Heating tubs with flexwatt, what is your config?

[TekWarren]

poll to see how folks here heating their tubs hot vs cool side

[JLC]

I'd answer the poll.....but I'm really not getting what you're asking.

[TekWarren]

This poll is related to another topic where a member was asking where to place heat tape and questioning how 3" flexwatt is enough to achieve the proper hotside temp. This sparked some thought as I have another rack soon to be setup and was considering using 11" instead of 3" like I have currently. Basically if you where take a temp gun from your hot side to your cool side how would it measure out? Do you have "perfectly" equal hot and cool sides or does one or other fill out more of the tub? For example does your hot side heat cover 1/4, 1/2, or even 3/4 of the tub area? The optimal configuration is obviously to have half and half but in reality that would be near impossible as there is a temp transition as it moves away from the hot side heat source.

Sorry, hopefully that explains what I'm after

[JLC]

Ahhh....gotcha.


I've got just over half of my tub bottom covered by flexwatt. If it was any less, the "cool" side wouldn't get warm enough.

[tmlowe5704]

I run a single 11 inch down the back of my 1960 rack.

[Kizerk]

I've got just over half of my tub bottom covered by flexwatt. If it was any less, the "cool" side wouldn't get warm enough.

judy do you use the 3 inch flex watt for 11 inch?... if i used lexwatt, i would use 11' but people said that 3 inch was sufficient enough, is that because ambient temps were warm enough?

[JLC]

judy do you use the 3 inch flex watt for 11 inch?... if i used lexwatt, i would use 11' but people said that 3 inch was sufficient enough, is that because ambient temps were warm enough?

I use the 11" .....The temps in this room fluctuate a fair amount from really warm to really cool...and the wide flexwatt helps to maintain a more consistent temp within the tub itself.

If I had a dedicated snake room where I could control a steady, warm ambient temp, then I would imagine 3" would be plenty.

[Smulkin]

I have one foot sections of 11" for each bin - hot/cool side seems to stay very proportional. If there is a sever temp swing we'll have to wait and see how that affects things but knock on wood so far so good.

[mr~python]

the hot side in all three of my tubs are exactly 1/3 of the tub.

[TekWarren]

Here's another variable regarding this question:

What size flexwatt do you use compared to how much of your tub is hot vs cool.


For example if you use 3" does the heat spread enough to cover 1/3, 1/2, etc of the tub or do you use 11" to balance it out more?


Ambient room temps play a large roll in how much FW is needed, It sounds like some are using the larger sized FW in rooms they have less control over temps in.