Keeping an old dog warm...

Pet shop.
Not cheap, but reliable and safe.

You can buy a circular heated plate designed to keep beer warm while
brewing. Perhaps the temperature will be right.

Cheers,
Nicholas Sherlock

Australia is a metricated country so when you say 40 degrees on an aus
newsgroup it means centigrade, and that's bloody hot even for a frozen
dog.

read http://www.ozpets.com.au/dogs/articles/DD10061.shtml and consider
a pet electric blanket.

**MY mum had an old heated slipped thingy. She was throwing it out, because
the fluffy material had deteriorated. My dog didn't care in the slightest
about the crappy looking material. He slept on it for many years. You could
buy a new heated slipper. I imagine they're made in China nowadays and
probably sell for $19.95.

My friends cat likes to sleep on the amp. The amps basically on full time
so it gets quite warm.

**Oh, you're one of those? People whose amps have to be cleaned of pet hair,
before service. People whose amps go belly-up prematurely, from capacitor
failure, because they're under the delusion that keeping an amp switched on
24/7 is a good idea.

Yeah, I'm not really a technician, just a EE, but I do the occasional
favour for friends. Pet hair is usually hinders my progress.

You are probably better off getting a proper heating pad from a pet
supplies for this purpose. probaby a lot safer

for example.
http://www.lovemypet.com.au/mall/more-redflex-heating-pads.asp
 


With the wattages quoted there  (up to 120W !!) I would be very
reluctant to try generating this level of heat in bedding (which is
usually flammable material)

Other things have to be taken into consideration such as what happens
if the dog pees the bed, chews wiring,bedding etc

-----

If you do buy a 240v pad like shown, I would also consider buying an
isolation transformer to go with it

at
[snip]


As others have suggested I would go for a pet electric blanket as I suspect
that human ones are not as chew proof.

Mike

I have an idea pet shops these days sell pet electric blankets for
less than any mucking around you might do.

See:

http://www.ozpetshop.com.au/product_info.php/products_id/532?osCsid37%e0b1281c8eb6b85ec6c5cb43e9cf3a


I have had a pet electric blanket for many years, which I originally
bought in the U.K.

Ross


(To get email address ROT 13)
ebff snipped-for-privacy@lnubb.pbz

...

at
to
it

I think it was Oatley Electronics that was selling heating tape (silicon
rubber with nichrome?) for doing this sort of thing about 12 months ago.
They may still have some lying around.

An alternative may be an old waterbed heater pad - maybe 2' x 3'. I think
they need to be "heatsunk" to prevent hot spots.

rob

down
hot?

keep
to

http://www.oatleyelectronics.com/items.html
      CSW1 (NEW) CAR SEAT WARMER: Provides warmth and comfort when driving
in autumn and winter. Fits all seats. Connects to the car cigarette lighter
socket (adaptor provided). Features include built-in thermostat, low power
consumption, easy to fix, non-slip and uses elastic strap retainer. $20

First of all, get the dog off the floor. A bed made from a small circular
exercise
trampoline will get the dog off the cold floor and out of any drafts. A couple
of
old blankets on the trampoline should also keep the dog warm.

Our dogs, when they lived outside, had a 25W bulb inside a Milo can wrapped
in wool tucked inside their box (can was earthed of course). The main thing
was the box - sittng on a thick piece of foam and well insulated. Worked
well for small dogs, bigger dogs would need a bigger box I guess.

My sister used to keep pet rats in a set of old kitchen cupboards outside
the house.  To stop them from freezing, I took a concrete house brick and
using a Hilti I drilled a hole about 3cm diameter and 10cm deep into the
brick (but not right through to the other side), and I soldered wires onto
a truck indicator bulb 21Watts, 24 Volts.  I put the bulb in the brick, and
filled the hole with cement mortar (be careful to stop it getting on the
metal parts of the wires etc. since cement can corrode copper, I forget how
I achieved this).  The cable was sticking out through the mortar.  I put
the brick in the cupboard (cage) with side with the wire directly against
the wall of the cage so that the rats couldn't eat the cable.  I connected
the 24V bulb to a 12V halogen downlight transformer so it would put out
less than the rated power but enough to keep the brick warm, and so it
would last for a long time.

The basic idea is that whatever goes wrong with the bulb, the brick can't
catch fire because bricks don't burn, and the halogen transformer is
supposed to be short circuit - proof too.

To keep the power usage down, a timer or thermostat located where it is safe
from the dog and the weather might be a good idea, and more environmentally
friendly.

Chris

I couldn't resist -

What about a waterbed heater with it's temperature control?.
Sort of like a mini electric blanket with a temp control.

What happened before dogs had humans??? For fuck sake, the dog can
handle the cold, or else he wouldn't be a dog. If it cant handle the
cold then its time to shoot it.

Thankyou, most of you, for your help.

Slipper or car seat warmer looks to be the way to go.

Nichrome underfloor heating tape would not really be suitable; ~230 deg
Celcius is probably a little too hot to have near old blankets and flammable
bedding...

-mark