Mama Heating Pad in the Brooder (Picture Heavy) - UPDATE

[casportpony]

One of our concerns is the cost of running electronic devices, which is why I asked about the wattage. Running something at 180 watts 24/7 isn't as cheap as running something at 50 watts 24/7.

With heating elements you can't just take the wattage and multiply by the hours it's plugged in,
much often depends on the ambient temps and the power cycling of the heating device.

I tracked usage with a Kilawatt when I first used the brooder heating pad, did the incubator and water heater too, for the same reason and also out of curiosity.
Wrote down time and the kwh used and reset device approx. every 24 hours, then calculated total kwh with our power cost(~$0.15/kwh).
The incubation was like $3-5 total...brooder was about the same.
Didn't keep the data, so can't cite it, sorry.
If you really want to check your power usage/cost, invest $25 in a Kilawatt device and start recording.

DH is a hardware/software engineer, so is quite used to calculating power consumption costs, and I think we have all the measurement equipment here. I'll ask him for some numbers...

-Kathy

 

[BigSkyBird]

If it worked it is fine 
I did check that one and saw it has no auto-off. That or the ability to defeat it is key.

I am planning on brooding my first checks this spring and had hoped to buy a king-size sunbeam heating pad without an "auto off" feature, as the power to our house is interrupted somewhat frequently but almost always comes back on within a few seconds, so I would like to have a pad that turns back on automatically after the power is out. I thought I had found the appropriate pad on Amazon, but when I looked more closely at responses to the question on Amazon regarding this, I found that while replies from two or three years ago said the heating pad did not have an auto off feature, more recent replies contradicted this. So I posed the question through a chat on the sunbeam website and was told that they no longer manufacture heating pads without the "auto off" feature, so it looks like the only option is to get the model with an auto off that must be disabled.

 

[aart]

DH is a hardware/software engineer, so is quite used to calculating power consumption costs, and I think we have all the measurement equipment here. I'll ask him for some numbers...

-Kathy

Will be curious to hear what his thoughts are on measuring usage on thermostatically controlled heating applicances.

 

[BigSkyBird]

Does anyone have experience using this heating pad for MHP? Looks like there are 3 settings and no auto off.
https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Franklyns...2952&sr=8-1&keywords=Dr+Franklyn's+moist+heat

 

[Molpet]

I am planning on brooding my first checks this spring and had hoped to buy a king-size sunbeam heating pad without an "auto off" feature, as the power to our house is interrupted somewhat frequently but almost always comes back on within a few seconds, so I would like to have a pad that turns back on automatically after the power is out. I thought I had found the appropriate pad on Amazon, but when I looked more closely at responses to the question on Amazon regarding this, I found that while replies from two or three years ago said the heating pad did not have an auto off feature, more recent replies contradicted this. So I posed the question through a chat on the sunbeam website and was told that they no longer manufacture heating pads without the "auto off" feature, so it looks like the only option is to get the model with an auto off that must be disabled.

I had gotten last spring the three settings and they didn't have auto off.. the digital and many temp settings had the auto off, with an over ride

http://www.sunbeam.com/pain-relief/...at-heating-pad-light-blue/000731-500-000.html

http://www.sunbeam.com/pain-relief/heating-pads/sunbeam-heating-pad-light-blue/000756-500-000.html

 

[casportpony]

Does anyone have experience using this heating pad for MHP? Looks like there are 3 settings and no auto off.
https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Franklyns...2952&sr=8-1&keywords=Dr+Franklyn's+moist+heat

Welcome to BYC!

 

[aart]

Remember that 'auto-off' (where it automatically turns off after 2 hours or so-and some have the ability to override this function)
is different than whether it will come back on automatically after a power outage restoration.

I think any pad with digital controls will not come back on automatically after a power outage restoration.

 

[BigSkyBird]

I had gotten last spring the three settings and they didn't have auto off.. the digital and many temp settings had the auto off, with an over ride http://www.sunbeam.com/pain-relief/...at-heating-pad-light-blue/000731-500-000.html http://www.sunbeam.com/pain-relief/heating-pads/sunbeam-heating-pad-light-blue/000756-500-000.html

Thank you! Do these automatically come back on after a power outage?

 

[Molpet]

Thank you! Do these automatically come back on after a power outage?

the ones I bought last spring do.. if they haven't changed things

 

[Blooie]

I am planning on brooding my first checks this spring and had hoped to buy a king-size sunbeam heating pad without an "auto off" feature, as the power to our house is interrupted somewhat frequently but almost always comes back on within a few seconds, so I would like to have a pad that turns back on automatically after the power is out. I thought I had found the appropriate pad on Amazon, but when I looked more closely at responses to the question on Amazon regarding this, I found that while replies from two or three years ago said the heating pad did not have an auto off feature, more recent replies contradicted this. So I posed the question through a chat on the sunbeam website and was told that they no longer manufacture heating pads without the "auto off" feature, so it looks like the only option is to get the model with an auto off that must be disabled.

We ran into this when @Henless first brought the heating pad that turns itself back on to our attention. As it turns out, after she dug deeper, the reviews listed on Amazon are actually fo a different heating pad. I hadn't heard they'd stopped manufacturing that pad. Most of the digital pads we use do have a "stay on" feature, but the non-digital one that she found can also turn itself back on after a power outage, and resets to the last temperature set. I just tried to access that pad and was surprised to see that familiar "Page not found" gobbledygook. <sigh> Figures...folks find something that works for the purpose they need and it's discontinued.