March 20th, 2013 brought the official start to spring. Although the weather doesn’t seem to be cooperating, at least here in Iowa.  In hopes that spring weather is right around the corner we want to provide some general waterer spring maintenance tips.

Cleaning

In most cases, all you will need to do is clean your waterer.  The cold weather often prevents a good cleaning.   Now that the temperatures are warming up, grab a scrub brush and/or a towel to clean it out. Animal safe cleaners can also be used for an added clean without worry of damaging the waterer.  Please feel free to contact your local Veterinarian for recommendations on animal safe cleaners.

Immersion Heater, Ritchie part #16311

Heaters

Additional steps may need to be taken if you have a WaterMatic, Thrifty King, Thrifty King for Swine or WaterMaster series and have the optional heat installed.  After the threat of frost or freezing is over, we recommend removing the optional Immersion Heater, wipe it off and store in a safe place.  Simply reinstall in the fall as the temperatures decrease.  This step will help elongate the life of the heater by preventing deposits from accumulating on it.  In most cases, the same plastic units also have a self regulating heat cable installed along the waterline and valve.  It isn’t necessary to remove the self regulating heater however you can unplug it and leave it in place for the fall.

Units that have the heaters built in do not need any additional maintenance.  You may choose to turn the electric source to the unit off, just remember to turn it back on when in the fall.

As always we are more than happy to answer any questions that you may have about your Ritchie automatic waterer. Simple steps like those above will help keep your waterer running for many years to come.