Water trough installation- help

[WhizzyLizzy]

Thanks to everyone who answered my question on brambles. My next issue is we've had water laid on to our fields and I need to order troughs. I can't seem to find info anywhere that tells me why some are installed off the floor and what the problems would be if they were on the floor? Also we're looking at the paxton 120 with drainage plug, which seems to have won awards. It's ugly black plastic though..and appears to have holes for bolting down... to what? Are we supposed to put on hard standing, which could be controversial where we are? Is any trough (not the electric ones) better in the winter against freezing and does that improve if off the floor? Does anyone know a good supplier in the Bucks/Oxon area? Thanks..

 

[crabbymare]

The Patura ones are good in winter and don't freeze easily although they need installalling correctly they are well worth it. also if you have electricity a tap with heat tape to the supply is a godsend in winter

 

[Dry Rot]

The trough you are looking at would be suitable for a cattle farm where a lot of animals all want to drink at the same time or there is a really slow water flow. It has bolt down holes at the corners so it can be secured to a concrete floor without further modification.

The ones I have are similar to the one in the link below. I use double ones so I can water adjacent fields by poking them through a fence. They are also half or a third the cost of the one you are looking at.

Yes, you will need to make up some way of securing them as horses will rub them. You also mention frost proofing. Doing a Google might give you some ideas on that. Up here in Scotland, we don't pay water rates, so I simply fix up an adjustable over flow to the nearest ditch. My fix costs about £5 - £10 per trough (see below).

I may have up to 10 Highland ponies in one field, have good water pressure, and find this trough more than adequate.

http://www.molevalleyfarmers.com/mv...h;jsessionid=58E57B103F405240C0E385120AC7DA33

 

[WhizzyLizzy]

Brilliant, thanks so much, especially for the photos. We've been out looking at troughs this morning and will now be doing exactly what you've done with JFC troughs. I'll ask OH to rig up wooden supports to stop the horses moving them. Really grateful, thanks again.

 

[JillA]

I've got the double black plastic ones like Dry Rot has, just standing on level ground. One problem I have is that mine don't have drain plugs so to clean them I have to tie up the ball valve, siphon out the water and then scoop out the sediment which is all a bit of a faff. I wish now I had looked for some with drain plugs. Otherwise though they work well - I have two which service 2 paddocks and 2 field - and are a huge time saver in checking and refilling troughs. I just have to break ice first thing on really frosty mornings, about half a dozen times a year, and the pipes never freeze, they are buried below the normal frost line and lagged where they come out of the ground. Baby horses eat lagging though so it pays to cover it with duct tape and Cribox

 

[WhizzyLizzy]

Good news about the freezing JillA. Whereabouts are you? Incidentally my OH is pretty sure he can rig up drainage holes with some sort of bung system...lagging is also a good plan, thanks.

 

[Dry Rot]

The picture of the double trough shows the best way to secure it in my opinion. If you look carefully, you may see that there are two 75mm x 25mm rails inside the small posts underneath and supporting the trough and keeping the end posts from leaning outwards. The single trough was installed a while ago and it is not 100% secure.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

I've got the double black plastic ones like Dry Rot has, just standing on level ground. One problem I have is that mine don't have drain plugs so to clean them I have to tie up the ball valve, siphon out the water and then scoop out the sediment which is all a bit of a faff. I wish now I had looked for some with drain plugs. Otherwise though they work well - I have two which service 2 paddocks and 2 field - and are a huge time saver in checking and refilling troughs. I just have to break ice first thing on really frosty mornings, about half a dozen times a year, and the pipes never freeze, they are buried below the normal frost line and lagged where they come out of the ground. Baby horses eat lagging though so it pays to cover it with duct tape and Cribox

I just got OH to drill about 6 round holes in the plastic rim on each side of my double plastic trough, which means when I tip it on its side, the water does actually get out, before it was impossible to empty to clean properly. It took him about 5 mins.

 

[RutlandH2O]

I use the same type of troughs as Dry Rot, but made by Paxton. When I purchased them, I asked the salespeople how to clean the troughs, because there are little 'aprons' of plastic inside the rims, which makes it difficult to simply tip out the water because it gets trapped in that apron. The salesman suggested drilling a few holes along the top of the side of the trough opposite the connection to the water pipes. We also hooked up the pipes with Hozelock connectors so that we could disconnect the water supply and move the trough to get it really clean. We place a couple of breeze blocks on either side of the troughs to prevent the horses rubbing against them. Works a treat! If you need some pix, I'll post some later.

 

[WhizzyLizzy]

Very ingenious! Like the hozelock idea. Photos would be much appreciated, thanks.

 

[WhizzyLizzy]

Dry Rot, OH says he can see what you mean and will give it a go, thanks.

 

[JillA]

Good news about the freezing JillA. Whereabouts are you? Incidentally my OH is pretty sure he can rig up drainage holes with some sort of bung system...lagging is also a good plan, thanks.

I'm in Shropshire, not many miles from Shawbury which often records the lowest temperatures. TBH cleaning mine out is a faff but perfectly do-able, I've got one of those square scoop things just for the purpose, and siphoning gets out about 95% of the water. I just set the siphons and come back 15 minutes later!

 

[RutlandH2O]

Very ingenious! Like the hozelock idea. Photos would be much appreciated, thanks.

A friend dropped by and we got to chatting until 10pm. I'll get some photos in the morning and post them to you later in the day. Is that okay?

 

[WhizzyLizzy]

Yes please Rutland H20. We'll look forward to seeing them..JillA that's really good news about the way you can cope with the low temperatures, thanks.

 

[PeterNatt]

I lay a concrete base first and install the plastic water trough on top of it. I always also install a stopcock (tap) adjacent to the water trough so that the water to it can be easily turned off to allow for cleaning it out or replacing the ball cock valve. I use the Paxton plastic water troughs and corner stable water troughs.

 

[Dry Rot]

Tha Hazelock idea is neat!

I clean mine out by emptying with a bucket and shoving a stick under the ball cock, then scrubbing the sides with a bunch of grass (remember that stuff?), re-filling and ladling out more until it is relatively clean.

I noticed keeping the over flow pipe running means the water is always clean and fresh, but that's only practical if your water isn't metered.

 

[RutlandH2O]

Yes please Rutland H20. We'll look forward to seeing them..JillA that's really good news about the way you can cope with the low temperatures, thanks.

WL, here are some photos:

This first one shows the holes we drilled along the rim of the trough. We've got 4, but a few more would be even better...

This next one shows the connections from mains to trough (the mains one is upright coming out of the ground...

This shows the Hozelock connection to the trough, with blue mains pipe just behind...

This shows the mains pipe connection coming up from beneath the ground...

This one shows the trough connection removed. It is important that you use a STOP connector here, otherwise you will be soaked when you remove this connector...

This photo shows a simple spray nozzle attached to the disconnected hosepipe. I keep about 3 or 4 feet of hosepipe, coiled behind the trough, for the mains/trough connection...

This last photo illustrates the ease in cleaning the trough using the detachable connectors. What I didn't photograph was the trough tipped forward after being disconnected from the hosepipe. Additionally, there is enough length of hosepipe for me to fill a very large tub a few feet away in a small paddock. Photo missing. I'll put it in another post.

I hope this helps...

 

[RutlandH2O]

Here's the last photo...

 

[Dry Rot]

Just a thought. It would be easy enough to fit a waste hole and plug to the borrom of the trough. Just make sure you get one for a sink and not a basin as the latter is much longer to fit a ceramic bowl and you won't be able to tighten it up.

Search here for "sink waste", they cost about £2.60:

http://www.screwfix.com/

 

[RutlandH2O]

Dry Rot: Thanks for that tip. The trough being a double bowl design, ideally there could be a
waste hole and plug in both sides. These plastic troughs are light enough to lift with ease once empty.

 

[WhizzyLizzy]

Thanks Rutland H2O. OH is going to need to invest in some fittings! Thanks for the photos and for the time you've taken to help us out. And to you for the hot tips Dry Rot. Brilliant!