What specific settings was your smart thermostat running that burned so much power? Mine kept overriding my manual changes to run some "efficiency" schedule that heated the house when nobody was home.

Oh man, the cinder block trick is a total game changer. I started using a big river rock in the base of my plastic waterer after my birds kept flipping it. It was a constant muddy mess before that. The extra weight makes it so much more stable when they hop up on the side. I tried a brick first but the block works better cause it's wider. Seriously one of the best free fixes out there.

Remember my buddy tried to mix a small patio slab with one of those. It started hopping across his driveway like a angry toad, then the whole drum mount just sheared right off. He was picking up bolts and chunks of metal for twenty minutes. Honestly, you're lucky yours held together for two whole hours. Some of that stuff is just scrap metal waiting to happen.