Not a good day, but could have been worse..

[zina10]

I guess I jinxed myself when I said I never ran into problems with my Rack for the 6+ years I've had it

I started spot cleaning my tubs today when I thought the tubs felt warmer then usual over the heat tape area. So I got my temp gun and checked and yup.
Higher then it is supposed to be. Not "fatally" high (thank god) but not good..

Quickly unplugged the heat tape and checked all the snakes. Thankfully all were in the front of the tubs, away from the warm end. All look fine to me, no neuro signs, all look strong, alert. Normal muscle tone and reactions.

Found the problem. The probe from the thermostat was glued onto the heat tape and the glue broke off. The probe hung next to the heat tape. Thankfully it was right next to it, which must have kept it from going to high.

This rack has the heat tape underneath the tubs in a recess, then going up the side and under the next tub, etc. The probe was fixed on the tape along the wall, not under a tub.

Its fixed for now, and I hope I dodged the bullet. When I spot cleaned Saturday night, all was well. I am checking temps periodically, but not daily. I have my hands in those tubs almost every day, so I could tell the temp. difference as soon as I had my hand in the tub.

I'm going to check the probe daily from now on as well as hit a tub with the heat gun once the day.

Hopefully they are and stay fine.

[JodanOrNoDan]

Nah, be thankful. It is a very good day. Not finding it would have been a truly bad day.

[zina10]

Nah, be thankful. It is a very good day. Not finding it would have been a truly bad day.

You are right, but I'm still beating up myself.

I should have checked daily. I don't think the temps were up that way for long, but anytime since Saturday night is possible...

[EL-Ziggy]

I'm glad you found and fixed the problem before any damage was done Zina. It could have been much worse.

[cletus]

Glad you found it. I had a probe slip once. The temps went to 112 really fast. It was while I was setting up the enclosure and getting everything stable. From that point on, I secure the probe at multiple points to prevent this. No use taking any chances.

[zina10]

Glad you found it. I had a probe slip once. The temps went to 112 really fast. It was while I was setting up the enclosure and getting everything stable. From that point on, I secure the probe at multiple points to prevent this. No use taking any chances.

The hot glue held for all this time, not sure why it broke off

I have it taped on there for now with elec. tape, until I can get new glue sticks. I've heard gorilla glue hot glue sticks are better then regular ones..

My thermostat says not to use alu tape. To bad, that stuff sticks great, but not taking any chances..

[JodanOrNoDan]

I used to drive myself nuts with heat tape and sensors. To many failure points (at least in my head). Always checking and rechecking. I'm the kind of person who will check and make sure the oven is off in the middle of the night. If you are going to use heat tape, I would run another thermostat and probe inline so that one is a fail safe for the other. I don't deal with that craziness anymore other than in my isolation rack. I am now running ambient and it is a lot easier to figure out if something is wrong.

I wouldn't trust hot glue for anything other than decoration.

[Sonny1318]

Glad to hear everything was fine, sounds like a good day to me.

[zina10]

I used to drive myself nuts with heat tape and sensors. To many failure points (at least in my head). Always checking and rechecking. I'm the kind of person who will check and make sure the oven is off in the middle of the night. If you are going to use heat tape, I would run another thermostat and probe inline so that one is a fail safe for the other. I don't deal with that craziness anymore other than in my isolation rack. I am now running ambient and it is a lot easier to figure out if something is wrong.

I wouldn't trust hot glue for anything other than decoration.

I would like to use ambient heat, but until I have one dedicated room in which I could do that, I have to rely on other methods.

How did you fasten the probe ? I researched that quite a bit and many people said to use hot glue on the tip and tape on the cable (or hot glue)

Was told not to use Alu tape. It sticks well but can mess with the readings. Electric tape doesn't stick well.

Grateful for any ideas

You bet I will check that probe every time I open a tub from now on.. Plus I will attach another probe to a digital thermometer, so the temp is always in front of me. (thanks Chris)

I always wondered how you put another thermostat on flex tape. I know some people connect two Ranco's to one another, but how else can one do that ?? If I plug in the heat tape to the thermostat, what do I plug into the second thermostat?? I mean, how will the second thermostat control the heat tape, if that is plugged into thermostat #1 ?

And that doesn't protect me from probe failure (if 2 thermostats are connected to one another), right ?

I'm just trying to understand how I can run 2 independent thermostats, each with their own probe, to one single flex heat tape, that only has one plug to put into one thermostat..

[Ax01]

glad your snakes are ok. i use aluminum tape to tape the wire and the probe stays under the heat tape great!