HELP????

[Wilma]

I have purchased a bird bath heater.  The only instructions that came with it is place it in the middle of the bird bath, cover it with water and plug it into a grounded extension.

I have questions.

It claims to have an 18 inch cord, but it looks as if to be 18 inches you have to measure from the end of the unit to the end of the prongs.  It looks like the plug will rest on the edge of the bird bath.  My question is:

How do you keep the weather out of the connection?

It is heavy enough to rest at the bottom of the bird bath.  My question is:

What happens if the neighbor's dog gets a drink and happens to drag the unit out of the water?

I have a heavy duty drop cord that I intend to use.  It will plug into the outside receptable on the house.  The receptacle is not protected when something is plugged in.  My question is:

Will it be safe to leave this plugged in continually?  The unit is thermostatically controlled.

[Diane Amberg]

Hi there. I expect PEP can give a better answer for you, but I have two heaters and here is what we do. Al made a sleeve out of an old bicycle tire tube and slid it over the connection between the heater plug and the heavy outdoor extension cord and then used electrical ties to secure it. You could probably make something out of plastic bags and twist ties. At the house we plug into weather proofed outdoor outlets that have gaskets to keep the weather out. We've never had a problem. If the heater is knocked out of the birdbath, it shuts off but the water will freeze. I keep a couple of bricks on the cord near the birdbath to help keep it in place.

[S-S]

We have a heavy duty extension cord going from the house to the heat light in the chicken coop. Where the heat lamp plugs in to the extension cord is halfway to the coop, so Billy ran the cord through some square tubing left over from the construction of our shed. So when it rains or snows, the cord is safe. We had a heater in our dogs big water bucket and we never had a problem with them taking it out. And like Diane said, when it left the water, it shut off.

[Wilma]

My new bird bath heater is now in operation.  We will see how well it works.  We decided to wrap the connection with electrical tape and since the heater cord is so short, the connection is well off the ground.  However, the bird bath is solidly frozen this morning and rather than try to get it thawed, we are using a rubber tub that is about four inches deep and have it setting on top of the frozen bird bath.  The drawback to this is that the little birds won't be able to reach the water if it gets low.  So, we have put two bricks in the tub that they can perch on when the water gets down to them.  It is taking awhile for the birds to accept the change, but the starlings don't mind a bit.  Blue jays and robins don't care much either.  The cardinals are suspicious.  I think that before long they will all be getting a drink.  Thank you all for your help.

[Wilma]

I just peeked at the bird bath again.  The sparrows are accepting it and there was a brand new bird with them.  My bird book identified it as a yellow bellied sapsucker.  I had never seen one before.  Does anyone know if they are common around here?