Home Made Bucket Heater...

[IRTehDuckie]

i do not have any pictures for you guys currently, but this is an update.
It's winter time here in michigan now, my 4 sulcatas have to stay inside the garage/shed for the season, but its too much running a space heater. so the genius husband of mine is making a bucket heater... stay posted for pics! (within the next week or so)

 

[wellington]

While waiting for pics, can you explain what a bucket heater is? Never heard of it.

 

[IRTehDuckie]

oh yes sorry, its a bucket of water that is heated, and the evaporation of the water heats and keeps it humid inside the structure.

 

[wellington]

I had thought maybe it was something like that. How big of an enclosure will it heat and will it be one 5 gallon bucket? What kind of heater, like an aquarium heater? I can't imagine it keeping anything that warm, except the water. Sorry for all the questions, but I would love to have more info, like the size of enclosure, is it insulated, etc. being in chicago, we have similar weather. Yours probably more snow and possibly more of the colder temps too, but still very similar. I heat a 8x20 well insulated, ceiling, floors and walls, shed with a oil filled space heater and then I have 3 CHE on all day and night and 4 basking lights on all day and two pig blankets day and night. Plus I also have one two bulb Flourescent on all day and two regular lights on all day plus a ceiling fan running day and night. That's just the torts. Then I have two lizards and two tree frogs and an aquarium I run electric for and my total bill for all that and my regular house hold items is so far 182.00. Cheaper then my other building I think. My normal electric before ever having torts was around 80-90 and 120.00 for Christmas time lights. Not bad I don't think, but always looking to lower it.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Wow barb, that's a lot of heat sources in the tort shed!

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Something many folks overlook is the wonderful insulator value for snow. On bare skin, you do need to get past the cold part, though. But really, cold, dry snow, with all those air pockets, is great insulation. It even blocks wind in cracks if packed well.

 

[wellington]

Wow barb, that's a lot of heat sources in the tort shed!

And there are still cool spots. The temps at tort levels are 85 during the day and 75/80 during the night, except under basking spots of course.
The pig blankets are on thermostats and so is the oil filled heater and two of the Che's are for humid hides.
Not much more added from what was used at the shed at our other place that was 10 feet shorter.

 

[wellington]

Something many folks overlook is the wonderful insulator value for snow. On bare skin, you do need to get past the cold part, though. But really, cold, dry snow, with all those air pockets, is great insulation. It even blocks wind in cracks if packed well.

We have no snow. Which I would rather pay a higher electric bill and not have the snow. I hate snow

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I don't see how a warm bucket of water would radiate enough needed heat. Even if it were super heated, it would burn off the water, warm the area around it and maybe become a safety concern when the water level gets low . I'm very interested to see this heater. I applaud your husband for trying to make a heater for the torts. If his design works, it would be a great thing!

 

[wellington]

We have no snow. Which I would rather pay a higher electric bill and not have the snow. I hate snow

I should say we don't have no snow yet. We do get snow

 

[wellington]

I don't see how a warm bucket of water would radiate enough needed heat. Even if it were super heated, it would burn off the water, warm the area around it and maybe become a safety concern when the water level gets low . I'm very interested to see this heater. I applaud your husband for trying to make a heater for the torts. If his design works, it would be a great thing!

I agree, don't know how this would heat a big enough area. Can't wait to see it and the results. Hope it does work

 

[Yvonne G]

At my old house I had a sort of lean-to green house behind the garage attached to the outside garage wall. No heater. To help keep it warm in there overnight I had eight 55 gallon drums under the plant shelf filled with water. They were on the west wall, so the sun shone on them all day, warming the water. I never lost a plant to the cold weather. It worked like a charm.

 

[leopard777]

i just saw a video , where this guy had pipes below the floor in the room , its heated water running inside the pipes and maintaining the whole room at 80

 

[Levi the Leopard]

At my old house I had a sort of lean-to green house behind the garage attached to the outside garage wall. No heater. To help keep it warm in there overnight I had eight 55 gallon drums under the plant shelf filled with water. They were on the west wall, so the sun shone on them all day, warming the water. I never lost a plant to the cold weather. It worked like a charm.

That's pretty cool !
But 8, 55gallon drums would take up quite a bit of space, no? I'm thinking in the setting of a tort shed, not so much for plants..

I too am waiting to see how this is going tho work out so please come back to share

 

[IRTehDuckie]

before i begin reply's.. there are these websites that my husbands posts on. http://aquaponiclogic.com/ and this is our website btw.
We are super organic and believe in only the most natural way about things. My husband (mostly) and i are setting up an aquaponic system to grow plant life (food for torts) using fish and just all natural cycles, no added fertilizers or anything like that. I want my torts and my family to be all natural. lol probably why my child is growing like a weed. 2 and a half year old with a size 12 kid shoe? insane.

also theres not going to be pictures with this post either, hopefully there will be some soon, my apologies.

Having just put that period up there, just spilled coffee on my white shirt -__- green shirt to match the holiday spirit.

I had thought maybe it was something like that. How big of an enclosure will it heat and will it be one 5 gallon bucket? What kind of heater, like an aquarium heater? I can't imagine it keeping anything that warm, except the water. Sorry for all the questions, but I would love to have more info, like the size of enclosure, is it insulated, etc. being in chicago, we have similar weather. Yours probably more snow and possibly more of the colder temps too, but still very similar. I heat a 8x20 well insulated, ceiling, floors and walls, shed with a oil filled space heater and then I have 3 CHE on all day and night and 4 basking lights on all day and two pig blankets day and night. Plus I also have one two bulb Flourescent on all day and two regular lights on all day plus a ceiling fan running day and night. That's just the torts. Then I have two lizards and two tree frogs and an aquarium I run electric for and my total bill for all that and my regular house hold items is so far 182.00. Cheaper then my other building I think. My normal electric before ever having torts was around 80-90 and 120.00 for Christmas time lights. Not bad I don't think, but always looking to lower it.

wellington, http://www.homedepot.com/p/Behrens-17-gal-Galvanized-Utility-Tub-3GS/100186673 this is the bucket we are using, its a 17 gallon utility tub for 20 bucks at home depot. trying to keep the cost below 100$ not an aquarium heater, we found a heating element online for 2 dollars and some change, or something like that, you get two of them, good thing because we already broke the first haha but second attempt went as planned.

we are heating a two and a half car garage, but if that doesnt work out properly, inside the garage is a room about a car length that we know the heater will heat. yes it is very heavily insulated. the temperature inside the garage stays about 60 degrees always, into the low 50's but never cooler than that, with this bucket heater we would like to keep it in the 80's and thats what we are trying to achieve. with my husband, James, building the thermostat for the bucket heater, so it will not always be running, it will keep the water at about 120 degrees and we are going to try that first and see what happens, while we had it running before, the water got very hot rather quickly getting up to around 90 degrees in the first 5 minutes or so and it does put off a great amount of heat. Only issue im concerned about it heat rises haha

amd pur electric bill is around 200-400 depending on what we have going on. I also have 3 beardies, 7 anphibs, and tons of fish and plants and lots of other stuff, not to mention 5 people living in the house, thankfully that number has gone down from a previous 8. so doing anything to conserve the energy is good haha, having us recently switch to all LED's and not having cable anymore.. people think we are crazy but this is the lifestyle me and my husband want to have, so lets do it haha.

I don't see how a warm bucket of water would radiate enough needed heat. Even if it were super heated, it would burn off the water, warm the area around it and maybe become a safety concern when the water level gets low . I'm very interested to see this heater. I applaud your husband for trying to make a heater for the torts. If his design works, it would be a great thing!

he appreciated the applause! haha thats much needed inspiration for him. we would just have to keep filling the water up is all, and i would gladly do that instead of paying hundreds on energy.

At my old house I had a sort of lean-to green house behind the garage attached to the outside garage wall. No heater. To help keep it warm in there overnight I had eight 55 gallon drums under the plant shelf filled with water. They were on the west wall, so the sun shone on them all day, warming the water. I never lost a plant to the cold weather. It worked like a charm.

I would give anything to have a lean-to-green or anything similar in our yard, i look online constantly for greenhouses and stuff like that, or even 55 gallon drums or anything, but the area we live in and the car we drive drastically kill almost any chance of finding anything like that lol but that is awesome and hopefully what we will do over the winter and next coming summer.

i just saw a video , where this guy had pipes below the floor in the room , its heated water running inside the pipes and maintaining the whole room at 80

I can only dream! haha

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

I would think adding an inexpensive float switch to a water source could eliminate the need to constantly monitor water levels. I've seen these used for livestock troughs though I've never used one. We life the idea of the critters getting daily fresh water not the slim crap the collects on the bottom. Here, though, it would work.

 

[IRTehDuckie]

I would think adding an inexpensive float switch to a water source could eliminate the need to constantly monitor water levels. I've seen these used for livestock troughs though I've never used one. We life the idea of the critters getting daily fresh water not the slim crap the collects on the bottom. Here, though, it would work.

I will defnitely look into those!! thank you much!

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Kinda like the shut off valve in a toilet tank. When the level is at a determined low, water kicks on. When it hits a set high limit, it shuts off.

 

[wellington]

Wow, kudos to you for wanting to live a natural green life, Lots of work. I sure hope it does work for you to be able to heat the whole garage. Can't wait for the post of success,

 

[Levi the Leopard]

yes, I've used float valves..they are great and perfect for this use