Small heater for pump house?

[DaveB]

This year I'm building a small/miniature pump house to house a sap tank and a sap guzzler. I'm looking for a small heater to go in with the guzzler to prevent it from freezing. I'm only seeing 200 or 300 watt heaters and I know that is too much. I had a 300 watt heater in one of my RV bays doing some late fall camping and it was over 90 in there with a 300 watt heater. Way too hot for what I want. I also saw 100 watt "reptile" heat lamps that do not emit light but I thought I would see what other people use.

[NhShaun]

A lot of people seem to use One or two 100w incandescent light bulbs. As long as the area around the pump is closed off from the elements and the lightbulb won't catch something on fire you should be fine. You could put it on a thermostat/Temp controller and mount the probe near the pump base so it's not on for no reason.

[Super Sapper]

You could also plug your heater into a "cube" which will keep the temperature between 35 and 45 degrees. i use them in my kitchen area of the sugar shack to keep things from freezing, I store the RO in there also when it is below freezing. I use 2 on separate circuits to make sure one does not trip out without be knowing. I just use the 1500 watt electric milk house type heaters.

[eagle lake sugar]

I use a couple of reptile lamps plugged into a thermostatically controlled outlet in a box for heating barrels of honey, it would work well for your application.

[DaveB]

You could also plug your heater into a "cube" which will keep the temperature between 35 and 45 degrees. i use them in my kitchen area of the sugar shack to keep things from freezing, I store the RO in there also when it is below freezing. I use 2 on separate circuits to make sure one does not trip out without be knowing. I just use the 1500 watt electric milk house type heaters.

Yeah, I think that is what I'm going to use. I'm going to combine that with a heater such as this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I4UVGHO/

The low setting uses 150 watts. I don't have to worry about it getting too hot because it would shut off at 45 degrees. My box where the pump will be housed is small enough and will be insulated so that should keep everything from freezing.

That seems to be the cheapest combo and easiest to access.

[TapTapTap]

I have a pump house that I need to heat too. Last year is was too drafty and a 1,500 w heater didn't work. Of course mine is 6 ft dia and 20 ft high with a flat roof. It's made from an hdpe culvert and is partly sunk into the ground to get my system gravity low point. It looks like a vertical tank.

The idea is that the pump house keeps the discharge end of the electric extractor from freezing up to the high point and gravity keeps the remaining discharge line from freezing since the sap should flow down to the raw sap tank after reaching the hp. Theoretically. This year I'll have a chance to seal things up and I plan to put a trap door in to isolate the extractor and heater. I've already heat taped and insulated the discharge within the structure so I don't need protection above.

So my point of describing my setup is to show that it's not just about keeping the pump from freezing but also the sap lines in and out of the pump.


Ken