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Getting an oil heater, have some questions.
Winter is coming.... (dramatic music). Sammies tub has been getting colder lately, so I decided to get a oil heater. It's coming tomorrow, so I have some questions. Mine is remote controlled and is able to set to the temperature i desire. So, once I get this oil heater, do I put it next to Sammies cage? If someone uses these, please give me a summary!
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Oil heaters are typically used to heat a desired area. The reason they're popular with reptile keepers is because they don't crush humidity in the way typical ceramic space heaters do. I usually set mine to the desired temperature, and I use a small next to it for air circulation. Don't set the heater close to anything; they get VERY hot.
Last edited by WmHrbst; 09-25-2016 at 09:45 PM.
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Re: Getting an oil heater, have some questions.
It should heat the room pretty evenly. I keep mine near the snake cages if/when I need it in the winter but should do fine anywhere in the room due to it being a radiant heat source. Others with larger collections and larger rooms to heat might be able to weigh in more helpful than me though.
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Read the instructions the heater comes with, and don't put it close to any other objects, or where anything could fall on it, etc. They can get very hot and can be a real fire hazard if used carelessly.
If you have only one snake in one tub though, I'd strongly recommend just heating the tub. RHP's are the best IMHO. They're sort of expensive up front, but they are cheaper than heating a whole room with a space heater for the whole winter every year, or heating your whole house to a higher temperature. An oil heater is typically in the range of 1000-1500 watts. It probably won't be running at full blast, but you can figure that it will probably cost between $10 and $30/month in electricity, not counting the price of the heater itself. With a radiant heat panel you'd easily heat your tub with either a 40-watt or 80-watt panel; in other words, somewhere between 1/20th and 1/10th the power consumption. That's a really big difference. You can mount it to the lid of a tub really easily, all you have to do is put a piece of wood on top of the lid so there's something that can hold the screws.
Another possibility is that you can also use two UTH's on two thermostats set at two temperatures, one for the cool side and one for the warm side. You can even stick a UTH to the side of the tub instead of the bottom, in which case it will actually do more for the ambient temp in the tub since it isn't covered by substrate. Also, insulate the tub.
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Re: Getting an oil heater, have some questions.
I like your Ideas, thank you for the Info guys. Coluber, thank for the good Information, I was considering a RHP but I wanted something that I could use for my future collection. I plan on having a decent size collection so this oil heater will do me real good. Again, thanks!
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I see a lot of complaints that those oil heaters will leak oil on the floor. That scares me too much to get one...
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Re: Getting an oil heater, have some questions.
Originally Posted by Coluber42
Read the instructions the heater comes with, and don't put it close to any other objects, or where anything could fall on it, etc. They can get very hot and can be a real fire hazard if used carelessly.
Originally Posted by cchardwick
I see a lot of complaints that those oil heaters will leak oil on the floor. That scares me too much to get one...
Both of these are news to me.
I have the same oil filled heater in use for about 5 years heating my reptile room without either of these "issues".
I also have a second one that heats the rodent shed in the winter and this one usually runs as hot as it can go, same age too.
Neither get to the point that I cannot touch them though the one in the shed does get hot enough that you don't really want to hold on to it too long.
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Re: Getting an oil heater, have some questions.
Likewise. I've been using the same oil radiator for 5-6 years and have had zero leaking or overheating issues ever. $40 at Lowe's. Does a great job.
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Space heaters are a pretty common cause of house fires in the winter. But the big issue is when they have other stuff too close or on top of them. If you piled a bunch of pillows and blankets on top of an oil heater, for example, it could easily get way way hotter than if it's standing in the middle of the room because it's insulated.
It's the same issue as an unregulated UTH with a lot of substrate on top of it; heat doesn't escape, and it keeps getting power (even if it's very low wattage), so it just keeps getting hotter and hotter. The same UTH that would barely feel warm to the touch if you held it in the open air and plugged it in can get hot enough to burn pretty quickly if it's insulated.
That issue is really easy to avoid - don't squeeze it into the space between the couch and the wall, don't put stuff on top of it, etc. I suspect that a lot of the house fires happen because someone is using an old and/or cheap heater that has no functioning safety shut-off, and/or they are using it in a small, crowded space where it ends up getting pushed up against the wall with a box up against it and some other stuff sitting on top, etc, likely combined with old/shoddy wiring in the house, etc.
Basically, a space heater is one of those things that's perfectly safe as long as you don't do anything dumb.... but can get really dangerous if you aren't appropriately careful.
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Re: Getting an oil heater, have some questions.
Oil filled heater are not the most common cause of house fire they are actually the safest heater you can have in your snake room when used correctly.
Radiant heaters, baseboard heaters however should be avoided.
Oil filled heater should be used with a reliable thermostat as well.
Do not buy a hot filled heater with a digital thermostat they will go out fast and you can end up with a room at 100 degrees.
I have been using a oil filled heater with a t-stat for 10 years now without issue or leak.
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Stewart_Reptiles For This Useful Post:
Jeanne (09-26-2016),PitOnTheProwl (09-26-2016)
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