After getting the electrical system taken care of on the S10 Ranger Chicken Coop, the next order of business was the setting up of the simple water system on the coop. This would consist of the same components like that which was used on the Toyota Chicken Truck.
A bucket with a float valve would make up the heart of the water system. An input line that consists of a pressure regulator threaded for garden hose on either end since it was intended to be used with garden hoses on a micro irrigation system. From the bucket a nipple would feed into a hose going into the PVC manifold that consists of tees that are 1/2"x1/2"/1/8". These tees would take 1/2" PVC pipe in the manifold and allow for the screwing in of 1/8" tapped drinker cups. Now the first part of the system I installed was the PVC manifold with the drinker cups. Since I was able to assemble the manifold off the truck, I was able to secure the manifold using conduit straps and self tapping screws. Before I could install the bucket, I had to make a platform, same as on the Toyota. This consisted of a piece of stiff sheet metal cut from some of my scrap supply, and a couple of pieces of thin wall conduit pipe that would serve as legs for the sheet metal table. The other end of the sheet metal table would be welded to the top of the fender well on the inside of the bed. With that all welded up I was able to assemble the bucket reservoir. Just like with the PVC manifold, I assembled the bucket reservoir off the truck. I drilled the necessary holes in the bucket for the nipple at the bottom and the float valve at the top. After installing these two components I then assembled the pressure regulator, the 1/2" garden hose to 1/8" NPT adapter and 1/8" nipple, screwing this assembly into the back of the float valve. Lastly I hooked up the short length of clear hose to link up the two nipples of the bucket reservoir and the PVC manifold. With everything hooked up the last order of business was the garden hose water line that will feed this set up. Now since all of this is customized, I planned on making a custom length run of garden hose that will link up to the water feed by the Mustang Chicken Coupe. Currently there is a 2 way splitter on the water line but I will put a 3 way splitter on there to accommodate the hose going to the S10 Ranger Chicken Coop. I took a roll of old garden hose I had already cut from and used a couple of repair fittings to cap off the ends of the length of hose. These ends use worm clamps to secure the hose to the fittings. With the hose made and hooked up to the bucket reservoir I did a temporary hookup of the hose to the yard's garden hose for testing purposes. With the low pressure water going into the bucket, it was able to fill up as intended via the float valve. The water flowed into the drinker cups as intended, showing the system worked as designed. I do plan on digging a shallow trench the same way I did with the power cord going to the coop, in order to bury the hose. I will make the trench shallow as I don't want to put too much weight or pressure from too much dirt on top of the hose as it will prevent the hose from expanding properly. The trench will most likely just be a groove in the gravel, not really in the dirt. This way the hose will more or less rest in a depression more so than a trench. This will be for aesthetics as well as safety since the last thing we need is to have a trip hazard stretching across the yard. Needless to say, the water system is completed.
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