal nipples in the white 2.5 gal bucket were perfectly fine from April-Sept....no leakage. I used the recommended drill bit 11/32 and inserted them perfectly square and hand-tightened. It looks like the plastic bucket has cracked above each HN. Maybe I over-tightened them originally but got away with it as long as the days were warm and as the temps dropped the plastic became a bit more brittle.... At this point I don't know if I should just purchase new plastic buckets.

I purchased a 2-gal black rubber bucket today (designed for livestock) thinking that the rubber might be more forgiving than the hard plastic. What do you think?

Also, the submersible heaters that you all recommend specify safety for plastic buckets. What about the rubber buckets?

On a slightly different note from way back in the thread: My 22 hens learned to use the HN within a minute and don't hesitate ever to use them. However, if given the choice, they totally prefer a dish of water.

 

[aart]

My horizontal nipples in the white 2.5 gal bucket were perfectly fine from April-Sept....no leakage. I used the recommended drill bit 11/32 and inserted them perfectly square and hand-tightened. It looks like the plastic bucket has cracked above each HN. Maybe I over-tightened them originally but got away with it as long as the days were warm and as the temps dropped the plastic became a bit more brittle.... At this point I don't know if I should just purchase new plastic buckets.

I purchased a 2-gal black rubber bucket today (designed for livestock) thinking that the rubber might be more forgiving than the hard plastic. What do you think?

Also, the submersible heaters that you all recommend specify safety for plastic buckets. What about the rubber buckets?

On a slightly different note from way back in the thread: My 22 hens learned to use the HN within a minute and don't hesitate ever to use them. However, if given the choice, they totally prefer a dish of water.

What material is the bucket, ID or recycle number on the bottom?
Was it exposed to sunlight?
Might have over tightened, want to tighten juuuuust enough so no leaks..... very sharp angle on the HN's can create a lot of pressure.
Was it exposed to freezing temps without a heater?

Rubber bucket should work, if you can get a clean hole drilled in them, which could be iffy.
Even if hole was messy, it might still seal if rubber if soft enough.
Could test with hole up near top of bucket, so if it doesn't work bucket isn't totally useless.
Would want good fitting lid (with only a tiny hole for vacuum release) to contain humidity.

I use an aquarium heater isolated from jug bottom with a piece of polycarbonate(Lexan) and it's been fine,
don't know about any other heaters first hand.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I know that the bird bath heaters work with the black rubber feed tubs.