Miraco E-Fount 3410-4E - heated swine waterer

Miraco rates it for 200 market hogs or 100 sows. It holds 15 gallons and refills as animals drink.

The 3410-4E carries a 75 watt heat element and a thermostat. Miraco states an E-Fount uses only 4 kilowatts through a week of 25 below zero weather. Run it on a dedicated circuit with a ground fault breaker, the same as any heated waterer.

The lids lift up and there are two large drain holes with rubber plugs underneath. Pull the plugs, scrub the pan out and put them back. It is a couple of minutes of work.

Set the unit on a level pad with the water line coming up inside the base, bolt it down, hook up the supply and set the float. The footprint drawing and the instruction manual are both on this page, so you can pour the pad and stub the line in before the unit arrives.

Lift the lids and the valve is right there. Nothing is buried, so a float adjustment or a valve change is a short job, and every part inside is listed on the E-Fount 3410-4E parts breakdown.

Four lift up lids with 10 inch openings. The lids stay down between drinks, which keeps dirt and bedding out of the pan and holds the heat in.

The 3410-4E ships UPS at a shipping weight of 55 pounds. Some UPS items are considered oversize and will incur additional shipping charges. If you are ordering several units, complete the freight quote form and we will price the delivery for you. This item is available for pick-up in Grinnell, Iowa.

The water level. These units have a small anti airlock hole drilled in them, and the level has to sit below that hole. If the water comes up to the hole or above it, the valve may leak continuously. Adjust the float down until the level rests below the hole before you replace anything. There are photos of the hole further up this page, one from inside the trough and one from outside.

It is a small drilled hole in the wall of the unit. Look for it from inside the trough, and you can also see it from outside next to a mounting screw. It exists to stop an air lock from forming. The only thing you have to do with it is keep the water level under it.

No, and not in the dead of winter either. There should always be a gap between the ball and the top of the opening. That gap lets water wash off the ball instead of pooling on top and freezing into a lid, and it lets the ball move, which is what keeps ice from setting up. A ball jammed tight has neither.

Check the closure gap before you add heat. If the balls were sitting tight against the top, water pooled on them and froze, and that is a setup problem rather than a heat problem. Set the gap first, then judge whether you still need heat.

It depends on your climate. An energy free waterer stays open because animals keep drinking and pulling warmer water up from the supply line. Sheep and goats drink in smaller amounts and less often than cattle, so less water moves through the trough. In mild climates, such as the Carolinas and further south, that is usually enough and these units work well. In harsh winter country, where temperatures sit below freezing for days at a time, it is not enough, and that is not a herd size problem. A hundred head of sheep still will not do it.

Plan on running electric to the waterer, or use a unit built for sheep and goats such as the LilSpring 2700 with heat. Deciding that at the start is a lot easier than trenching power out to a waterer in February.

Check the unit through the day until the weather breaks, so you catch the water before it starts to ice over. You can also replicate drinking by hand: scoop water out of the trough with a small bucket into a larger 5 gallon bucket. Removing water is what draws warmer water in from the supply line and refreshes the trough, which is the job the animals are not doing on their own.