How warm is your cookie tin water heater? Looking for

[mechanic57]

Has anyone taken a thermometer to their cookie tin water heater? I'm interested in what wattage bulb you have, the diameter and depth of the cookie tin, and what temp the outside of the cookie tin is.

I made one today. The tin is 3.5 inches deep, 10 inches across, and I used a 60w bulb. I plugged it in on my kitchen counter (73 degrees in the kitchen) and it got to 213 degrees in less than 3 minutes. Its a digital thermometer I use for HVAC work so I know its good and accurate. I don't want this to burn my coop down and I don't want the bulb to keep blowing out from the heat. Interested in your guys heaters and looking for more precise data besides "warm to the touch."

 

[JackE]

This will be the 5th year, I'll be using a cookie tin fount warmer (The same one). My fount warmer is about the same dimensions, as the O.P. It is set up on top of a couple of concrete blocks, with the water fount on top of that. I use a 40W bulb in it, usually. But, when the temp approaches 0 F, It's not enough, so I put in a 60W. When you put the tin outside, with the cold weather we get, it will not reach 200 F, it just won't happen. With the cold, and a water fount, filled with cold water, sucking the heat away, it will not get hot enough to burn anything. And, like I said, it gets cold enough, the 40W is not enough. So put it in there, with a 40W, and as long as it is properly constructed/wired, don't worry about it.

This fount warmer is just a cheap, and as long as you built it right, safe way, to keep your water supply unfrozen. Those fount warmers you can buy on-line, or at T/S, are garbage. You are looking at "fine" RedChinese engineering. It may last a week, or a year, but it will fail, and you will be out right around $60. It cannot be repaired, it's JUNK. The cookietin craps out, put in a new, cheap bulb, and fagetabouit.

I added a pic, so you can see my setup.

 

[jmdouglas]

I am not using a cookie tin, but have a 40 watt round bulb in a concrete block with one of the plastic gravity feed containers. The water container is secured by twine with an elastic band which holds it in place. The climate here in Tennessee is usually mild. So far this year the coldest it has been is around 17F. Tomorrow night is predicted to be closer to 10F. The system has worked fine so far. I also have a separate neighboring coop with PVC pipe and nipples. I have a heated cable on the pipe which goes through a wall and is fed by a bucket, which is actually in the coop with the other heater and younger chickens. The heat cable, which is controlled by an automatic thermostat, is fifteen feet long and ends up around the bucket. So far, that has worked also. The pictures were taken while installing and they don't show the heat cable.

 

[Cebarmlds]

I have been using one of these the last 5 years, I never took it's temp but it gets pretty cold here in mn . I use a 25 watt during the early winter and late winter/early spring but during the really cold times I use a 40 watt bulb. I personally wouldn't use a 60 watt.

 

[Cebarmlds]

Would a plastic waterer be okay on one if these? One like this? https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/1-gallon-poultry-waterer

Yes that is what I use on the cookie tin waterer inside the coop when its too cold and they don't want to go out. Out in the run I have a bucket 2 or 3 gallon with horizontal chicken nipples and a bird bath water heater in it.

 

[Hholly]

I went to Goodwill yesterday and picked up 2 tins and 2 ugly lamps for $10. Made them into 2 water heaters and used those candle flame shaped bulbs. They worked great last night and I felt them this morning when it was about 23 degrees out. They were pleasantly warm, but not hot. I'm so happy!

 

[Hholly]

Did you drill a hole in the cookie tin? Would you be able to post a picture? I would love to try this. Right now I can just change the water in the morning and it is unfrozen. But we do get some cold snaps here where the temperature stays below freezing.

Here's mine.

 

[JackE]

Never put your water in the coop - the moisture will lead to frostbite.

Happy Chickenkeeping! www.facebook.com/blueskyandblooms

Maybe if you keep you birds in a shoebox of a coop. I've never had any problems with frostbite, with the water fount (With CookieTin heater) kept right in the coop.

 

[eagrbeavr]

Jack your remark did come across snarky, and I'm not thin skinned at all. Just sayin

 

[lazy gardener]

When temps stay below 0*F for days and weeks at a time, there is no option other than putting the water in the coop. I know "they say" that the water should not be in the coop. In warmer climates that is an option. But up here... not so much. There are so very many things that "they say" regarding chicken keeping that make absolutely no sense to me. When it makes no sense, I work through it with trial and error. Thankfully, there is more than one way to keep chickens. I highly doubt that an open waterer in cold weather would evaporate more moisture into the air than that produced by any single chicken in a 24 hour period. They exude water vapor with every breath, not to mention their wet poops!