Water trough question...

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Araboo27

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Hi, feeling like a total idiot but can an automatic water trough be turned off? I've been to see a field and noticed that the trough was empty...wish I'd have investigated it now as its one of only two things preventing me from taking the field!

If it's blocked or broken in some way, are they easy enough to fix?

Please don't laugh at such a daft question! ;)
 
As far as I know, it depends on whether a tap has been fitted to the supply pipe or not. If you did not think to check, could you not give the owner a ring to find out why there was no water in the trough? Sorry, I do not know anything about fixing a defective one but it is a simple mechanism which should not cost a fortune to repair/change (similar to a toilet cistern). More worrying would be a water supply turned off because there is a leak in the supply pipe somewhere unknown between the mains and the field but still repairable once the leak is found.
 
planete said:
As far as I know, it depends on whether a tap has been fitted to the supply pipe or not. If you did not think to check, could you not give the owner a ring to find out why there was no water in the trough? Sorry, I do not know anything about fixing a defective one but it is a simple mechanism which should not cost a fortune to repair/change (similar to a toilet cistern). More worrying would be a water supply turned off because there is a leak in the supply pipe somewhere unknown between the mains and the field but still repairable once the leak is found.
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Thanks!

The field is being let via an agent, she's emailed the vendor but has had no reply as yet. I'm tempted to drive down again to investigate but my wrist is in agony and changing gear is difficult! I'm worried about someone taking the field in the meantime but I can't risk paying the deposit without confirmation it's working as there's no other water source.

I'm so blinkin' impatient!
 
We had a mains leak 'somewhere' along the pipe that fed one of our troughs. We had huge water bills and utility company said we probably had a leak and that it would cost us tens of thousand to repair ( I can't remember ins and outs of it as was a while ago) in the road just out from our feild was a manhole cover where we could turn off the water, they suggested doing that, then we weren't liable or something along those lines, so yes can be turned off.
 
Cross posted. Definately make sure it's not a leak like our one! When we move horses back to land we will not look at repairing as cost quoted was so high, luckily for us it's on a different pipe to the one feeding the hose at the top of the garden so I will create my own filling mechanism from the hose pipe.
 
Definitely check if it has been turned off any why before committing to anything. If it has been turned off I would asume that is because there is a leak somewhere... Very expensive to fix if it isn't right by the trough above ground!
 
they might just have tied the ball cock up as there were no animals to water? That or it may well have a tap fitted elsewhere, we do as it all comes straight off the mains at very high pressure so however good the pipes you get a bit of a leak/it blows the taps off :p. At home we had one empty too, it was a completely separate supply so just turned off at the stopcock under the manhole cover ;).
 
I assume you are down south where your water is metered. If so, a prudent landowner would turn the water off if the field was to be left vacant because of the possibility of (a) leaks, (b) a faulty ball cock (so the water just keeps running), or (c) vandalism. Could you speak to the water board? Or even a neighbour? If grazing is so hard to find, I'd be tempted to leave a deposit with the agent conditional on there being a functional water supply. They may not accept it, on the other hand, they might!:)
 
One of my troughs is separately metered (horses at home). The 'mains tap' is actually on the other side of the hedge near the road so you may have to hunt around!
 
we used to tie the ballcock up when we wanted to clean the troughs but now I have a tap thing on the underground pipe, so I can turn the water off there! its a few feet away from the trough as the pipe goes into the ground
 
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