Thursday, March 15, 2007
Automatic Water
We used to have a flexible watering system and now we have a PVC-based watering system with heat cables. Since we've been through a full winter now with it, I thought I'd give you my opinion of it.
I LOVE IT.
The diameter of the pipes is so much larger than the flexible system that it takes colder weather (or cold weather longer) to freeze the pipes in the first place. But because we installed a heat cable while we were putting in the system, we had absolutely no frozen water in the barn this winter (except in crocks).
The heat cables are plugged into thermostats, so they come on when it's cold and go off when it's warm. It was totally care-free this winter.
The diameter of the pipes also means that much more water flows through the drain taps we have at the end of each line. It doesn't take long to flush out the lines and filling a jug of water is a snap. When we had the flexible system, it took a number of minutes to fill a jug of water. Since I give litters crocks and have two cages off of the system, I need to be able to fill the jug to fill a number of crocks.
It was so lovely this winter not having to carry even one pail of water to the barn from the house!
There are definitely some downsides to the system.
First, it was harder to install than the flexible system. With the tubing, it really was just a matter of taking a pair of scissors to the barn and pushing the pieces together. I'm not saying that the PVC pipe was very difficult, mind you, just that it was not as easy. There was more planning and measuring involved. There was more calculating of the pieces we'd need. The clips that secure the pipe to the cage are much harder to install than stand-off brackets with the flexible system.
I don't think that the PVC system was much more expensive than the flexible one, but it was definitely somewhat more expensive. The cost of the heat cables and thermostat cubes made the PVC system decidedly more expensive, but you get totally different functionality from that cost.
It's not as changeable as the flexible system. I was thinking about adding another wing to my barn when I realized that it would mean reworking one end of the watering system. The heat cable cannot be cut, to it would be a task to take off the end, disconnect the wiring, run the new PVC backwards onto the wire, and then reconnect everything again.
Because the clips holding the PVC against the cage are so difficult to work with, we've decided that taking the cages down and outside for pressure washing is no longer an option. With the flexible system, we unclipped them easily and reattached them after the cleaning with no problem.
The last downside of the system has to do with how we installed it. We ran it behind the cages so that it wouldn't interfere with our doors, feeders, and hayracks. It works well as far as logistics go. However, when trying to teach rabbits to use the system, it's not as handy to have it in the back. When I come to the door, rabbits often come to me to see what's going on. It's hard to get them to pay attention to the back of the cage. It seems to me that I've had an increased number of rabbits having trouble learning the system. Of course, maybe if I didn't coddle them with crocks as babies I wouldn't have as much problem.
But for all of the drawbacks, the benefits clearly outweigh them, in my opinion. I'm very much enjoying the system and am very glad we changed over.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
¶ 9:26 AM
I LOVE IT.
The diameter of the pipes is so much larger than the flexible system that it takes colder weather (or cold weather longer) to freeze the pipes in the first place. But because we installed a heat cable while we were putting in the system, we had absolutely no frozen water in the barn this winter (except in crocks).
The heat cables are plugged into thermostats, so they come on when it's cold and go off when it's warm. It was totally care-free this winter.
The diameter of the pipes also means that much more water flows through the drain taps we have at the end of each line. It doesn't take long to flush out the lines and filling a jug of water is a snap. When we had the flexible system, it took a number of minutes to fill a jug of water. Since I give litters crocks and have two cages off of the system, I need to be able to fill the jug to fill a number of crocks.
It was so lovely this winter not having to carry even one pail of water to the barn from the house!
There are definitely some downsides to the system.
First, it was harder to install than the flexible system. With the tubing, it really was just a matter of taking a pair of scissors to the barn and pushing the pieces together. I'm not saying that the PVC pipe was very difficult, mind you, just that it was not as easy. There was more planning and measuring involved. There was more calculating of the pieces we'd need. The clips that secure the pipe to the cage are much harder to install than stand-off brackets with the flexible system.
I don't think that the PVC system was much more expensive than the flexible one, but it was definitely somewhat more expensive. The cost of the heat cables and thermostat cubes made the PVC system decidedly more expensive, but you get totally different functionality from that cost.
It's not as changeable as the flexible system. I was thinking about adding another wing to my barn when I realized that it would mean reworking one end of the watering system. The heat cable cannot be cut, to it would be a task to take off the end, disconnect the wiring, run the new PVC backwards onto the wire, and then reconnect everything again.
Because the clips holding the PVC against the cage are so difficult to work with, we've decided that taking the cages down and outside for pressure washing is no longer an option. With the flexible system, we unclipped them easily and reattached them after the cleaning with no problem.
The last downside of the system has to do with how we installed it. We ran it behind the cages so that it wouldn't interfere with our doors, feeders, and hayracks. It works well as far as logistics go. However, when trying to teach rabbits to use the system, it's not as handy to have it in the back. When I come to the door, rabbits often come to me to see what's going on. It's hard to get them to pay attention to the back of the cage. It seems to me that I've had an increased number of rabbits having trouble learning the system. Of course, maybe if I didn't coddle them with crocks as babies I wouldn't have as much problem.
But for all of the drawbacks, the benefits clearly outweigh them, in my opinion. I'm very much enjoying the system and am very glad we changed over.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
¶ 9:26 AM
