line voltage thermostat - best approach?

Background:
I desire to install a 5000 BTU electic radiant heater to keep a
section of the garage warm for our outdoor cats that enter garage via
pet door. I intend on supending the unit on chains about 1 1/2 ft
below the joists. I have read that cats should not be left at below
45 degrees for sustained time. I am in Tennessee and the garage is
set-up with cat blankets and never freezes, so the QA on this doesn't
have to be 100%. The three cats ahave been raised indoor/outdoor, but
won't be back inside for allergy reasons. I want the radiant heater
to activate whenever the ambient temperature in the garage hits about
48 degrees. I want the setup to be safe enough so that I don't have
to worry about house burning down on vacations. I will also be using
the heater when working in the garage that serves as a cramped shop.

Approach:
I intent on purchasing a dipole (4 wire) line voltage thermostat that
connects in series between the 120V power supply and the the heater.
I am leaning toward the CADET T410B. An installation manual for a
similar model recommends taping up any ground wires.

Question(s):
Is taping up the ground wires smart? Should I install a GFCI outlet
to compensate? Any other ideas on how to get this done? (getting rid
of the cats is tempting, but not an option I would like to keep
the up front costs under about $150. I think an electic radiant
heater is the way to go since I don't want to pay to heat the whole
garage and I like the thermostat since I don't have to worry about
checking the weather and turning the heater on/off.

 

Of course the heater must be earthed so the earth cables coming through the
'stat must be continuous, if the 'stat has no earth terminal then I would
not consider it requiring it.
All this assumes I am interpreting your post correctly , I can see no
problem with taping earth wires, indeed it might help prevent them from
coming into contact with the mains terminals and shorting.

 

--
e-mail - reply to: fanda at catskill dot net

Why don't you just build a small insulated box, perhaps 1 1/2 - 2X the size
of the cat. Cats love to crawl into small areas anyway and the cat's body
heat will keep it more than warm enough. This has the added benefit of no
additional energy costs and or safety considerations. Of course, if you are
using the cat as a justification for your putting in heating for a
workshop...that's a different story ;-)

 

That's exactly what we did. We purchased an insulated Dog house (the freakin
cat's really big) and put some old blankets and towels inside and the cat
stays pretty warm in there. If you are still worried, you could put a
heating pad set way on low in there too with a lamp timer set for the
evening hours (make sure it's UL rated please!). As far as "you" staying
warm, well, one of the propane tanks with a heat element or two works really
well and are pretty cheap too!........give kitty a pet.....Ross

 

Thanks for input. I'll go with simple and safe solution and prepare
insulated boxes with blankets for cats and get a simple heater w/o
thermostat for when I'm in shop.

For anyone following question of grounding a line voltage thermostat -
I have found a statement in the manual for the T26 Johnson Controls
thermostat to "Ground the thermostat to the branch circuit ground as
required by National Electric Code and local regulations." This
contradicts the instructions to tape of the ground wires that I found
for another brand. I am not an electician, so I don't know what to
make of contradiction, but having the set-up grounded seems to be much
less of a fire hazard. Also, the GFCI would be a bad idea if you were
really counting on the thermostat and got false trips from the
outlet...