At 7400ft it's getting about that time to start thinking about cold weather. Still following SpartanWX's basic design posted 4 1/2 years ago, and with the generous help of W3DRM, I followed
his idea for using plastic strips to hold the heater cord element for the rain bucket heater.
For the plastic material, I found a 3-pack of kitchen cutting boards for $10 at a discount store.
Using a hand-held wood jigsaw cutter, I carved out four straight and four curved strips from one of the cutting boards. The curved ones were obviously the hardest to cut. I just guessed at the proper curve, placed them against the cone to test-fit and made corrections as needed. If I had a Dremel tool, it would made the process much easier.
JOE sent me a copy of his
CAD insulation template (thanks Joe!). The template is used to cut the Frost King foam insulation material that lines the inside of the bucket.
Zoo Med Repti Heat Cable, 25 watts.
The four curved plastic strips (the ones nearest the drip hole) are glued to the cone with epoxy. The four straight strips are held directly onto the insulation with silicone adhesive. The heating element is held in the slots with silicone as well. Notice the blue ring on the heater cord indicating the point where heating ends.
Notch in bucket and cable secured with plastic clamp.
Shelter mounted behind the ISS houses electrical connection for the heater (and ac-powered DFARS, coming soon).