Cookie Tin Heater

[tad889]

I have seen a Cookie Tin Heater for a chicken waterer and I thought it was a great idea but my wife brought up the fact that you are dealing with water, metal and electricity. Seems like a valid concern. Does anyone have any insight on the safety of such a device?

 

[cavemanrich]

It is safe if constructed carefully. You would not want the light bulb touching the metal. This way if the bulb breaks, it does not short to the ground.
The VERY IMPORTANT part in using any outdoor electrical items, is a GFCI protected electric supply.
It very minute things seem to be wrong, the GFCI circuit shuts the power off.
There are other options to keep water from freezing. A very commonly used one is a Stock Tank Heater. The added advantage with such is the thermostatically controlled operation. Only heats to a certain temp, and off when that temperature is reached.
There are ways to have a Cookie tin work in a similar fashion, but that gets involved in wiring in a temperature control.
A shortcut to that would be a Thermal Cube. It is so so able to control the water temp to some degree. It would be a trial and error on getting the ideal wattage bulb to your temperature ambiance.
My personal suggestion is what I currently use outdoors. It is thermostatically controlled, so only heats water to a certain temp, as well as not heat when outdoor temps are warm.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[RonP]

It is safe if constructed carefully. You would not want the light bulb touching the metal. This way if the bulb breaks, it does not short to the ground.
The VERY IMPORTANT part in using any outdoor electrical items, is a GFCI protected electric supply.

GFIC will protect you from electrocution, but you will want a combo GFIC and an arc-fault circuit interrupter also known as an arc-fault detection device, AFIC, a circuit breaker that breaks the circuit when it detects an electric arc in the circuit. It protects to prevent electrical fires and your coop from catching fire should there be a breach in your wiring, commonly caused by rodents.

Below is a link to my cookie tin heater. Hope this helps.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/dyi-forever-water-heater.69914/

 

[WindingRoad]

 

[PirateGirl]

A similar set-up to the cookie tin heater would be to have your light bulb inside the hollow of a cinder block instead of the cookie tin. I believe this would be safer and still get the job done. Also the block will hold some heat. I have also seen the light bulb in a terracotta plant pot instead of a cookie tin.

 

[proudmommie31]

I use the light bulb in a cinder block method. I scraped the ground down to dirt, placed the light bulb (my hubby took the shield off one of those metal clamp style lamps) inside one of the sides, placed a large metal feeding bowl (from tractor supply) over it and my white and red 5 gallon plastic waterer sits in it. The metal warms up nicely but not too hot and it keeps any spilled water from hitting the bulb. I use a ceramic heat bulb (a cheap one for reptile cages) and the water hasn’t froze since.