Why does this leak???

[viktoriacl]

This crazy thing was expensive! It seems like even when its level the bottom part fills up and leaks out. It's not suppose to leak with the cover on. I tried hanging it but because the handle is flat it is never level and was even worse! Am I missing something????

 

[oldchickenlady]

Make your own with a plastic bucket? Does it screw onto the bottom or just sit in there? If it screws onto the bottom, is it screwed on tight enough?

 

[woodmort]

I've had a bunch of those double walled waterers and they never leaked if they were level--most especially if they are hung and plumb. Make sure you've got the hanger dead center on the handle. They work on a vacuum principle and as soon as water is taken out more seeps out to refill it. So either there is a hole in the outer shell or the tray is so low the water leaks out and has to be replenished.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
There is nothing to screw on--the outer shell slides over the inner one.

 

[viktoriacl]

It's weird that the thing has to be perfectly plum yet the hanger is flat! I dont get it! Can you see in the pic how the water is right to the very top edge? Is that always like that? So you think it's better to hang it? How do you keep it level? Any ideas would be great!

 

[mickistoy]

might be hard to explain but here it goes....how i would hang it would be to get a 2nd carabiner hang with 2 ropes at 45degree angles \\ / that way you can still take it down as needed. make sense? (sometimes whats in my head dont come out mouth right

)

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

The double walled galvanized fount that appears in the image was not designed to be hung by the handle on top. It is desiged to sit on an adequate flat and level base.

I suspect you have a pin hole size air leak in top piece of the fount.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Yes it will always be like that. While it doesn't have to be perfectly plumb, it has to be shimmed to make sure no water is running over the edge at any point--once it does it will empty. That is the major problem with them.

That isn't really a hanger, it is just a handle to carry it. As you seem to have figured out you twist the outer shell so the slot on the bottom fits over the pin in the inner wall. This latches both parts together so you can lift it by that handle once it's filled. In my experience eventually that pin will break off making the waterer useless.

Interestingly as a kid these were the only kind of portable waterers one would see--this was the Preplasticized Age--now most people don't seem to know how they work. I had a 30-something gal pet sitting for me that could not, for the life of her, figure how to get mine apart to fill.

 

[viktoriacl]

Thanks for the suggestions. Kind of makes me nervous to have the thing empty when they decide to perch on it and make it not level! Yikes! I liked the idea of being able to carry it without the water spilling out but now I'm thinking it may not be the best.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
Yes to the above.

Nor is it designed to be carried by the handle.