Water for drinkers

Gorteen

I have slab ready for two stables and I'm ready for walls to be block-built. I want to put a small drinker in each stable. At the same time, I'm thinking of buying a couple of ibc tanks for rainwater harvesting.

How can i go about connecting ibc tanks to the drinkers? Horses will surely not drink all the harvested water, so I think I can also run a tap off the tanks to fill buckets for other genera about the yard uses.

Has anyone got experience of seting up this sort of system? Is it a feasible plan?

Muckit

Gorteen wrote: »

How can i go about connecting ibc tanks to the drinkers?

Pipe!

It's a gravity based system so the IBC goes under the downpipe, and the drinkers need to be below the base of the IBC.

You will need to have the IBC on a stand. There is a lot of weight in a full IBC, so concrete blocks probably best.

You will need to ensure that you keep gutters clear of debris. It may be a major issue to contend with if you have a lot of broadleaf trees near the sheds.

Also you will need some sort of filter mechanism to remove any small dirty particles as these will block the tip on the drinker.

Horses drink very little and you will use very little of that water around the yard unless powerwashing. You will need to pipe in an overflow to a soakaway.

It is a handy enough DIY project, have a look on YouTube for some plumbing tips. If you don't feel you are up to it, you may need to get in a professional plumber. Best of luck with it!

bbam

We don't bother to filter the water going into or out of the tank and don't have a problem with the drinkers blocking. Only if it runs dry. Then just screw out the nipple and blow it clear. I think a filter on the gravity feed would restrict the water flow too much.

I don't think it will be any good for a tap as there just won't be any pressure.

We have one set up where we can just open it and fill a bucket if we need. We keep a half barel under it all the time for cleaning boots etc.

I'm presuming you have a water supply nearbye and brought a pipe in under and up through the slab so you have the option of mains water in the stables too??

Gorteen

bbam wrote: »

I don't think it will be any good for a tap as there just won't be any pressure.

We have one set up where we can just open it and fill a bucket if we need. We keep a half barel under it all the time for cleaning boots etc.

I'm presuming you have a water supply nearbye and brought a pipe in under and up through the slab so you have the option of mains water in the stables too??

Yes, I know there will be no water pressure, but it will just be for filling a few buckets of water for general use around the place, especially when metering comes in.....

49801

Could you put larger drinking troughs in, say 90l or 150l. Just direct the gutter downpipe to trough directly and have an overflow pipe from the trough to your soak away.
Would take up a bit of stable space but would be a very simple system with no need to involve a ballcock for the collected water.
You could also fit a secondary ballcock for mains water when the collected water runs out.

jp6470

In my head this sounds a plan,Dont no about theory.
but I would try drilling and fitting a plumbing tank connector, 3/4 or 1" etc.As far down as you can get it.bit over half way,would be good but you might need monkey arms.
Advantages being,you could start straight out of it with your water pipe.without having to reduce down from the big connection at the bottom.
It will be further up the tank and hopefully most dirt will settle at the bottom
And this leaves the bottom valve free to let a lot of water out,into a bucket etc.

Guest0000

If you drill the cube to take a brass ank connector, you can then fit a lever valve and piping to serve the drinkers, leaving the main outlet free foe quick filing of barrells etc, though a much quicker fix would be to fit a tank connector to the lid of a 25 litre drum, (which will take up to an 1" tank connector), and then screw it straight on to the main outlet ....

49801

Worth pointing out that ibcs with water in them grow green algae rapidly.
Will become a major pain.

You would be better off with a non transparent tank, black ibc or the lkes

just do it

Have you a domestic connection close by? You'll probably have enough in your domestic allowance to cover a few horses as well as your domestic usage i.e. there will be no extra cost. Even if the few horses pushes your usage over the limit, the annual cost probably wouldn't justify the cost of the set up.