Low Voltage Chicken Water Container 

11/5/25

Another year, another chicken waterer.

Last year I had a mix of success and failures keeping our chicken's water from freezing while only on a low voltage system (12v/24vdc). Part way through the winter I ended up just buying a cheap rectangular 1-2 gal cooler box, drilling some holes and throwing in the mini fish tank heater. Overall it worked alright, it generally kept the water from freezing until about -10F when the external nipples would freeze. Turns out the water pump was generally not needed in a insulated container.

This year I decided to keep things simple again, but refine it a little and fix the issues I had last year:

1. Eliminate water leakage through drilled holes and make the water nipples flush with the container to try to reduce any heat loss from exposed piping

2. The lunch box style cooler had a flip up lid that didn't really seal well, resulting in heat loss

3. The suction cup would not keep heater in place

4. It was also annoying to have to remove the heater every time I wanted to remove the container to fill or clean. 

So this time I purchased a 2 gal Igloo water cooler and some nifty conversion pieces from Revolutionary Chicken. I had to make a slight modification of adding some nylon spacers to the inside due to the hardware being designed for a thicker container. Everything was silicone'd up to ensure water tightness.

For the heater mount I drilled out the center of the lid and designed a mount to allow for cable pass-through and the attachment of a section of 1/2in PVC. This formed a mount 'pole' for the heater mount to be securely screwed to. I also drilled some drainage holes as well. This design allows me to remove the lower container without any dangling heaters. I'm going to add some kind of D-ring and carabiner so the lid can be hung up out of the way.

For the heater control I designed and print a simple enclosure to keep any dust and debris out and allow me to mount out of the way. There is a USB extender cable plugged in that will run to the main distribution box. A small acrylic window allows me to check the status and temps without having to open the box. When I do have to open the box, I added thumb screws this time so I don't need to grab a screwdriver.

We will see how this design holds up through the winter!

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.

• The first change I will be utilizing a insulated container. Last year I used a standard plastic 5 gal bucket. Cutting back the heat loss will drastically reduce input power required to keep water from freezing. It can also do the opposite in the summer, keeping water cooler.

• I would like to utilize the existing spout insert hole, rather than drilling out new holes for the vertical nipples. This will be a challenge as any protrusion out from the insulation will be prone to freezing.

• I'd like to eliminate the separate water pump, or at least have it more integrated with the overall design. I may experiment with micro air pumps too.

• Although likely more inefficient I want to experiment with heating the air above the water instead of the water itself. 

• I'd like to integrated a temp sensor relay

• Ideally, in my head, I'd like to design a single unit that simply screws into the spout hole.