does it actually have a thermostat that shuts off and on? at what temperature does it come on and stay off? What would the cost be of running the unit for 9 hours at subfreezing or very cold temperatures. I have it on a timer so water will be frozen when the deer trample my garden to drink out of the " birdbath". does it actually have a thermostat that shuts off and on? at what temperature does it come on and stay off? What would the cost be of running the unit for 9 hours at subfreezing or very cold... » Read More does it actually have a thermostat that shuts off and on? at what temperature does it come on and stay off? What would the cost be of running the unit for 9 hours at subfreezing or very cold temperatures. I have it on a timer so water will be frozen when the deer trample my garden to drink out of the " birdbath". « Show Less
2014362
The unit has a built in thermostat - it comes on when the water temperature drops below 32 and shuts off when it comes up to ~40. It works!!!!! We have had a brutal winter and my birds are very happy!! It must be very low power as it has had no noticable impact on our electric bill . . .
2014363
Hello Valerie, according to the instructions that came with the heated rock bird bath de-icer, the unit is thermostatically controlled to run only when the temperature falls below 35 degrees farenheit. As to cost of running the unit, which is 75 watts, I do not have actual cost to report, but the instructions state that it "costs pennies to operate." I run mine all winter long and have noticed no noticeable increase in my electric bill. John
2014364
Yes, it shuts off at 35 degrees. Mine ran for weeks at a time with this freezing weather and I didn't notice any increase in my electric bill.I now know not to use the heater in a concrete birdbath so I ordered a metal birdbath for next winter. I had surgery and couldn't monitor the amount of water in it so it basically ran dry for a few days. Make sure there is water in it at all times.I hope this answers your question.
1870992
Mine worked only for a month or two, and the thermostat went on the fritz, so instead of turning off with legs down, it stayed on. Lucky my dog smelled the burning, or could have been a problem! I threw it out and haven't bothered with another. Sending it back wasn't an option for as I am in Bermuda. I see the other answer said it was sent back and the new one has been working for 4 years! Shame, cute idea, though the little scraping noise of the legs going in and out drove me crazy!!
1702179
It has a timer on it which times how long you want it to run. It turns off after the timer ends. You still need to turn it completely off after to cut the main power but it isn't running. I seriously LOVE this dehydrator. Very well built, easy to use, GREAT FAST customer service.
956884
Jennifer, Yes it has a thermostat built in and it will turn off once the desired room temp is reached. The thermostat is in the knob tho, there's no temperature number setting like on your home central heat or AC. It's one of those deals where you have to guesstimate by using the knob. It's not hard to figure out once you use it a few times. One other thing to note is that there's a "burn off" smell that takes a few days of use to go away. The smell set off our smoke detectors and I was pretty worried. I called the company about it and they said that the new coating on it would eventually burn off and it did, but be prepared to endure smoke detector alerts if they're positioned near the heater. Our heater was hooked up by our gas company. If you're going to use natural gas, and your existing gas line, I highly recommend you contact your gas company vs. a private contractor.....for safety reasons and ability to hold someone responsible if there's a gas leak problem down the road. Good luck; I really like this heater.
46913
I wondered the same thing, so I experimented with it. (I have two, actually). In a room that was about 42 degrees, they heated the water to about 52 degrees. I have to wonder why they're heating the water when it's not even close to freezing. A waste of electricity. I guess I have to go back to unplugging them when it's above freezing outside.I also tried it at room temperature, and they did not heat the water. So the thermostat does work, but not at the target temperature that you would expect (at or just above 32 degrees).
1301501
It has to be reset every time you use it. It counts down to zero from wherever you set it. If you set it for 20 minutes it shuts off after twenty minutes. It's a great little timer for the price! I have had mine for 3 years and they're still working perfectly. I take them inside for the winter.
46914
I assume it must be an internal thermostat that kicks on when temperatures are below freezing. I used the Allied Plastic Heated Pet Bowl for water this past winter. We had the coldest winter we have had in over 25 years, and the water never froze once. I've already put the bowl out this year. The water is always cool and never gets hot, and the outside cats love having fresh unfrozen water! I would highly recommend this product.
1350113
The unit gets cold very fast (even freezing). I haven't tested how long it stays cold after I turn it off. I leave it on in the car as the unit only uses energy when it needs it. It doesn't drain the battery like the cheaper ones when you leave it on.
19255
I don't know if it shuts off if it gets too hot....haven't had that happen. I set the built-in thermostat to my desired temperature and once it reaches it, it won't go above it. We use ours in the opposite end of the house that has the free standing fireplace and it keeps it nice and warm over there. It has a fan that keeps the warm air coming through the unit circulating into the room. Unit looks nice too...blends in as a piece of furniture!!
137954
This heater definitely keeps my small birdbath from freezing. It doesn't heat the water up very warm but just enough to not freeze. My birds love it and don't mind drinking the cold water. I live in northern Utah, near the Air Force Base. I keep my bird bath on my deck in the winter. That way I don't have to run really long extension cords, just one to the outlet on the side of my house at the deck. Plus, I get to watch the birds up close. It makes it easier to step out on the deck and fill the birdbath with water.
1418656
If there is I didn't get it, but the unit cools awesome! Have not had any problems. I was however Disappointed that the unit does not go off when it reaches optimal temperature. It just clicks on the fan and runs continuously. Hope this helps
494573
The instructions say that it only turns on below 60 degrees. However, I only plug it in when it snows. Otherwise it'll run all the time when it's cold. I've been happy with it this winter, it keeps things melted several inches around it. However, downstream from it, water runs under the snow and it's a little icy.
1383780
How many months you got? My experience with this device is unhappy and I am still waiting for the alarm to go off. I trusted this thing and it read 2 degrees below zero all week, come saturday I went shopping and got some frozen food, went to put it in freezer and it was like a sauna in there...been that way all week. I went and checked the readout on the monitor and it still insisted that my freezer was 2 below zero. I junked the freezer and am stuck with the monitor.
335820
This model doesn't and I doubt any of them do. The digital thermostat can be set to the temperature you wish, but it is not programmable. It has a high setting to get a room warm fast, a middle setting to maintain temperature and a low setting that doesn't let the room drop below 68 degrees. Use the high setting to get up to temperature and then leave it on the low setting (which costs next to nothing to run) all day or all night. When you come into the room, if it's not warm enough, you get go up to the middle setting to whatever you like. Run this way, you can maintain a good temperature all the time without spending much for power. I don't live in a cold climate, but while it was dropping down into the low 40s at night, I would run the heater as I describe with no problem. I can't vouch for really cold areas, however.
456214
If it's working there will be no ice in the center. After a heavy snow you may have to remove the build up in the center. It runs on only 100 watts so it won't get supper hot. You can get a much higher wattage heater at a farm supply store but they cost a lot more to run.
1248303
Since I haven't used my timer in the winter, I've forgotten specifics but I do know that it CANNOT be set to water for 10 hours at a time!! I believe it can only be set to water for 4 hours at a time.
2017504
Yes, it does have a thermostat on there that will kick it on and off depending on what you have it set at, (but it does have a pilot flame that stays on), we have ours in a room approximately 15x15 foot and rarely have to turn it past 2 to 2-1/2! It's also cool to the touch, has a glass and metal screen on the front of it. I have dogs in the house and use to have the old 'brick' heaters, those were very dangerous around the dogs, with this one, I don't have to worry, the flame is no where near the dogs, thanks to the glass and the screen. It has 2 hook ups on there, one for natural gas, the other for LP, (liquid propane), with the liquid propane it does take a certain pressure to operate it correctly, (we replaced our old unit with this one, so we didn't need to worry about the pressure from the propane tank). The one thing we have found that is kind of bothersome is that fact that the 'click and start' button has to be pushed down pretty far before you can try and start this heater, we used a small kind of round stick that we can hold the button down with to kick it on. Also the unit will 'politely' tell you when it needs cleaned, which isn't hard to do, the way it tells you is that the heater will shut it's self down while in the middle of trying to heat the room, it takes us, less then 10 minutes to take the front off and clean it out. After having this heater for over 2 years now, we have not had any problems with the heater itself, just the things that I already told you about the start button and when it needs cleaned. I hope I've answered your question about this unit, if not feel free to ask more! Thanks! (The heater does not have any kind of flame adjustment at all on it).