Making Pig Barn Heaters That Actually Last
Let’s be honest: pig barns are absolute nightmares for electronics. Between the ammonia gas and the constant humidity, it’s like the environment is actively trying to eat your equipment. Most standard wiring just can’t handle it. Seals leak, wires rot, and before you know it, you’ve got a burnout or a safety hazard on your hands. We got tired of seeing that happen, so we rebuilt our infrared lamps from the ground up. The battle against corrosion Standard PVC or basic rubber jackets? Forget about it. They crumble in a barn. We moved over to high-grade fluoropolymer and reinforced silicone. These materials don’t care about ammonia—they just hold up. Inside the wire, we’re using silver-plated copper. Why? Because oxidation is the enemy. When a connection oxidizes, you get high resistance. That leads to overheating at the terminal, and that’s usually where things go sideways. Stopping the leaks Most lamps fail right where the cable enters the housing. It’s the weakest link. To fix this, we started using a two-step seal. First, we fill the gap with a high-temp silicone potting compound to keep moisture out. Then, we lock everything down with a mechanical compression gland. This stops “wicking”—that annoying process where moisture crawls inside the cable jacket and shorts out the whole lamp. A quick heads-up on installation These lamps are a direct swap for the big global brands. Same size, same electricals, but they’re built to survive the grit of a real barn. One thing, though: these reinforced cables are a bit stiffer than the cheap stuff. Don’t try to bend them into sharp angles when you’re wiring them up. If you kink them, you put too much stress on the seal. Just give them a nice, generous curve, and they’ll stay sealed and working for years.