Low Voltage Chicken Water Container 

10/24/24

Well weather models are showing possible cold snaps next month, and combined with my avalanche of other house projects (aka major renovations) I find myself pressed for time to build a working solution instead of fully realized 'commercial' product.

I found a 10w USB powered fish tank heater and a small brush-less water pump. The heater has a built in temperature sensor and trigger, so the setup up should be rather easy without need of external PCB. I will be running some tests to ensure it can keep up. I found in my previous design that 40w was just enough in all but the coldest of temps (<0F), however that was in an uninsulated 5gal bucket. I'm banking on the insulated container being FAR more efficient at heat retention, and thus requiring far less heat input.

I also ordered a a neat little adapter from a company called Britetap. It's meant for retrofitting Igloo beverage dispensers, but I believe it will work with the container I have as well. I have some concerns about it's performance in freezing temps, So I'm also going to build a simpler version using standard PVC tubing. My theory is that the water movement from the pump will be sufficient to circulate warm water into these outlets and keep things from freezing. 








9/23/24

Started designing and concept drafting. I discovered that I'm making the project far more difficult for myself. The easy solution to keep the poultry water nipples from freezing would be to drill into the container and insert them directly. But I want to see if it's possible to design something that is 'non-destructive', simply screw in existing hole and plug in.

My current design utilizing off-the-shelf plumbing components. An internal flexible line leads from a pump inside the container, through the 1/2" stainless threaded nipple to a barb bulkhead fitting. This pumps water through a pipe which the poultry water nipples will be screwed into (not shown in diagram). The pumped water feeds back through to the bucket via the PVC Tee fitting. This also creates water movement inside the bucket, further preventing against freezing.

This will hopefully pump warm water around the water nipple valves to prevent freezing. The system will also still provide water even without the pump, which is a useful feature. I've ordered up some parts and I'll be doing some testing to see if things operate how I intend; so a proof-of-concept more or less.

I have several ideas for the actual water heater element. The most likely is a redesigned and vastly improved version of my first heater (in first post) with a few added features, like thermostat control and better voltage regulation. I have thought about a fully enclosed submersible unit (pump and heater) that screws directly onto the stainless nipple, but we'll see how things progress. I'd like to finish the 'plumbing' portion first before getting distraction with the electrical portion. Besides, I hopefully have a few months before we start having freezing water so I'm taking my time. 

9/16/2024

Last winter I developed a fairly rudimentary heater system for our chicken coop. There are many commercial options available, but because our coop only had low voltage available (24vDC), I had to work around that restriction.  That design used a combination of ceramic heating element, aluminum rod, and small water pump (for water movement). Overall, the system worked well and got us through the winter. However it wasn't perfect, it struggled in colder temps and I often found the water nipples freezing.

During the summer I also experimented with a concept involving coiled copper tubing and peltier units (think like those wood stove copper coil heaters). But after a lot of experimentation with different peltier units, pumps, and etc I found it was just too inefficient to be practical

Now with fall approaching, I'm revisiting the project in preparation for winter and I have a few ideas.