Rack buzzing/ losing connection heat tape

[Weremey59]

Hello,

My rack has been humming for a few weeks now however I haven't thought anything of it after googling solutions and finding out it is normal during different degrees of power begin supplied to the heat tape. What set me off tonight was when I was feeding and I had my thermostat read 0% power for a second and then click back on (herpstat 4). I took every tub out and felt every square inch of the heat tape trying to see where there may be a short however I cant find any no matter how hard it try. I build the rack myself however I have many years of contracting and have full confidence in my abilities. It is a PVC rack with 28qu tube on 4 inch THG heat tape. I soldered it myself and wrapped the connections in electrical tape out the rear end. Even when touching the connections I feel nothing. Please help as I find it very unusual that the temperature would suddenly click to 0% and back on to the regular percentage even with it being a on a proportional setting and being high end thermostat.

Thanks

Grant

[Weremey59]

Anyone?

[Bogertophis]

I'm no electrician but I've wired my own Flexwatt & used on many cages for many years. I've never had this issue, I would guess your heat tape contains a
flawed connection somewhere...were there any bends in it, like before it was installed?

Only 2 options come to mind: wait until it fails for real (& no telling how long that might take, if ever?) or just replace it?

[Weremey59]

It was never bent and I was very delicate when installing it. If there is a short, I should get shocked correct?

[Bogertophis]

It was never bent and I was very delicate when installing it. If there is a short, I should get shocked correct?

A 'short' is when the flow of electricity takes an UN-intended path, & yes, you can get shocked, depending upon where & what you touch.

I believe that your issue is actually an "open circuit" where contact is lost resulting in "infinite resistance" (even though it's intermittent). That's why I wondered
if any internal wires got bent. A bent wire can break but still be touching so that most of the time it's 'on' but it still goes 'off' at times. This can happen with a
manufacturing defect as well, not just from bending a wire. An "open" is the opposite of a "short". Frustrating isn't it? Good luck!