Thermocubes (authenticfarm please), let's hear about them

We are all entering winter and cold. There was a thread about snow and there was 75 posts or so to it. Getting too long and too many little talks about things other than snow. Something that interested me was Authenticfarm and Heda talking about their thermocubes and having them set to come on at temperatures colder than -17.

We are not yet in the deep cold, last winter we only dipped to -17, but the winter before it went down to -21. My birds are single combed birds. The combs are pretty big on the males. Didn't have frostsbite last year, but did have it the prior year and I don't want to repeat. Seems that colder than -17, then frostbite become apparent. Still can't get used to the cold winter, coastal BC, from where we came is mild, average winter temperature is about 5 C and this is coldish. Yes, can get well below zero there and snowy, but the average is above freezing.

Preparing thoughts for winter readying and would like to hear about thermocubes, what they do, how they heat, and well, just tell about them please, and pictures and approximate prices...have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.

I use thermocubes in my hen house and on a lot of my water heaters. Mine look like this

Mine comes on at 0 and off at +5 I believe. I have one in the main hen house to control the heat lamp. I have another in my rooster coop that controls their heat lamp and also controls the sinking deicers in my duck water. I plan to put one in my Quonset where the water font heaters are for those two pens, they are still on order.

I learned this year about another thermocube invention, it works when it gets too hot in your coop to turn fans on. I have to order one of those as well, that is a nifty idea.

http://www.thermocube.com/

Where did you buy yours HR?
http://www.amazon.ca/Farm-Innovators-TC-3-Thermostatically-Controlled/dp/B0006U2HD2

Not much to tell! You plug them in, and they do the rest. The ones I have attached to my heat lamps come on at -18. I bought them off Amazon.com.

Oh shocking, its basically a plug with a timer and thermostat, cool though! Thanks for the replies, now I know what it is. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

The basic one just has a thermostat, no timer. You can get one for $15 - I put up the different retailers on the earlier thread, just have to go back and look. They work just as represented, on at zero off at about plus 5. That's it. I've had mine for about 4 years, still work just like that.

As Authentic has found and Hidden River says, there are now ones that come on and off at different colder and warmer temperatures. Not sure if any have timers though (why would they need one?). They are more expensive. Amazon.com has a few different ones and I'm sure other retailers too.

Yeah, no timer, just an internal thermostat.

Cindi I bet Princess Auto has these.

Ok...I did this the really hard way apparently. I went to home hardware and bought a 13.00 thermostat and then I wired it directly into a short extension cord...and then taped the whole thing up with a lot of electrical tape. A lot more work...and a lot uglier...but it does have the advantage that I can set it for whatever I want. I use this thermostat to turn on my heatlamp when it gets to 0 in the chicken house.

I purchased my first one from a US store, not sure which one, I think Cutler supply. But I found the last 3 at a Peavey Mart that was clearing them out, got them for $10 each!
My first one did die after 2 years, so not sure if they have a life limit or not, but so far these other ones are working well. Key is to keep them up so they do not get dirt, water or poo in them, then they should last a long time.

Farmer bob we set up a thermostat in our young chick coop, we have a radiant heater in there, and so we can adjust the levels from 5 degrees up to 100 degrees (F). But if a person is just wanting freeze prevention then these thermocubes work great.

Farmer Bob wrote:Ok...I did this the really hard way apparently.  I went to home hardware and bought a 13.00 thermostat and then I wired it directly into a short extension cord...and then taped the whole thing up with a lot of electrical tape.  A lot more work...and a lot uglier...but it does have the advantage that I can set it for whatever I want.  I use this thermostat to turn on my heatlamp when it gets to 0 in the chicken house.

Is it like this one?

Yep...exactly like that! 

I have a thermocube in my chick tractor. It worked great. I have more coming for my heat lamps in the barn.

-18C forecast for tomorrow night. Time to check that all those units are working!