Plastic Water Curtain vs Paper Water Curtain

1.Plastic water curtains make it easier to bring water into the water curtain room

The grooves (holes through which air passes) in plastic water curtains tend to be ∪-shaped and are much larger than those in conventional water curtains.

The paper curtain has alternating 45° and 15° groove angles, with the 45° grooves sloping downward toward the outer surface, which ensures that as much water as possible is stored on the outside of the curtain, so that the inside of the curtain is moist, but essentially free of water flow.

In contrast, when air flows through the larger U-shaped grooves of the plastic water curtain, it tends to pull water from the outside of the curtain to the inside of the curtain, resulting in a large amount of water flowing through the inside of the curtain. The water droplets condense on the inside of the water curtain and are blown into the water curtain room, causing water to collect on the floor of the water curtain room.

This is not necessarily a big problem for coops with a water curtain room, but if the water curtain is installed directly on the coop wall, it is likely to lead to unwanted water accumulation and even wet bedding in the coop. Therefore, it is not recommended to install the plastic water curtain directly on the side wall of the chicken coop.

2. Plastic water curtain is more difficult to wet than paper water curtain

Since plastic water curtains do not absorb water, the amount of water circulating on the curtain needs to be twice as much as that of a traditional paper curtain in order to ensure that the entire curtain is completely wet. However, if the water flow rate on a plastic water curtain is not sufficient, the cooling effect is worse than that of a traditional paper water curtain. Some old water circulation systems may not be able to meet the operational requirements of the plastic water curtain and may be accompanied by significant water waste.

3. Plastic water curtains dry faster than paper water curtains

Paper water curtains tend to have a much larger internal surface area than plastic water curtains and are able to absorb and store more water. The combination of these two factors means that paper water curtains can hold more water than plastic water curtains when they are wetted.

The low water holding capacity of the plastic water curtain means that when the circulation pump is turned off, the plastic water curtain dries much faster than the paper curtain. While a wet paper water curtain typically takes 30 minutes or more to dry completely, a plastic water curtain dries in half or even a third of the time of a paper curtain.

Because the plastic water curtain dries more quickly, its cooling effectiveness will be more affected when controlled with a 10-minute timer. Therefore, managers may find it counterproductive to operate the plastic water curtain with a timer.

4. Plastic water curtain is easier to clean

As the pores of the paper water curtain are quite small, when there are dirt/mineral deposits on the internal surface, it will immediately increase the negative pressure inside the house and thus reduce the air velocity. Since the pores on the plastic curtain are larger, a small amount of dirt on the internal surface will not have much effect on the negative pressure. In addition, minor deposits of dirt/minerals on the plastic water curtain help the water to wet the curtain sufficiently, thus helping to increase the cooling effect. It has indeed been shown that over time, dirt and mineral deposits on the surface of plastic water curtains increase the cooling effect of plastic water curtains. However, as with paper curtains, if too much dirt/minerals build up on the curtain, it will also reduce the air speed and cooling effect in the chicken house.

In the process of using the water curtain it is necessary to pay attention to whether the water curtain is well dampened, whether there is a water curtain room (to avoid excessive humidity in the coop), and if the room is operated by interval timer control, special attention should be paid to the fact that the condition in the coop should not differ much from the condition under the traditional paper water curtain. Whether the additional cost of a plastic water curtain provides a good return on investment depends to a large extent on the quality of the water circulating through the curtain.

Quite simply, the worse the water quality on the farm, the higher the economic benefit of the plastic water curtain.