aoxa/All: I just made one of the cookie tin waterer heaters from stuff I had around the house! I had the 12' diameter tin, and I cannabalized an old broken lamp with working socket parts and cord, plus I already had low wattage incandescent bulbs in the cupboard. I thought of using a 40-watt appliance bulb, because they are compact. Instead, I found two different wattages of medium-base decorator bulbs that are oblong and come to a point on the end. Even better! So, I installed the lamp socket midway up the side of the tin and screwed in a 40-watt designer bulb.
While still inside of my house, I attached a temperature probe to the lid after placing it atop the tin base and measured the temperature that a plastic (or other) waterer would be subjected to once the tin assembly came up to maximum temperature. It was pretty warm with the 40-watt bulb; at 160 degrees F, so I plan to replace the 40-watt bulb with a 25-watt bulb of same type and then control the works using the new ThermoCube I bought a few weeks ago. Here are some things to consider about a similar set up to keep your animals in liquid water through cold conditions:
You could run a 60-watt bulb for 16.6667 hours per day to equal 1 Kw-hr. of electricity. If you pay $0.01 (ten cents)/kW-hr., it would cost you roughly $0.15/24 hrs. to keep the animals' water in liquid form.
The use of the Thermo Cube would reduce energy consumption even further by modulating the power available to the lamp per the following design conditions- it energizes the lamp when ambient temps reach 35 degrees F and cuts out power when the temp climbs to 45 degrees F. My thermo Cube cost me approximately $13.00. Therefore, one could operate the light bulb mentioned above (60 watts @ 15 cents per 24 hours = $13.00/$0.15= 86.667 days ) for almost three months straight without a thermo Cube in order to offset the cost of one.
Of course, a side benefit for those concerned about possible coop fires is that the actual time that the Thermo Cube remains OFF reduces the probability of a fire at the lamp since it is not in operation unless the temperature gets down to 35 degrees F and does not elevate to 45 degrees F.
I plan use the 25 watt bulb (leaving the 60 watt bulb loose in the cookie tin for ready access to it) until I can determine at what temperature conditions a 40 watt bulb is warranted for use.
Just my 10 cents worth!
Barred Rock Cafe
