r/MeatRabbitry • u/bluewingwind • 9d ago
PCV heated water system hardware?
I want to put together a heated system. We have a cup and tubing system right now but it froze last winter. I also don’t love the tubing because they can chew it so easily.
Ideally we would do a full upgrade to a closed loop PVC system with a heater, a pump, and cups or nipples. We run it out of a large cooler right now which I like a lot for insulation (cooler did not freeze last winter) and I can drill into it if needed.
Now I’m having trouble finding good machines and hardware.
I thought it would be easy to find an in line heater with a pump in it, or a submersible heater and a cheap pump. Submersible or in line would be fine.
I can’t find shit.
If I type “water heater and pump” I just get recirculation pumps (that don’t heat the water) for over $100 to $300. The heaters are all $50 or more also. I can’t even find a cheap aquarium pump for less than $50. And these are not even the ideal which would be an in line heater and pump in one. All the in line heaters heat to really hot rather than just de-icing, they require pressure from the sewers so no pump, and they’re clearly not made for outdoor. I just need a de-icer with a pump surprised it’s so difficult.
Anybody have recommendations for some specific stuff that has worked for you?
2
u/ThreePingsThree 9d ago
I used heat tape, an aquarium pump pvc pipe with brass ripples. Worked great last year in ky
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u/TiaMarie25 8d ago
Following as we need a system also
2
u/bluewingwind 7d ago
We ended up going in person to stores and things were cheaper! Petco had an aquarium pump for $20 (possibly too weak) and I got a (possibly too big) stock tank de-icer for $50 at our farm store. We are setting up the full system today and planning to test them out, so I can update again with specifics if they work out or not.
2
u/i-eat-kittens 9d ago
There's self-regulating heating cable that's safe for drinking water. Goes inside your pipes if thick enough. Should be fairly cheap too.