Building a rack, heat advice...

[withonor]

I live in California, in the Bay Area. My townhouse doens't have central AC, so that won't be an issue. The issue is I never use the heater, not for me, but for possibly housing snakes. I like it 65ish and in the summer I use a window AC to keep my room near there so I can sleep at night.

In the winter it can get to the low 60's. I have a spare bedroom that I am planning on putting a rack in. I can put a room heater in there to heat the entire room but I am considering another option and am wondering if it is viable.

In most racks a strip of 3" flex watt tape is used in the back to create a hot spot. Could I add a second strip, controlled by a second thermostat or Herpstat II, in the front to maintain the temp there? Should I use 4" or 11" instead since the room temperature will vary so much? Maybe an 11" in the back because a 20watt might be able to react quicker and a 3" or 4" in the front?

Is it a reliable concept to think that a rack could exist sustainably against the elements? If yes, is there anything else I should be considering? I will use a proportional thermostat.

The rack itself is under consideration. I looked about 4 years back on these forums for ideas. There are some good ones. I am contemplating some other things as well.

[withonor]

Oh yeah.

There are reasons I like have for using a second flex watt heat strip over heating the room. With a correctly placed probe, the thermostat seems more effective. Also the power usage seems a lot lower.

I could be wrong and welcome any criticism, but more importantly, advice.

[flynn]

You can do this by using a rheostat on the front flexwatt, plugged into the thermostat controlling the rear flexwatt. However, one thing to keep in mind with having flexwatt front and rear, is that there is no where to escape the heat should a control device fail.

[withonor]

You can do this by using a rheostat on the front flexwatt, plugged into the thermostat controlling the rear flexwatt. However, one thing to keep in mind with having flexwatt front and rear, is that there is no where to escape the heat should a control device fail.

This is a good point and I would have to consider how often do Herpstats fail (If I use the Herpstat II which would control the front and back separately). Otherwise I would be using two separate thermostats and would have to consider the odds of two failing at the same time. I will have a unit that can control multiple temperatures or multiple units to control the different temperatures.

Considering the worst happens and both thermostats go out and I am using 24" deep tubs. It would leave 12-16" of space in the middle depending on spacing and whether 3 or 4" flexwatt was used. This is a good argument against 11" or 17".