BEWARE of these thermostaticly controlled switches

[TNChick82]

I just bought one of these. To use with my cookie Tin Heater. I have a GFCI outlet out side. But it has a door cover on it. The thermo cube would not fit. So I've not got to use it yet. It says on that package Maximum rating: 1800 watts, 15 amps, 120V AC. Glad to hear that just the cube burnt and nothing else. That's a scary thought!

 

[seanb]

Quote:
Do you mean an extension cord with a fuse? Do such things exist? If so, where do you get them?

You should be able to find some kind of fuseable device at a retailer that's plug-in and go. If you can do basic wiring, you could also modify an extension cord and add a fuse holder to it.

Here's a water heater I recently made. It's only a 25 watt incandescant lamp inside a fixture enclosure that was rated for 100 watt metal halide lamp so I'm not terribly concerned about a fire.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Do you mean an extension cord with a fuse? Do such things exist? If so, where do you get them?

You should be able to find some kind of fuseable device at a retailer that's plug-in and go. If you can do basic wiring, you could also modify an extension cord and add a fuse holder to it.

Here's a water heater I recently made. It's only a 25 watt incandescant lamp inside a fixture enclosure that was rated for 100 watt metal halide lamp so I'm not terribly concerned about a fire.

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk302/smbeaver/chickenwaterheater003-2.jpg

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk302/smbeaver/chickenwaterheater005.jpg

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk302/smbeaver/chickenwaterheater019-1.jpg

OMG.... what a great heat idea and a great Waterer idea.... For the waterer what did you use to raise the jug up off the bottom enough to allow the water to flow.

deb

 

[seanb]

I used a piece of 3" pvc. Let me know if you're interested and I'll post some additional details and measurements.

 

[mountaintopchicken]

Thanks for the info seanb! I worry about my water heaters all the time, though an electrician who came to make my outlet a GFI said what I do looks o.k.

I would love to have a fuse built in to the extension cords, less worry.

I saw your water heater on your other posts about it - cool!

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
No offence but this sounds more like user error more than product error...

and fused the terminals on my extension cord

You never plug a electric heater into a extension cord, it doesn't matter the gauge of extension cord, also the Thermocube is designed to be plugged directly into the wall outlet and the and then the heater plugged directly into the Thermocube.

if it had been inside the coop, there would be no coop, this thing caught fire and the plastic melted

Was the Thermocube outside unprotected from the weather? If so this could have played a part in it also. Those Thermocube are meant to be indoors and protected from the weather.

Chris​

 

[seanb]

Chris,

Actually, you can plug a heater into an extension cord if the wire size is adequate enough to handle the load. For that matter, you can plug just about anything into an extension cord, provided you don't put more of a load on the wiring that the conductor size can handle.

Most cords bought at stores are 14 or 16 gauge. I make all my cords out of 12 gauge SO cord so they're rated for 20 amps. Considering a lot of house wiring between the breaker and receptacle is 14-2 Romex, a 12 gauge extension cord would actually be an improvement.

 

[bald egg]

How old was the thermocube? I have 2 of them in my coop that I purchased last winter. Any life span issues with these?

 

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
yes please!

 

[juliaronan]

That is scary! I have een using an R-Zilla 1000 which is designed for reptile cages. I plug my heat lamp into it. It's temperature range is from 60-120 f. So far, it has worked well.