Heated water base for plastic wateres_Advise please

[cluckey]

I found this heated base at Strombergschickens.com. It looks like all the other ones you'd use with the double wall metal fountain waterers but it says its okay to use with plastic waterers as well. Has anyone had any luck with this or heard of this brand? Its the only one i can find out there for use with plastic waterers but cant find any reviews on it.

http://www.strombergschickens.com/product/universal-electric-fount-heater/fount-heaters

 

[sunflour]

$66 is quite pricey. There are some posts in BYC and videos on Youtube showing how to make cement block or cookie tin heaters at a fraction of the cost. We made one from a cinder/cement block, ceramic socket, regular light bulb. placed it on a wood scrap, topped it with a terra-cotta pot saucer (keeps spills out of light) and placed the plastic water fount on top. Cut an extension cord so it could be pushed thru the 1/2 inch hardware cloth and replaced the plug with a new one once it was inside our run. Since ours was in the covered run we did have some freezing of the water in the fount bottom when temps were way below freezing. If you are in a colder climate and could place inside the coop likely wouldn't freeze at all.

The add for the one you list states not to let it get exposed to snow or rain. Bet it doesn't work any better than the homemade ones.

 

[cluckey]

It would be inside the coop, obviously i'll have to run the electrical cord out to the outdoor outlets we have around the farm. It does seem pricy, i just dont know that i trust myself to build something that wont catch fire. There are tons of great ideas out there for making your own, however I cant seem to find a metal double wall fountain waterer that doesnt leak all over my coop. Seems only the plastic ones with screw on tops work so i need something that wont melt those.

 

[sunflour]

I looked at these at tractor supply: http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/farm-innovators-heated-poultry-fount-3-gal

But the cords are permanently attached, I would have tried if the cord could be removed for filling.
I never could get a metal fount that I trusted, and I really also prefer the plastic ones.

 

[cluckey]

I saw that too.but I saw someone posted a picture of that waterer after it caught fire. ..so decided not to buy it. Why can't they make a metal twist on top like the plastic ones!

 

[blackswamp]

I used a cookie tin with a 40 watt bulb last year. I used a plastic waterier too & a 60 watt bulb seem to get to hot for me. I went to lowes & got four bricks & mounted the cookie tin on the bricks. I still used a chain to hang the waterier on the cookie tin.

Jeff

 

[cluckey]

you're saying the 60 watt bulb got too hot for the plastic waterer until you put it up on bricks?

 

[blackswamp]

The cookie tin got to hot for me with a 60 watt bulb. The 40 watt did good for me, but I had my water in the coop. this year it will be outside & I'm going to try something different.