Heated Rabbit watering system

[a2lute]

Okay, there was some interest in my watering system for my rabbits so I'm going to cover what did and did not work.

Below is a picture of my water resevoir. It was orignally 10 gallons, down to about 8 with the foam cap protruding in. I stuck a 5 gallon bucket upside down in there, cut a flat piece of cardboard the ID of the cooler, then put a trash bag in as an easy to remove liner. I hot glued two sections of pipe insulation in, one shorty for wires and a full length for the hose. only spray the foam in 1 layer at a time, it needs air to cure. Then I ran plugs through the short hole for a 50w temp controlled heater, and an aquarium pump. The 5/16 hose ran out the long insulation piece.


The original plumbing had a 5/16 hose out from the pump, tee'd off at each water bowl. Then it looped back down the insulation and into the bucket. In there I had a piece of plastic wedged into the open end so water sprayed out. This created backpressure necessary to push water out the valves. You have to design some back pressure into this circulating design, or the water will not come out when the girls use the valves. The red arrows show flow. When it got about 16-20° out the water froze about where the green line was. There was not enough turbulence to make the water go down the tee and keep it thawed.

 

[a2lute]

I thought of a few ideas, but I have tried my dads suggestion as it was the fastest to implement. I changed the T at the end to have a 1/8 barb and two 5/16 barbs. This let me attach 20' of 1/8 hose, and make loops around the valve body. The 1/8" hose with the kinks and coil provides back pressure itself, the water kind of dribbles out the return hose in the resevoir. Temps really haven't dropped enough to test the heating coil but it does supply water well. I'm hoping this works!

 

[MuddyFarms]

Thanks for sharing it with us! Hope your adjustments do well.

A system can save so much time each winter.

 

[a2lute]

Okay, update time!

So here in Michigan we had a late start to winter. as the temperature got below 20°F the system I installed failed. the vinyl hose got soft from the warm water and kinked where it was coiled. This seriously reduced the flow, to the point where they system froze up on me.

So after a few days of hand watering, I figured I could use copper fridge line to make the coils, as it would retain its round shape. I don't have pictures but this worked MUCH better. The return line has a steady flow of water down into subzero temps as opposed to the vinyl coils that only gave me drips.

HOWEVER, the valve at the feeder bowls still freezes below about 5°F. So back to hand watering when it is SUPER cold. The system does thaw itself out as the temperature comes back up, which is really nice because I had to use a heat gun to disassemble the frozen vinyl tube and bring it inside the first time.

I do have an idea to get the water flow directly to the valve, parts are on order and hopefully I will have a report next week.

 

[NY Rabbits]

You will have trouble keeping that small diameter tubing from freezing when the temps drop. I use 1/2" pvc as my main trunk line. at each cage I have a threaded pvc T. A brass fitting screws into the T and the brass water nipple screws into this. The brass conducts heat to the nipple and keeps things from freezing up. I use a magnetic pond pump to keep the water moving and a tank heater, rather than a deicer, to keep the water at 85F. This system has worked well for me down to -10F here in upstate NY. I plan to build a second system using 1/2" pex and appropriate brass fittings. I think the pex will be easier to work with and make repairs when needed.

 

[a2lute]

I'm not having issues with the small tube freezing, the flow rate is high enough it does not get a chance to freeze anymore. It's the larger 5/16" tubing that does not have flow that is getting me. And unfortunately the body of my valves are plastic, with the barb built in. If mine were metal like yours I would likely not have issues.

 

[a2lute]

Okay, Here's what I've done. It is a Tee fitting with a small copper tube being one leg of the tee that reaches inside the body of my valve. This should bring hot water all the way to the inside of the watering bowl. I will be installing them by this weekend, I hope the flow is still nice and high, other than that I should be all set!