electric outlet inside chicken coop

[Chad the Chicken Man]

Hey everyone I was wondering if you guys have any problems with the dust and stuff like that with your outlets. I dont have power out at my chicken coop. I run a cord from house to the coop in the winter, but im thinking about making a plug in on the outside of the coop for the extention cord to plug into and having a plug in on the inside. just wondering if anyone had done this or has any comments about it.
So to make it more clear about the plug in, there would be a male plug on the out side and a female plug on the inside, so the extention cord would plug into it on the outside, and i would be able to plug my water heater in on the inside...
Thanks
Chad the Chicken Man

 

[herefordlovinglady]

i have a plug and light in my coop, never had a problem with it. i keep a fan plugged in in the summer and in the winter the heat light goes into the light socket.

 

[Schroeder]

I use those child's safety covers to plug the outlets not being used.

 

[Ridgerunner]

In Wisconsin, I'd keep the outside one where it will not get blowing rain, ice, heavy frost build-up, heavy condensation, all that. You know your climate better than I do.

On the inside you can put a covered plug like you would use for the outside to keep the dust down. Even one of those cheap plastic child protectors that don't actually do much good with toddlers other than give them something to play with and attract attention will help keep the dust out.

To be honest, I'd worry more about running the extension cord without proper circuit breaker or fuse protection than dust build-up. I have absolutely no doubt there is a risk from the dust build-up, but I have seen some live outlets go years without shorting out or burning down an out building or coop. I have an outlet in my coop with circuit breaker protection and a plastic plug to keep the dust down inside.

 

[Chad the Chicken Man]

well on the outside you can get a plastic cover that flips down and has a small hole on the bottom for the wire to slid into, so i was going to use that. now can i put a circuit breaker or fuse protector on the extetion cord? or will my fuse box at the house work for that?

 

[CityChook]

We did this on a coop that we built for a friend. The plug on the inside is for exteriors and has individual hinged covers and the wiring goes out to a "pig tail" that can be plugged into an extension cord.

Both the outlet and the heat lamp fixture were then hardwired to the pigtail. There is no switch in this coop -- it's either on or off based on whether you attach it to an extension cord or not. We drilled a small hole in the wall, fed the wiring through and sealed up the hole with silicon and then installed the male end.

I have an outlet in my main coop as well, but it's live 24/7/365. Dust hasn't been a problem - I blow it off every now and then, but as long as something is plugged in the dust can't get inside. When nothing is plugged in, the hinged cover is over it.

Hope this helps.

cc

 

[turtlebird]

My outlets are mounted on the ceiling of the coop. I am hoping gravity helps keep the dust from accumulating!

 

[sgtmom52]

Quote:
Mine are also on the ceiling ~ keeps curious chickens out of them too!

 

[SillyChicken]

we just installed 2 outlets and a light in the coop, one about 24" up from the floor and one on the wall at the ceiling. If you have any exposed wires outside you should use some conduit to protect the wires.

Go to the insulation isle in your local big box, they have little foam cut outs made for outlets. They go under the cover plate and help stop drafts from the cold, they should help cut dust from getting into the outlet box. At least I hope so cause that's my plan!! And then, I use the safety plugs to cover the outlets in my kennel outlets and will use for the coop as well.

 

[Monk]

Quote:
That is just about what i did, but... a regular outlets inside and out, wire was ran between the studs during construction. The outlet outside, under the coop, has a short extention cord. This extention cord is about 12" long and a male plug on each end. It is plugged in and stapled in place. It is essentially a permenently situation. I have a fan on a timer, water heater, and light all plugged in at this time. Dust hasn't been a issue so far.