Heated waterer for Canada (and my daily -20 celcius)

[NajmoNests]

Just have to jump in on this discussion and hope to have useful input. We are in frozen Minnesota. I have 3 of the 1 1/2 gallon blue 25Watt dog water bowls for my birds and barn cats. I leave them on 24/7. I have used these dog bowls for 2 years now and love em.

Water is changed twice a day as I have call ducks that also use them. To keep the water clean - each bowl is half covered with a scrap of board. When I change water, this board is used to stir the water to remove all dirty sedament. I also am using the 25w led bulbs that give 75w of light. We deep litter, using DE on damp spots then cover with new wood chips. Ducks and chickens mingle in the whole barn during the day time and sleep seperated. My barn is dry and fluffy and my poultry are active, happily chatting amongst themselves and I feel they are comfortable.

 

[ScottM]

Jodijo, can you comment if you have the 25 or 50 watt heated dog dish.

 

[mukluk]

Good discussion. I'm off grid too, and with a pretty minimal system and no generator. It sounds like the dog bowl is a good way to go, but even the 25w is going to be challenging.

One thought, and one question for everyone..

First.. I read somewhere about placing a floating cover over the water surface with holes drilled in it for access to the water...should help insulate the bowl a bit more, and perhaps keep the water clean longer. Maybe just a board with some holes drilled in. It would be nice with some foam on the bottom where the critters couldn't get at it. I am also thinking of putting a super insulated box around the base and sides of the dog bowl.

The question.. I need to leave for two days sometimes. Is the dog bowl heater able to thaw itself out if it freezes right up? I'm wondering about having the bowl on a day-only timer, and letting it freeze overnight....whether that would use less or more energy than just leaving it on? I suppose I might need to do the experiment, but wondered if someone else had been there?

thanks, m.
ps...is the dog bowl on all the time or does it have a thermostat built in?