Reddit reviews Orbit 20066 Portable 1/4-Inch Outdoor Mist Cooling System

I live in Phoenix. I have Red Star sex-link hens....they look like Rhode Island Reds. They have done great for the last 4 years. Believe it or not, I still get about 4-5 eggs a week from each of them, even at the age of 4. Mine started to lay at 16 weeks of age. Laying really drops off during the winter (I do not provide supplemental light during winter) and during molt, which they do about every 7-8 months. In four years, I have only had 1 go broody.

They are heat tolerant (with shade) up to 100F. When it's above 100, I have low-pressure misters and a box fan. Before I got the misters, I would lose about one bird a summer when the temperature got over 105F.

Copied and pasted from my reply in a related thread a few weeks ago about camping showers. This is a bit more involved than most people probably use, but it doubles as a both a camping shower and a misting setup for your canopy to provide cooling all weekend.

 

>We buy gallon jugs and a flat of water bottles for drinking, but our "utility" water comes from the water fill stations, or melted ice, depending on the use.

>Our shower is different than most camping showers you'll see people bring. We use a pump action garden sprayer like this one connected to a misting hose like this one that is clipped around our EZ-Up for general cooling purposes. When someone wants to shower, they disconnect the pump tank from misting hose and take it in to a small camping shower enclosure like this one to take a quick wash with the sprayer. The enclosure is lightweight and pops up so it's very quick to throw out and fold down as needed. It's a great combination system to get clean without the wait/walk, and also to keep your campsite refreshingly cool with the misting hose. Neighbors are generally impressed by the mist.

>More commonly, you will see people use bag showers like this one hung within something like this. Take down and set up as needed, or leave it up all weekend if you find yourself with a corner spot. Enclosures that are stable enough to hold the water bag can be expensive, though, so that's why I think our system is a little better and more versatile.

Okay so I did this in preparation for this year and it seems to be a success. I bought this mister kit from Amazon and paired it up with this pump sprayer. A 2 gallon sprayer might be nicer, but I already had this on hand. I connected them together by unscrewing the wand just downstream of the handle (so the handle is still connected) and connecting a 1/4" one-touch (also called push-to-connect) fitting. I think it was this one but it also could have been a 1/4" push-to-connect with a 3/8" NPT female... I can't recall. Thread it on using some plumbers tape. Then, just cut off the hose bib adapter on the end of the mister kit and plug the tubing directly into the 1/4" one-touch. Voila!


It works pretty well and does not leak. I found that if I pumped it up for 30 seconds, it would run for 5 minutes before the pressure got low enough that some of the nozzles started to drip a bit rather than mist. 10 seconds of pumping would get it back up to pressure for another 5 minute run. Keep in mind you'll want some sort of clamp to hold down the handle for you. Either that, or buy a pump sprayer that can latch in the on position. And bring zip ties to secure it to your EZ-Up. The clips that came with the kit are nice but zip ties help to really secure it nicely.

Hope this helps!