Winter water heater

[CKfarm22]

Hey y’all, I live in New Jersey where the winters can get pretty brutal with snow and cold temperatures. Right now our water system is a 2 gallon bucket with a hose connected to a piece of pvc pipe with water nipples coming from it. I’m wondering if anyone has any advice for keeping the water heated in the winter time. Any heaters that could go on the bucket or in the bucket?

 

[3KillerBs]

If you search the articles you'll find quite a few ways to keep a waterer from freezing.

After looking at the costs of everything I'd need to make one myself I decided that I will probably get one of these from Premier 1 because it's only a little more expensive and my time has value too.

https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/heated-poultry-waterer?cat_id=141

 

[wamtazlady]

Fall is when so many people start to worry about their winter water system. You'll see lots of people writing then. I live in NW Montana where temperatures get into the -20s F. I use a plastic tote with lid, horizontal nipples, and a 250 watt stock tank deicer that is rated for use in plastic. The deicer turns on at about 35 degrees and turns off again at about 40 so that it only keeps the water thawed, not warm. The nipples are attached to the tote itself. I only have a half dozen chickens so the water only needs filled every couple weeks or so. My chickens have never been out of water due to freezing.

Using nipples attached to PVC pipe adds a bit of a problem. If you wanted to keep that system you might have to add a circulating pump to keep the water in the pipe from freezing. Of course, that all depends on your winter temperatures.

They do make bucket heaters. You can also buy a heated bucket. Most feed type stores will have these available.

 

[blackdog043]

Seeing what you have set up, you will definitely need something else for winter. Make sure all of the water is out of the PVC before winter or it may crack.

 

[kerbotx]

You might also be interested in a Thermo-Cube - basically it's an outlet extender, with a thermostat, so it only comes on when you really need it. There are different temperature ranges available, to suit your climate.

 

[rosemarythyme]

You can kind of see it in this picture here. We were thinking about getting a heater that just goes right into the water. But i see how it may cause a problem with the pvc pipe. We may just end up getting a heated bucket for the winter!

Can't really see but I assume those are vertical nipples? Verticals will freeze regardless if the water in the PVC is liquid, due to more of the nipple components sitting external to the waterer.

Also the feed line from the bucket to the PVC will probably freeze, as it's not as insulated from outside temperatures as much as the bucket/PVC is.

 

[wamtazlady]

Did your water de-icer make the water hot or warm?

The water stays thawed. It is not warm or hot. The stock tank deicer has a thermostat. It turns on at about 35 degrees and off again at about 40 or 45 degrees. This is the deicer I use.

 

[Sally PB]

You might also be interested in a Thermo-Cube - basically it's an outlet extender, with a thermostat, so it only comes on when you really need it. There are different temperature ranges available, to suit your climate.

What a great idea. I'll have to look into that too. Thanks!

 

[Happy hen lover]

If you search the articles you'll find quite a few ways to keep a waterer from freezing.

After looking at the costs of everything I'd need to make one myself I decided that I will probably get one of these from Premier 1 because it's only a little more expensive and my time has value too.

https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/heated-poultry-waterer?cat_id=141

That's ingenious! That's a bargain considering the time it takes to DIY one yourself.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Were thinking about getting heated tape (i think that’s what it’s called) to wrap around the pvc pipe and the hose. If it doesn’t work for us we’re going to just buy a heated water bucket!

You'd still need to manually defrost the nipples each morning (I did that for 2 winters... just took a cup of warm water with me to the run each morning). The heated bucket would be a better bet for sure!