Ambient temp help

[derrabe]

Ok I live in Michigan and it is cold here in the winter. Anyways I have my 4 racks in my basement. The way my basement is laid out is a 10X10 utility closet slash storage and the then the rest of the basement (about 500sqft) is in an L shape. so I have my racks towards the middle of the basement. I cant seem to get my basement above 72 with out take a huge hit on my utility bill. So here is my question I am currently also running a radiator style space heater down there trying to help the heat situation but it gets it to the above 72 which obviously isnt good. I want to set up a temporary smaller "room" to close off the area from the rest of the basement and use the radiator to heat the smaller space more efficiently and so the radiator doesn't have to stay on full boar all the time. Obviously money to build a real room is out of the question so I am thinking like using blankets for temporary perimeter walls or maybe thick roll out sheet plastic and duct tape, the summer months the temps are fine, but the winter i need something that will hold in the heat preferably reusable yearly. What are your thoughts? Cant be permanent for too reason it will hinder the functionality of the rest of the basement and I rent so the landlord wont approve of any permanent structure. Also our income has become limited so the solution should be as economical as possible.

[Cody John Steele]

The room I have my little 4 slot rack in is a 16x16 above ground room. My house in the winter stays about 68' - 70'F but I've got a little ceramic heater keeping the room around 76-78'F so my ambient in my tubs are 80-82 It's made by "Perfect Homes" I don't remember how much it was...no more than $50 I think. It may be small and inexpensive but that little thing BLASTS 270 degree air. I'm able to maintain those temps with it just about on the lowest setting. On high, my room shoots to 95+ in less than 3 minutes.

If I were you I'd ditch the radiator, pick up a decent ceramic heater and some plastic and tape to seal up your rack area.

That's just my 2 cents.

Edit: I know that's not the cheapest route, but it's still plausible.

[FragginDragon]

FWIW, I have all of my ball racks in my bedroom, which was an addition to my house. The room on a whole can drop down to as low as 68 degrees during the winter nights, but the temps inside my racks (using flexwatt and thermostats) stay at approx 84~86 degrees on the hot side of the bins, and down to approx 78 degrees on the cool side. I use no supplemental heat in the room. I have NEVER had a case of RI or any other health issue with any of my BP's maintaining temps like this. In fact, it's my belief that the lower ambient temps and decreased lighting that spurs such a strong breeding response with my BP's.

[Cody John Steele]

FWIW, I have all of my ball racks in my bedroom, which was an addition to my house. The room on a whole can drop down to as low as 68 degrees during the winter nights, but the temps inside my racks (using flexwatt and thermostats) stay at approx 84~86 degrees on the hot side of the bins, and down to approx 78 degrees on the cool side. I use no supplemental heat in the room. I have NEVER had a case of RI or any other health issue with any of my BP's maintaining temps like this. In fact, it's my belief that the lower ambient temps and decreased lighting that spurs such a strong breeding response with my BP's.

Yeah, that's totally fine as well. It just mainly depends on Derrabe's comfort level on having his temps in that area.

I'm no expert on this, but lower ambient temps/night drops are just for the breeding season, not necessarily a 24/7-365 kinda thing.

[FragginDragon]

Yeah, that's totally fine as well. It just mainly depends on Derrabe's comfort level on having his temps in that area.

I'm no expert on this, but lower ambient temps/night drops are just for the breeding season, not necessarily a 24/7-365 kinda thing.

True enuff...when spring comes around, my room warms up right in step with the warmer temps outside.

[RichsBallPythons]

Basements usually need more than one Radiator space heater to keep temps up.

Like stated your best to build a section off to help hold heat better, otherwise you will need to run 2 space heaters one on each end and a small fan circulating the heat around.

Or get a space heater that blows the warm air.

[MitsuMike]

Like rich said either get a tower fan with heater and have it set to 80 and ace it blow on the racks. This could lower humidity but that is another issue.

Also you could use 3" strips of flex watt and use side heat to help the ambient temps and heat gradient.