# Dog House Heater?



## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Wondered if anybody had any ideas for a cheap to buy-cheap to opperate dog house heater? The dog house is outside and just used for loafing during the day, unless my wife makes me stay longer.


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

LOL. Yea, I built a two roomer with insulated walls and floor when we lived in Ohio. Some of those winter nights were COLD!!! :lol:

What do you use for insulation in your house?
Dan


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

a 60 watt light bulb in a coffee can


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Bob, did you put a false floor in and the cans underneath? Going to use hard cell foil backed insulation. This is just a loafing house, not for bad weather or overnight.


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## fishless (Aug 2, 2005)

Dick the can gets mounted in the upper corner of the house. Similar to the comercial hound heater. I dont know what kind of dog your housing but if its just for the day time as long as the dog is out of the wind a good bed of straw should be good enough. Assuming its not -40 then no dog belongs out.


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## houndsman (Jan 30, 2006)

This is different - but it works and is cheap to operate (but cost about 200.00 to put together).

I keep hounds outside year-round. For my kennels, I have a concrete slab alongside my shop for the runs, and I cut holes (doors) into the shop. On the inside, I have plywood boxes that are partitioned, and have multiple doors (basically hanging rubber mat's that I bought at farm store for 1.25 each) to keep wind from blowing into the box. The box is simply uninsulated 1/2" plywood. The boxes sit atop a 2x4 frame,and the frame contains 2 layers of foam insulation under a layer of 1/2" plywood, on top of that I mounted floor heating cable (like you would use in a house to heat ceramic tile floors) submersed in 1/2" of mortar (the mortar prevents electrical fire, and also disperses the heat evenly). The radiant heat from the cables/mortar is heated to about 60 degrees - and keeps the slobber-mouths healthy and happy. The hounds get more consistent, safe heat (I don't worry about fires) and I heat them for less than it would cost to have 3 100watt bulbs burning. Also, for when it is warm out, I submersed a thermocouple into the mortar so it will automagically shut off when ambient temp. rises, or the slab of mortar comes up to the desired temp. Works exceptionally well - unfortunately it cost about 200.00 to put it all together....But, I figured it is worth it - since my bride has no tolerance for hounds in the house - especially after they have gone off and spent a little time break-dancing in dead, rotten animals, ... and I want them healthy and happy when season is underway and don't want to worry about them suffering when it is -20 outside.

Good Hunting.


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## ryanps18 (Jun 23, 2006)

http://www.houndheater.com/


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## Aythya (Oct 23, 2004)

I bought something like the heated dog pad on the Hound Heater web site. The difference was the one I bought was plastic and plugged into a regular outlet. It got warm to the touch but not hot and my dog layed right on it, no straw, etc. but the company did sell optional cloth covers for it.

The dog house was insulated with 2 inch foam in the floor, walls and roof and was a two compartment house. Dog came in the one door then entered the sleeping compartment via another door. I installed a port for a thermometer in the house so I could check the temp and even on the coldest days during the winter the inside temp in the sleeping compartment was around 40 degree.


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## redlabel (Mar 7, 2002)

Here is a very good economical heater to make.

It works best with a house with a removable or hinged cover like the one described in the Dog House Plans sticky in this Forum by Bobm.

Go to a paint store and buy an unused 1 gallon paint can with the lid. Punch 1/16" dia holes on the lid and sides of the can about 1" apart. Keep the holes small enough to prevent much light from getting through yet still allow convective heat to escape. Punch a hole in the bottom about 1" in diameter.

Mount the can, with an electrical box inside with the spot for wires centered over the 1" hole to the wall of the kennel keeping 4" of clearance on all sides to allow heat to circulate. You will need to run the wiring to the correct location first of course. Connect a porcelin lightbulb socket to the electrical box, wire it up and put a bulb in the base, put the lid on and bend the handle to use like a spring to keep the lid in place.

Accessories that can be included (after all it is built by guys) are a dimmer switch to control heat and an indoor-outdoor thermometer to keep tabs on the temperature.

Quite easy to build.

Like someone once said, "It ain't rocket science," but it's cheap,it's slick, and most of all it works!.

The idea is not original but was stolen from an article in the 1990 August/September issue of GUNDOG magazine.

If anyone has any questions please let me know. I built the house and set up the heater, but the dogs live and sleep with us. I keep the house in case I ever need it, but so far my wife always lets me sleep with her and the dogs.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

Thats pretty cool I am going to add this design to the sticky
thanks


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## redlabel (Mar 7, 2002)

I remembered building it so when Dick asked the question it took me a while to find the article in my old issues. There's a lot more detail in the article but I've explained the gist of it.

I have all the issues of Gun Dog saved and it's fun from time to time to page back through them. It brings back a lot of memories when one thinks of when and with what dog I've tried various training techniques.


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