Radiant heat panel??

[cowbully]

Will the RHP save on my electric bill better then heat lamps? 6 enclosures biggest one is 4x2x2 for my boa..smallest is 18"x10"x24" for my frogs..rest of enclosures are inbetween..
I hope this is right area to post this, if not, mods could you help please..thank you

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[The Serpent Merchant]

They might. It depends on a few things.

1. Height of the cage
2. desired temperature
3. What size panel/wattage you go with.

You probably will end up saving some, but I wouldn't count on a huge improvement.

[KMG]

What about heating the room? Have you thought about that? I Heat mine to 80 and then use uth for the needed hotspot. It's worked well and I don't have to worry about bulbs anymore.

[The Serpent Merchant]

What about heating the room? Have you thought about that? I Heat mine to 80 and then use uth for the needed hotspot. It's worked well and I don't have to worry about bulbs anymore.

9 times out of 10 heating the entire room + UTH's is going to use far more power than heating the inside of a handful of cages.

[KMG]

I haven't noticed a change in my bill but know I'm saving money on bulbs. Maybe I'm just lucky.

[norwegn113]

Here is what I can tell you mathmatically based upon my experience with one size cage only. First off there are many factors that will contribute to the possible savings you may experience like the temperature you keep the room the cages are in, the materials that the cages are made of, etc. Each situation is unique and you may not experience the same results as others. Also RHP may not work in all situations based upon cage height and size and the animal you are heating. Every animal has different needs.I used to keep my ball pythons in glass 40 breeder size tanks. I was using a 16 watt uth and a 100 watt infrared bulb to heat the cage. The infrared was on 24/7 at 100% power and the uth was running at about 50% to maintain temps ( based upon the reading my herpstat was showing so I can say on the average I was using 108 watts per hour every hour to heat that style cage. I switched to 4'×2'×2' wooden cages using just an 80 watt RHP. AFTER the initial heating period time it took to acclimate the cage my panels are running at 46% (again based upon the reading from my herpstat) so based on that im using 40 watts an hour. 108wph down to 40wph, thats about a 64% savings per cage and I changed 7 cages over so that is a pretty significant savings at the end of the years , but again that is based upon my conditions so you may not see the same results.

[cowbully]

Ok this could get a bit long but here ya go..might be easier to explain all enclosures..All are glass with screen lids covered half way with insulation board
(1)40 gallon 105° basking 85° ambient
-150 watt uv bulb
(2) 30 gallon 95° hot spot 80° ambient
-uth, 150 watt heat bulb
(3) 20 gallon 95° hot spot 80° ambient
-uth, 75 watt heat bulb
(4) 25 gallon 95° hot spot 80° ambient
-uth, 100 watt heat bulb
(5) 95 gallon 95° hot spot 85° ambient
-uth, 250 watt heat bulb
(6) 20 gallon tall 90° basking 85° ambient
-60 watt heat bulb
Use multiple repti foggers on timers for all enclosures except 40 gallon

Need belly heat on enclosures 2-5..
Get y'alls wheels rolling..what are some ideas on how to heat..

I hate the glass tanks we use now cause of difficulty with holding heat and humidity..but were not in a position to build or buy different this year..just trying to possibly save

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[cowbully]

Gosh..nobody

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[KMG]

With glass tanks you are kinda stuck.

Run the math but it seems to me heating the room and using uth with the one bulb for your dragon would save alot of money just on bulbs alone.

[norwegn113]

Another option that could work is a gentlemen here named kitedemon posted on a Lucy lid design that makes the tank a bit more sealed and that may save some energy over screen tops? Then you could even take it one step further and wrap the back and sides with a foil covered insulation to stop radiant heat loss. This is all in theory though. You would have to run some small scale tests but it seems reasonable that it would help???