Couple of points -

1. CHEs direct heat down to the floor, so sometimes the air can still be fairly cool but the animal on the floor will still heat up nicely. They can be a bit deceiving especially if measuring air temps. Same with RHPs. But they work so well.

2. The above is true, but at some point the distance becomes crucial. Too much distance between bulb and floor and alot of heat is not reaching the floor.

What you can do is to use an electrical outlet box (metal) to mount the socket to. This lowers the distance between bulb and floor and helps to direct some of the unwanted socket heat into the metal instead of just to the wood.

140 deg is not dangerous, but having a metal utility box makes you much safer. They sell those ones for outdoor use, namely for security lights and such. They close completely and have side holes to mount a clamp to secure the power cord. If you want to be really safe, use a 3-prong cord and connect the green wire to the ulitiy box. Now you're talking. You can get a round box that is about 1.5 inches high then buy the extender to give you an additional 1.5 inches. That little 3 inches can help alot.

If using a bulb guard, attach some wood strips around the utility box so the bulb guard sits down enough to cover the bulb correctly.
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Mark

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