Gravity fed tank float

[kickinbull]

Has anyone ever built one? We are hauling water to cattle and horses for rotational grazing. We are using a 450 gal. transport tank that goes into a pickup truck sitting on a hay wagon. It is plumbed with a short garden hose to a "Dare" tank float. We don't seem to have enough pressure or volume when the animals are drinking to recover so they fight and knock the 150 gal. tub around. The latest was to break the float. Today we fitted the tank with 2in pvc running to the tub, 90 degree elbow down into tub, going to 4in. coupler. Then made a cage with a 12 in. ball filled with air. The ball is under water about half the depth of the tub, but it won't shut off. Got any ideas? Maybe something else you can recommend and scrap what we've done so far? TIA :help:

 

[Texas PaPaw]

You might try coming off the 2" pvc with multiple hoses and dare floats also use a larger and/or multiple tanks. My guess is 4 floats feeding 2 of the 150 gal tanks may do the job. That is 2 floats per tank.

The main restriction is through the dare floats, as they are designed for higher pressure. The hole that the float flap covers to stop the flow is pretty small. If your floats are like the ones I have, try drilling out the hole with a larger bit. The rubber flap attached to the float is larger than the hole the water flows through and should cover a considerably larger hole.

Also increasing the height of the storage tank in relation the the drinking tanks will help increase the flow.

Years ago we had a problem with a low flow situation and we added more floats and put out larger tanks. The larger tanks would fill overnight and held enough water to supply the herd for all day. This stopped the fighting and damage from multiple animals trying to drink at the same time.

In permanent tanks we have used 11/2" or 2" brass float valves in the bottom of the tanks with a float attached by chain to the float valve arm. We used this in 5ft or larger tanks with the float valve positioned where the end of the float arm was right in the center of the tank. This resulted in the float being in the center of the tank where it was hard for the animals to reach. Not sure how this could be accomplished with a portable system. The extra large diameter valve is the key to a higher flow rate with low pressure.

 

[kickinbull]

Tex PaPaw, thanks for your reply. We tried putting another ball under the first one thinking it would create more pressure for shut off. Didn't work. I am wondering if a Hudson valve would work. They claim that the valve will deliver 30 gal./min. at 8 lbs.

 

[tytower]

What sort of cattle have you got?
Mine usually wait around for the trough to be free . I use 4 foot round troughs so only a couple can get in at once and my cows seem not to fight over it

 

[cghoerichs]

We use 150gal rubbermaid plastic type tanks with Jobe valve vortex bottom fillhttp://www.jobevalves.com/webapps/site/24227/44603/info/enquiry-page.html?info_id=249804 in our rotational grazing. We use Plasson quick couplers http://www.kencove.com/fence/Quick+Couplers_detail_VC34.php . We have a male on the outside of the tank, a female on the end of a hose, another male at the other end of the hose and females on our waterlines throughout the pasture. We can move anywhere and just snap to connect and disconnect. We've had them for years and they just plain work.

 

[Hey you]

Bigger tank

 

[Lucky_P]

We used Hudson valves, for years, gravity-flow fed from an upland pond; screen wire strainer had to be cleaned at least once a day, but even at full-flow, it couldn't keep up with the cows if they all came to drink from the 150 gal tank at one time.
Put in a dozen or so 'tire waterers' this summer - still gravity-flow fed from the same pond, but with the AY McDonald floats plumbed up through the bottom. With one tank in each paddock now, the cows don't ALL come at once like they did when they had to walk a half-mile back down the lane to water - a few at a time, and it can keep up - plus, those big combine/earthmover tires have probably twice the reserve capacity of the old metal stock tank.