Will this work????

[Hellacious]

I'm planning to build my first snake rack. I'll be using 3/4 inch melamine for the sides and shelves, not sure what I'm going to use for the back yet but it'll probably be 1/4" thick.

Anyways the issue I'm having is that since my sides will be fully enclosed I'm not going to run the 4" FlexWatt across the back of each shelf...Instead, I'm wondering if it will be ok to run one 11" strip vertically attatched to the back panel. Do you guys think this will work just as well as the 4' pieces under the tub?

Thanks.

[Mike41793]

If you enclosing the back then yes i would say 11" down the back will be the better choice.

[The Serpent Merchant]

What you are doing is called back heat. Yes it will work. I'm not a huge fan of back heat, because you have to run the flexwatt hotter than you do with belly heat (flexwatt under the tubs) But if it is easier for you to set up your rack with back heat, go right ahead.

[sporty02]

It should work ok u may have to turn the temps up a lil more than belly heat

[dragonboy4578]

Is your rack only going to be one tub per layer? If that is the case the 11" flexwatt should be fine. If you are doing more than one tub on a shelf you may need to add more than one strip of flexwatt. The more information that you give us about your rack plans the better.

[Hellacious]

Yeah, so far I'm only planning to build it for one rack per shelf...but now that i think about it I may be better off building it for 2. Wouldnt really cost too much more to do so plus I'll have 10' of 11" Flexwatt. Make the rack just under 5' tall and run a strip directly behind the center of where each tub will sit.

Oh and yes the entire rack other than the front of course will be enclosed. Thanks for the help guys.