Safe??

[cynthiamelo]

I made two of these today and am excited to use them however has anyone ever had a problem with them catching fire? I put them in the coop and my plastic 1 gallon water jug on it there is straw and pine shavings in the coop just want to be sure this is safe. I do have the outlet on a GFI strip

 

[ghostwolf211]

What exactly did you make??

 

[cynthiamelo]

10" tin with lamp kit and a 40 watt bulb

 

[cynthiamelo]

also leaving on vacation tomorrow and it is supposed to be cold here in new england wondering if I leave it plugged in or have babysitter turn off and on that in itself could be scary

 

[ghostwolf211]

Well it's electrical and it has pine shavings and straw around.....That could be a fire hazard by itself....I don't have a heated water base yet.....Right now I just change the water out a couple times a day when it starts to freeze....In a couple weeks i'm going to invest in heated waterers instead of the bases.....But anyway's....I wouldn't leave anything electrical like that around straw and pine shavings....You might come out in the morning to find BBQ instead of breakfast

 

[JackE]

Put the tin up on a couple of concrete blocks(See pic below), and you will have no problems. You should raise the waterer anyway, to keep the chickens from kicking a bunch of debris in it. This is the 4th year I have my cookie tin heater in operation, and have had zero problems, and it is on for months. I would recommend getting a thermo cube (Check Amazon), it will turn the heater off if the temp gets over 40.

 

[cynthiamelo]

awesome thank you

 

[chad-o]

I use horizontal nipples in PVC pipe with a tabletop fountain pump. The pump circulates the water from the end of the pipe back to the pail. Cheap to run no fire hazard! Running water does not freeze.