The gravity feeders use more corn, the auto feeders break more. We converted all ours to gravity feeders, they do draw hogs.
I"ve had HCR brand timer/motors/on my own barrels for so many years now I can't recall.
I can say the only thing that "breaks" is the batteries may go dead depending or the timer just dies eventually after 10-15 years of use.
FWIW.
