Please explain WHY my Farmer’s Co-Op charges 100.00 MORE for green Ritchie Waterers. I wanted the good looking green ones, rather than the yellow and red ones around my farm.
Have you seen their classic equine line:
http://www.classicequinebyritchie.com
I agree, the yellow and red ones are not the best colors in a horse barn.
Personally, I hate my Ritchie yellow and red waterer. The top never has been removable for cleaning. I complained about it to the sales folks and they never fixed it. I don’t care what color they make it, the product is not very good. I will replace it with a Miraco Lil Spring as seen as it croaks. I have other Lil Springs and they are so much easier to maintain. I should never have listened to that Richie sales man at the coop.
[QUOTE=IronwoodFarm;8823016]
Personally, I hate my Ritchie yellow and red waterer. The top never has been removable for cleaning. I complained about it to the sales folks and they never fixed it. I don’t care what color they make it, the product is not very good. I will replace it with a Miraco Lil Spring as seen as it croaks. I have other Lil Springs and they are so much easier to maintain. I should never have listened to that Richie sales man at the coop.[/QUOTE]
Miraco, the blue ones, is what we used in our cattle pens, worked fine.
Never used Ritchie, here most use the concrete and steel waterers a local company makes.
Yes, nice blue Miracos. Easy to maintain and clean. Made in Iowa. Love them.
I looked into both. My first issue was the drinking height. We always have a horse or two in every paddock that likes to play in the water. Both of Lil Spring and Richie are too low IMO and experience. Even the Lil Spring with the optional riser base is only 28".
I’ve seen too many times what a horse/s can do with a filled 75-100 gallon tank. 1 gallon of water weighs over 8 lbs. So a filled tank weighs over 600-800 lbs. Pretty much everyday something needs fixing I try and make sure I do not buy, install something that will add to the list at sometime. Especially in our winters. So if a horse/s can move around a tanks weighing that much I would be worried about what they could do with these. Even when well secured to a concrete base. They are plastic after all and the attachment points small and not very “beefy”.
Of course this might not be of a concern for some.
The other thing I don’t like much about either one; too many moving parts, plastic parts. We don’t have seriously cold winters but can have a couple of weeks of a “deep freeze” temps well below freezing. And from time to time we can and do lose power. Or the odd time a breaker will trip to one of the waterers over night. Plastic especially PVC doesn’t not hold up well to water freezing in it.
I like things that have as few moving parts as possible and or have really stood the test of time in our winter weather or worse. And stand up to years of horse play,abuse.
I have heard better things about about Lil Spring than Richie from fellow horse farm managers. But both had their draw backs for their operations and they would not install them again. I am sure depending on one’s operation and weather conditions either one would work just fine.
I still need to install a few more. I have Nelson that were installed before I bought this farm 14 years ago. It is the ONLY thing I have never had to tinker with, fix etc. Even when we lost power for 10 days in the middle of the winter with temps well below freezing the whole time. When the power came back on it worked just fine.
I have also installed an Equi Spring. Very good design, shaped like a cone, 40" high, will hold up to 30 gallons and as little as a few gallons. It has no moving parts, an easily replaceable generic 250 watt heater. Easy to install.
https://www.equuspring.com/pasture-waterer-heated
The water level is controlled by a simple no moving parts “toilet” valve. The draw back is can get clogged if the water supply has too much sentiment particles. A simple inexpensive inline sentiment filter takes care of this. The valve could fail if and or when it is subjected to freezing. When we lost power I disconnect the supply line and drained it. Reconnected and it worked fine.
But the valve is inexpensive and easy to replace even with in very cold temps. So I bought and keep a couple of spares around.
https://www.amazon.com/LASCO-04-4106-Plastic-Profile-Adjustable/dp/B006GZI0N2/ref=pd_sim_60_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=41BxjSWnL6L&dpSrc=sims&preST=AC_UL160_SR160%2C160&refRID=1RJ96GT82ZRZZ9BX3WVT
Caveat; I did not find Equuspring enjoyable to work with. I order a insulated, heated tank in early November it didn’t show up until middle of December. It did come with the heater but it was not insulated. I didn’t have the time nor weather window to send it back and wait for another one. I MacGyvered insulation out of 3" solid form insulation and expansion foam to seal and “glue” it to the tank. I took pictures before I installed it.
Called the company and told them they sent the wrong tank. They said they did not. I sent them the pictures. They admitted their mistake and complimented me on my MacGyvered insulation. Which in the end was a much better and more effective way then the way they went about it looking at the pictures in the advertisement, specs.
They said the owed me a refund on the price difference for insulated and un-insulated. Never got that check.
But I do really like the design.
Just my thoughts on things to take into consideration.
We have been using, for decades now, these fiberglass troughs a local company makes, for horse and cattle pens and have never had one break or anyone get hurt with them.
We had horses that paw in them, etc. and lucky nothing has happened from it.
The one on the picture is a 6’, some we have are 20’.
The box sticking out is where the pipes come in from underneath and all it has is a shut off valve, a back-flow preventer and a regular toilet looking kind of valve and float.
We have rarely one not working and have never had one freeze in that box.
Even at -10F for some days, all we had in there was ice slush.
The rest of the tank does freeze and we have to break ice in the winters.
We have been considering putting some Cobett no freeze tanks in our new horse runs, so we won’t have to break ice and they are much easier to clean, holding only a few gallons of water each:
The advantage to the ones we have, we have several days of water reserve in a tank, if the water is cut off to it for any reason.
The one drawback, you have to empty them to clean them, so we try to only put 6’ ones in the horse pens, that get cleaned regularly.
We even have those between horse runs:
[QUOTE=Bluey;8823877]
We have been using, for decades now, these fiberglass troughs a local company makes, for horse and cattle pens and have never had one break or anyone get hurt with them.
We had horses that paw in them, etc. and lucky nothing has happened from it.
The one on the picture is a 6’, some we have are 20’.
The box sticking out is where the pipes come in from underneath and all it has is a shut off valve, a back-flow preventer and a regular toilet looking kind of valve and float.
We have rarely one not working and have never had one freeze in that box.
Even at -10F for some days, all we had in there was ice slush.
The rest of the tank does freeze and we have to break ice in the winters.
We have been considering putting some Cobett no freeze tanks in our new horse runs, so we won’t have to break ice and they are much easier to clean, holding only a few gallons of water each:
The advantage to the ones we have, we have several days of water reserve in a tank, if the water is cut off to it for any reason.
The one drawback, you have to empty them to clean them, so we try to only put 6’ ones in the horse pens, that get cleaned regularly.
We even have those between horse runs:[/QUOTE]
I have seen the Cobetts used by many “livestock” farms mainly in the west. But they have to be installed correctly. There is a lot more to it than as the “flyer” say “just dig a hole”. That "hole’ depending on location and frost line has to be quite deep to take advantage of ground thermal dynamics. As much as 4 feet in my area. The hole has to be around 2 feet in diameter and back filed with gravel. This is pretty darn labor intensive for the average DIY horse farm owner and would add several hundred dollars to the cost if done by a contractor.
The “floatless” version uses, incorporates the same floatless valve I linked to and used in the Equuspring I installed.
The Equuspring is FAR less labor intensive to install and so far no issues since installing 2 winters ago. The first winter was a good test we had a much colder than average winter and lost power for 10 days.
It was servicing 10+ mares. I set the water level for around 20 gallons because it does fill while drinking. The 250 watt heater had no trouble keeping it basically ice free. A bit of ice forming on the edges because the tank sits in a very windy area at times so wind chill can and does have an effect. But is gets full sun so there is passive solar working for it. The 250 watt heater is very economical to operate.
Large quantities of water require a much larger heater. Especially with un-insulated tanks. 50+ gallon need 1500 watt tank heaters in most cold climates. In cold months our electric bill is $50-75+ per month per tank.
I am not “pushing” for any brand. But I will install more Equuspring even though the company were jerks to deal with. As I said I really like the design, no moving parts, very easy installation, easy to clean and cheap to operate in the winter. In the summer due to low water volume the water stay very much on the cool side if enough horses are drinking out of it.
As with all my auto-waterers I also install a frost free hydrant behind the fence line. If the fill valves go bad, freeze up etc I can still fill them by hose until I sort things out.
[QUOTE=gumtree;8823739]
I looked into both. My first issue was the drinking height. .[/QUOTE]
we have real and miniature horses… the miniatures will drink from the highest water source while the horses will drink from the lowest source… the smallest is
will stand on its tippy toes to reach over the edge of the highest waterer
[QUOTE=gumtree;8823959]
I have seen the Cobetts used by many “livestock” farms mainly in the west. But they have to be installed correctly. There is a lot more to it than as the “flyer” say “just dig a hole”. That "hole’ depending on location and frost line has to be quite deep to take advantage of ground thermal dynamics. As much as 4 feet in my area. The hole has to be around 2 feet in diameter and back filed with gravel. This is pretty darn labor intensive for the average DIY horse farm owner and would add several hundred dollars to the cost if done by a contractor.
The “floatless” version uses, incorporates the same floatless valve I linked to and used in the Equuspring I installed.
The Equuspring is FAR less labor intensive to install and so far no issues since installing 2 winters ago. The first winter was a good test we had a much colder than average winter and lost power for 10 days.
It was servicing 10+ mares. I set the water level for around 20 gallons because it does fill while drinking. The 250 watt heater had no trouble keeping it basically ice free. A bit of ice forming on the edges because the tank sits in a very windy area at times so wind chill can and does have an effect. But is gets full sun so there is passive solar working for it. The 250 watt heater is very economical to operate.
Large quantities of water require a much larger heater. Especially with un-insulated tanks. 50+ gallon need 1500 watt tank heaters in most cold climates. In cold months our electric bill is $50-75+ per month per tank.
I am not “pushing” for any brand. But I will install more Equuspring even though the company were jerks to deal with. As I said I really like the design, no moving parts, very easy installation, easy to clean and cheap to operate in the winter. In the summer due to low water volume the water stay very much on the cool side if enough horses are drinking out of it.
As with all my auto-waterers I also install a frost free hydrant behind the fence line. If the fill valves go bad, freeze up etc I can still fill them by hose until I sort things out.[/QUOTE]
We have tried those floatless valves over the years and never could get one to work reliably, they just failed too much for us, maybe our water is too hard for them, so we quit using them.
We also are not in the North Pole, so we do ok breaking ice, won’t use electric heaters, because we had the occasional horse that would just not drink with one of those, no matter how carefully installed and grounded and that worry is not worth the convenience of not breaking ice, for the few months we may have to do so.
No heater, no problem with too much water to heat.
Don’t know what we will do, may stick with our true and tried tanks after all, they seem to work fine, other than harder to keep clean.
Most of our tanks have an overflow we can unscrew and let the water drain out to clean them, those are no problem.
It is the ones that we don’t have a lower spot to have them drain that we have to pump out to clean.
We are working on trying to figure if we want to bury a tank to send that water to that we can pump out for our water tank we use to water our arena.
Then we could have that system in our future horse pen waterers.
[QUOTE=Bluey;8824165]
We have tried those floatless valves over the years and never could get one to work reliably, they just failed too much for us, maybe our water is too hard for them, so we quit using them.
We also are not in the North Pole, so we do ok breaking ice, won’t use electric heaters, because we had the occasional horse that would just not drink with one of those, no matter how carefully installed and grounded and that worry is not worth the convenience of not breaking ice, for the few months we may have to do so.
No heater, no problem with too much water to heat.
Don’t know what we will do, may stick with our true and tried tanks after all, they seem to work fine, other than harder to keep clean.
Most of our tanks have an overflow we can unscrew and let the water drain out to clean them, those are no problem.
It is the ones that we don’t have a lower spot to have them drain that we have to pump out to clean.
We are working on trying to figure if we want to bury a tank to send that water to that we can pump out for our water tank we use to water our arena.
Then we could have that system in our future horse pen waterers.[/QUOTE]
Yes the floatless valves can be a bit temperamental. We have hard water the problem was sentiments in our well water. It took about 6 months for the one I have to start showing problems. Called Equuspring and they said I needed to install an inline filter. Gee, thanks for including that in the installation manual. They also charged $35 plus shipping for a new one. Though they replaced it for free under the warranty. They can be had for under $20 with shipping on line or at a local plumbing supply.
I use RV throw away bottle filters sold at Walmart for around $20+ for a 2 pack. They have a 1/2 male fitting on each side so it was pretty easy to install one through the access plate on the waterer. Without having to unbolt and take off the whole thing to get access to the supply line.
The valve themselves are easy to take off, take apart and clean and reinstall. I just keep a couple of new ones around for a quick turnaround and clean the old one at a later date. Depending on the amount of water run through the filters they last around a year. For my uses I find they work really well and are easy enough to fix and or cheap enough to replace. Like I said I like things that have very few if any moving parts.
The issue is not with Ritchie, it’s with your dealer. They can order the green ones, it sounds like they don’t want to.
I have 6. I’ve had one melt due to a bad wiring harness. Once I got through to Ritchie, they sent me the parts ASAP.
I like the Ritchie product. Easy to install and adjust. You need to check them occasionally but that is true with all plumbing.
Some people are just bad at customer service. The ones I got from the dealer in Skylight-Jerry Wade, were easy and helpful. The one in Simpsonville, not so much.
We have had one of the red and yellow Ritchie Thrifty King two hole waters between fence lines for almost 10 years and have had no problems (knock wood). It has the floats in the holes to prevent freezing, water evaporation and mosquitoes, has a check valve, and is well insulated. No need for electricity. Even with below 0 weather at times and below freezing for days, we haven’t needed a heater to keep the water from freezing. We have had to push the float down to breakup the ice crust at the hole/float contact. Not the most attractive, but it does the job!
Consider/look into a Bar-Bar-A Horse Drinker. I’ve been beyond pleased with it. NO electricity and my plumber, who’d never installed one, watched the video like 6 times and did a perfect job… said “That was easy. Would love to do more.”
Water temp is the same year round. Very easy to teach the horses. Price didn’t make me drop me teeth.
Has anyone ever used Tarter brand or Classic Equine brand auto waterers? I’m thinking of installing some and was curious about these brands.
http://tarterusa.com/tarter-products/energy-free-waterers/
http://tarterusa.com/tarter-products/single-bowl-electric-waterer/
