K&H Pet Products Stock Tank & Pond Heater, Ultimate Stock Tank Deicer w/ Cord Clip, Water Trough Heater for Horses, Cattle and Livestock, Full Cage, Floating, Submersible, Safety Listed - Red 500W

UPDATED REVIEW 9/18/15:IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT USE SUBMERSIBLE AQUARIUM HEATERS OUTDOORS IN A FARM/BACKYARD CHICKEN SETTING - FIRE HAZARD!!My original review was not favorable of this device. I have had more experience with it now that changes my view to very favorable, in fact I have revised my star rating from 4 to 5 stars.My usage and background info: I am using this in a 5-gallon plastic bucket with horizontal chicken watering nipples in a backyard chicken setting. We have no other poultry than chickens. I live in the inland Northwest USA, where winters are pretty cold. Average winter temps are about +15F at night and the coldest I have tested the K&H de-icer is down to -9F (it works, with one important caveat).My original review said it would not keep the nipples thawed and I switched to using a submersible aquarium heater. What I have learned since then:* The K&H does not work with VERTICAL chicken nipples (these install on the underside of a bucket/container/pvc pipe) below +18F.* The K&H works great with the HORIZONTAL chicken nipples (these install on the side of the container). I have tested down to -9F and others have confirmed down to -20F, using the same nipples and de-icer).* The horizontal nipples only work with chicks and chickens, won't work with ducks/geese but probably will with turkeys or other birds.* A submersible aquarium heater IS NOT SAFE TO USE OUTDOORS AND MAY START A FIRE (more below on this).For a good discussion on the differences between the Vertical and Horizontal chicken nipples (with photos), try this link: http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/843040/vertical-gravity-vs-horizontal-spring-loaded-watering-nipples . If the link does work, then go to backyardchickens dot com and search for "vertical vs horizontal nipple" and you will find the thread discussion.About the fire danger: the short version is a submersible aquarium heater nearly started a fire in our chicken coop when the bucket ran dry. The K&H is *designed* to handle being run dry (water runs out, container leaks empty or an animal trips on the cord and pulls it from the water, etc). I have pulled the K&H from the water and it shuts off (in a few minutes it is cool to the touch)...put it back in the water and it turns on again (pull it from the water and it is too hot to touch). The submersible aquarium heater also is *supposed* to have a safety feature that will turn off the device if no water is present. I came home one day after having been out of town for a few days to find the bucket with less than 1/2" of water in the bottom. The aquarium heater element was exposed, sizzling and had melted one of the suction cups AND PART OF THE BUCKET. For me, this was just too much, too close of a call, to continue trusting the safety of this device. Yes, I should have been more careful or used a bigger bucket to not allow the bucket to run empty, but this would never have happened with the K&H. I know there are a lot of folks out there using submersible aquarium heaters and have not had any issues with fire...yet. It is Russian Roulette to do so, if you ask me. For the same or slightly more price (I paid $3 less for the aquarium heater I had used for a short time), you can get this K&H de-icer, which was designed SPECIFICALLY for outdoor/farm use. I'd hate for you to lose all your chickens (and maybe your home, too) because you saved a couple dollars.For those of you who are balking at the 250W (or higher) rating of this device over the 25-100W of an aquarium heater:Unless you are on a solar-powered setup, it won't matter much. The higher wattage simply means it will take less time for the device to heat the water. For example, it might take 10 minutes for the 250W device to heat the water to X degrees, but it might take 2 hours for the 25W one to do the same thing. Which one uses less electricity? In this case, the 250W device uses less. Also, since the 250W device is not operating as long of a time, it will better protect the internal components from wearing out prematurely...meaning your investment should last longer than with a lower wattage device. This is all hypothetical and of course it would depend upon your exact climate/circumstances to better determine how a particular device would work for you. But if the fire danger doesn't sway you from the aquarium heater, perhaps the reality that it probably is going to use less electricity than you think, will.Other thoughts: If you are considering this K&H device from Amazon, wait until Autumn to purchase it. At least for the last 3 years, I have noticed that in the Autumn the price drops about $10-15 and a free shipping option becomes available. In summer time, shipping is an extra $10+ and the price is another $10-15 higher.Notes on the included images: This is my chicken watering winter setup. The Reflectix (aluminized bubble wrap) is unnecessary. I used the bucket setup without it the first winter, which was actually colder than last year. I added it to try to use perhaps a bit less electricity. The brick on top is simply to hold the lid on better, as it is not the correct lid for this bucket and doesn't snap on tight. I suspended the handle of the bucket (the bucket rests on cinder blocks) simply to act as a deterrent to the chickens roosting/pooping on the bucket (it works well for this).ORIGINAL REVIEW (circa 2013, aquarium heater NO LONGER recommended):It keeps the water in the bucket thawed, but the nipples would freeze when it got below 12F. The bucket was hung in a fairly well protected from wind spot. Switched to a 50w submersible aquarium heater, problem solved. It does keep the water very warm compared to the K&H deicer, but at least our chickens don't get stuck with no water access.IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT USE SUBMERSIBLE AQUARIUM HEATERS OUTDOORS IN A FARM/BACKYARD CHICKEN SETTING - FIRE HAZARD!!

It the best still have a lot to learn about features.

January 2025After using this last year for just those few days I put it away. I pulled it out last week because our temps are falling to minus 0 degrees this coming week. I put it in the pond and plugged it in. A couple of nights ago I noticed I couldn’t hear my pond air stone bubbling, everything was off. It had tripped the breaker. 2 resets and it wouldn’t stay on. I moved the heater plug to a different outlet on a different line. The next morning I discovered the second breaker was also tripped. I used this heater less than 2 weeks total.I reached out to the company as it has a 2 year warranty.January 2024This is the first pond heater I have purchased in years.Normally I have air stones which keeps the ice thin enough that I can poke holes easily for air exchange. Sometimes I pour hot water over holes to make them bigger. This has worked pretty well for the past couple of years. Before that there were a couple of years of no frozen pond. (Pretty amazing because I live in Colorado.)The past week our temps dropped to below zero with wind chill in minus double digits. We also had snow. I decided I didn’t want to deal with it.I ordered this heater, made a hole with a pot set on the ice with boiling water and dropped the heater in. The hole was just large enough.The very top of the heater iced up but there was an ice free rim around the heater. Two days later I discovered the heater had been secretly melting the ice from below and on the coldest day I had a larger hole than I started with.I will probably only use this when the temps are this cold. Hopefully it will last a long time.

These water tank heaters are a MUSTBeing from Texas we are not used to frozen weather but when Mother Nature decides we need cold she delivers with gusto.Snowmageddon was the worse year ever and we learned about these little jewels.Now I keep extras no hand in case I need a new water tub.I use them in the cattle, horse and even chicken water tubs.When it’s really cold we still get a ring of ice but over all the hole stays clear for drinking.This year I didn’t even loose the goldfish in the tanks.

This trough heater works great! It came broken but I couldn’t send it back as we desperately needed it. Still works fine though.

I got these for my stallions water tanks this winter. All of a sudden they wouldn't drink from the tanks. I was working to figure out why when I grabbed the metal panel beside the tank and touched the water.....a little tingly! No wonder they wouldn't drink they were getting a little shock when they tried! I thought it was defective K&H water deicers....NOT SO! I will spare the details, but eventually I traced the problem to a ground current, up to 8-10 volts between the water in the tank and the panel/ground.... from something around the barn/corral area. I used a 2-3 prong adapter, grounded the ground on the adapter to the metal panel fence, and no more voltage between the water and ground. A short term solution, but will work until the ground thaws and I can find the ground current source. Bottom line, NOT AN ISSUE with the deicers. They work as advertised!

This is a great heater but just don't let the water run low. Melts the unit.... I purchased two (2).... This if the first time I bought this type of heater but I am not rushing to buy another because of that reason. It was partially submerged but it still melted. I can't watch my tubs 24/7 and I refill them every morning -- this encouraged me to I purchased a timer and will put it on minimally because this heater is powerful to say the least when melting ice.... This may make all the difference in the world...To be continued......