Heated base safe?

[patvetzal]

My heated dog dish has a built-in thermostat so it only turns on when colder than about 40F. Thats a long way from being hot enough to start a fire but warm enough to prevent ice.....
I still have it on a raised wooden base to keep most of the shavings out when the girls decide to hold a barn dance.....

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I like heated waterers, dog dishes and bases for waterers to be on something non-flammable. When working properly, they aren't usually a problem. Sometimes, though, things go wrong with electrical appliances. Try to set them up so that if they malfunction, they won't start a fire. Cement blocks, paving stones, patio blocks or a layer of bricks all work well. It only takes a small effort to give you a lot more safety.

 

[TheNewMrsEvans]

So I just bought a little giant heated waterer base...it had been working great. I have it plugged into a thermocube, sitting on a platform of cinder blocks inside of the coop. The lowest temp the thermometer in there has read is 19F but for the last two nights the fount has been frozen in a layer around the sides and in the basin at the bottom...what gives?!? Have u guys had trouble?
Last year I used a canine canteen deice bucket, but I had a bantam drown in it

so I bought this base instead...

 

[Mak]

I have a heater base that has been in the coop for a few months now. I use wood shavings, so I put it up on cinder blocks. I use the blocks anyway in warm weather, one in the coop under the metal waterer and one in the run under a plastic one, so they are at a good height for drinking but not for throwing junk into the water. Since the plastic waterer is removed in cold weather, I just put the second block in the coop under the heater base. I've never even felt the metal get warm to touch, but the water does stay unfrozen so I know it's working.