Easy Heat EH-38 Freeze Thermostatically Controlled Valve and Pipe Heating System

In the great white north, summers are short, and every year it seemed like right after I had winterized the boat and put it away, we'd get a last ditch week of sunshine. When you only have a couple of months of boating season, a week or so is significant. A few years, right after a nice sunny week, we'd take the boat out of the garage and get it ready, only to have a late May freeze/snow hit and have to contrive all sorts of MacGuyvered things to keep the block from freezing.I set this up with ACU_RITE Refrigerator/Freezer Wireless Digital Thermometer 00986 and a small (200w) quartz heater set on low, and it has worked FLAWLESSLY this year, keeping the block at a more or less constant 36-38 with outside temps well below 0. I made sure it was cycling by plugging cord(s) in and putting the unit in the freezer before I trusted my engine to it, and found out it comes on at 35 and shuts down again at 45. I ran a heavy extension into the engine hold, placed this level with the oil pan, and then plugged the heater into this and set the heater on a sheet of melamine at about water pump level. Absolutely no chance of the block freezing, and much less energy wasted than a timer would have caused. I can monitor the temps from inside, with a history of high and low temps, and it has been VERY reliable for the month or so it's been in use. If there was a heater thermostat problem, this would cut the power if the temp got too warm as well, so it's also a failsafe on the high temp side.Maybe the negative feedback is due to QC issues, but all I can say for sure is that the unit I got works perfectly, is priced right, and does precisely what I needed it to do. It has given me some ideas for lots of other winter safeguards, and I'll be buying more.

Works great for my heat lamp

I was pleased as punch when this worked as advertised last winter. But this autumn, with the first cold snap and snow, the thermostat failed. I placed it in the freezer for five minutes and tested with my voltmeter. Nothing. Dead and worthless. Now searching for a reliable unit.2 hours later . . .After posting my original review, I started looking online for a new unit and stumbled across folks writing that a different manufacturer's product needed to be placed in the freezer for 45 minutes to reset the thermostat. Having nothing to lose, I tried this with this product. To my surprise, I plugged it in and the unit works again!

Works great. I have 1 on my home built toy hauler to keep water tanks from freezing with a battery heat blanket and 2 on my outdoor water faucet pipe heaters. No problem with pipes freezing sense I installed these and don’t have to wast electricity when it’s above freezing.

Works great

The Easyheat thermostatic plug I received was supposed to come on at thirty eight degrees, and turn off at fifty degrees. It would not turn on until it was exposed to sub-freezing temperatures for several hours. When it would come on, it would stay on for approximately 15 seconds and then shut off again. A minute later it would come on again, and the cycle would repeat. Before some uninformed amateur technician thinks he can diagnose my problem, let me explain the circumstances. The thermostat was nowhere near the heating cable it was controlling. To make sure it had maximum exposure to outdoor temperatures, I hung it in open air on a tripod. I had a thermometer placed adjacent to the thermostat. In the most exteme case, I observed the temperature at 26 degrees, the indicator light was off on the EasyHeat thermistatic plug and the heating cable was cold. I observed and tested this product over a series of three frosty mornings. The product performed horribly. The Easy Heat thermostat plug is an embarrassment. I would not recommend this product to anyone... except maybe to Ryan, he's a dick.

We use a couple of these around the house during the winter. I plug either a heat lamp or a regular lamp into one of these and place it under the sink of my outdoor kitchen. When the temps dip low enough to be a hard freeze, the lamp turns on and keeps things from freezing up. We also have one in our well box where our pipes come up out of the ground and are uninsulated. Being in West Texas, the temps are pretty mild in the winter, so this is the easiest way to keep things thawed.It would certainly work with the heat tape, but that stuff can get fairly expensive and then you have to insulate everything, so using a lamp is quick and easy.

This does what it's supposed to do. Kicks on before freezing and saves electricity and wear and tear on the heat tape. Why not?