New rack build!

[Gunner253]

So this is gonna be my first rack ever and I'm gonna make something that I can grow with. I'm gonna make a six shelf rack with the bottom 4 holding 28/41 qt tubs and the top two holding 15/32 qt tubs. I'm going with melamine for the wood and I'm gonna have to make some modifications to fit my needs. I don't have a dedicated room for snakes so it's going in my bedroom which is 65-70 during the cooler months and 75-80 on the hotter months. To fit the different sized tubs and to provide plenty of radiant heat I'm going with 2 strips of 12 in heat tape, one in the front and one in the back for hot and cool side temps and so whatever size tub I have in there it'll have plenty of heat on both sides. They're gonna be snakes through to provide even more heat. I'm putting reflective insulation on the sides, back, top and bottom to keep heat in and radiate it back to the tubs as well as drilling holes under the heat tape so the slightly warmed air moves to the tub underneath. Also, I'm not gonna drill holes in the front half of the tubs, only a few in the back to control humidity. I've done hrs of research and it seems like everything I'm doing will raise temps enough in the tubs to make up for the lack of temp in the room. I have everything but the wood but I'll be posting my project once I get going on it and complete it.

[Gunner253]

Through all my research I realized a lot of ppl are in the same boat as me and I haven't found a solution other than tearing apart an already built rack to make modifications. So I figured I'd put in the work and make one right to begin with and hopefully it turns out right and helps a few ppl. Any opinions or suggestions I'm all ears!

[M.P.C]

I may be reading into it but sounds like your going a little over board for the heat, you should only need one strip to go down the back side and that should be enough to give you the proper temps.... thats what most racks do anyway, plus with all your doing it sounds like your gonna be creating a very high humidity enviroment, heating both ends of the tub, along with reflective heat tape and only allowing heated air into the tubs you may have real difficulties giving the thermal gradient snakes require

[kitedemon]

Make you life easier just heat the room to the correct cool side temp. This is the way 99% of all racks are kept. It is far far easier. I have done the rack in the cool room and my experiences you will need more than two stats as the heat rising causes the top to be dramatically different than the bottom. I use 4 stats on a single rack in a room around 68ºF or so. Two for the hot spots and two for the cool plus two fail safes it means 6 probes. It is far far easier to just heat the room.

radiant heat doesn't heat air well so you may need channels under the heat tape (serpentine are best) to return warm air to the system.

[Gunner253]

The rack is gonna be in my room so I can't really heat it to 78-80 and sleep. Only half the year I'm gonna be using the front tape bc the rest of the year it's warm enough. Back is gonna be 90 and front at 80. The heat tape is gonna be serpentine with holes drilled out under the tape to circulate air and I already own enough thermostats. ill play with the insulation too to level out temps a bit. As far as humidity goes I'll add holes in the tubs as needed to keep it right. I know it's easier to just heat the room but for the people like me who can't and want a rack to save space I'm gonna do the leg work to figure out what works so it may help others who are in the same boat. It's a lot easier to build a rack for this purpose than it is the modify an already built rack dozens of times to get the same result. The whole point is is this is something I haven't seen anyone do yet there's people that could use this info when I'm done

[Gunner253]

I may be reading into it but sounds like your going a little over board for the heat, you should only need one strip to go down the back side and that should be enough to give you the proper temps.... thats what most racks do anyway, plus with all your doing it sounds like your gonna be creating a very high humidity enviroment, heating both ends of the tub, along with reflective heat tape and only allowing heated air into the tubs you may have real difficulties giving the thermal gradient snakes require

The im adding tape in the back set at 90 and tape in the front set at 80. The insulation is just reflective insulation from lowes to help keep that radiant heat in the rack it's gonna be easily removable so if I need less I take some out, more and I add some in. During the summer I'll be taking all of it out and running the back strip of tape. I'm gonna add the amount of holes to the tubs that's needed to keep proper humidity as well as an 1/8 in gap between the shelf and the tub for ventilation. I might not need to go as far as I am but I'd rather be safe than sorry and end up with enough tape for another rack 😋

[Gunner253]

Make you life easier just heat the room to the correct cool side temp. This is the way 99% of all racks are kept. It is far far easier. I have done the rack in the cool room and my experiences you will need more than two stats as the heat rising causes the top to be dramatically different than the bottom. I use 4 stats on a single rack in a room around 68ºF or so. Two for the hot spots and two for the cool plus two fail safes it means 6 probes. It is far far easier to just heat the room.

radiant heat doesn't heat air well so you may need channels under the heat tape (serpentine are best) to return warm air to the system.

Is there another way without heating the whole room? Are there space heaters that will only heat a section of the room or could I use Che's? I get my way is difficult to set up but not any more difficult than a normal rack once everything is leveled out. I just can't find a better alternative. The beauty is is I can always remove the front heat tape if need be and run the rack normally

[M.P.C]

do you have a closet you could sacrifice? Could build the rack to fit there, be much easier to controll the temps for your snakes in there just using a heater on a thermostat

[Gunner253]

do you have a closet you could sacrifice? Could build the rack to fit there, be much easier to controll the temps for your snakes in there just using a heater on a thermostat

Thats an option I've thought about. I'd have to measure the depth of my closet. I'd have to rearrange my room too so my bed isn't right next to it lol

[M.P.C]

Would be worth it, snakes get to be in a nice secluded space away from traffic and noise, plus dont have to sacrifice room space