Back up thermostat is a MUST!! learn from my mistake

[Blue Apple Herps]

I knew that a back up thermostat was a good idea, but just had never really "gotten around" to it. I guess I really just thought, my herpstat won't fail me, I'll get around to it when I do...

Well, this morning I woke up and went to check on the snakes before I head off to work like I always do. Every single one in the ball rack was pressed up against the front of the tub. I think "Hmmmmm, that's weird...". Then I see the thermometer and it's reading 116.2!!!!! I immediately unplugged the flexwatt and tried to figure out what went wrong.

Turns out the probe had come unattached and was no where near where it needed to be. The thermostat was just fine, but because of the probe being moved, it was running the flexwatt at full force!

All the snakes seem to be just fine; it happened during the night as they were fine when I went to bed. But I nearly had a heart attack this morning.

Anyways, just ordered a Ranco for a back up. Lesson of the day is get a back up thermostat! Learn from my mistake!! I don't want to think what could have happened had I been on vacation or something and this went on for several days.

[Brimstone111888]

I have had the probe come loose on me like that before. Luckly I caught it before any damage had taken place.

Glad all of your snakes are alive and well.

[Nate]

What are you using to secure it in place?

I found that Electrical tape is notorious for coming undone. I tried some of that foil tape and that stuff STICKS!!!

Well, glad to hear your collection is doing OK.

How exactly are you wiring your other t-stat as a backup? set it a few degrees higher than the herpstat? and then plug the herpstat into the Ranco?

[Brimstone111888]

What are you using to secure it in place?

I found that Electrical tape is notorious for coming undone. I tried some of that foil tape and that stuff STICKS!!!

I was using duct tape at the time and whenever the tub slide over it, the tape would stick to the tub and come undone.

I got me some of that fancy foil tape and haven't had a problem yet

[ctrlfreq]

Then I see the thermometer and it's reading 116.2!!!!! I immediately unplugged the flexwatt and tried to figure out what went wrong.

Given that your problem was the thermostat running full-bore, how would a backup have helped you?

I second the earlier comment about sticking the probe to the flexwatt with foil tape though. We've got our probes setup that way, and they don't move at all.

[SatanicIntention]

With a back-up, you would have both probes stuck to the flexwatt. If one came loose, such as the primary, then the backup would register that the flexwatt has gotten too hot and would shut off.

[littleindiangirl]

With a back-up, you would have both probes stuck to the flexwatt. If one came loose, such as the primary, then the backup would register that the flexwatt has gotten too hot and would shut off.

Bingo

[Blue Apple Herps]

I was using foil tape to secure it, but I think one of the tubs bumped the probe, or maybe the probe wire got tugged on by one of my cats or something, but the tape that was securing it was ripped.

I'm going to set the ranco a couple of degrees warmer and put its probe on a different level, and then plug the herpstat into the ranco. This way if I had what happened here happen, the ranco would have turned off the herpstat and shut down the power.

[ctrlfreq]

With a back-up, you would have both probes stuck to the flexwatt. If one came loose, such as the primary, then the backup would register that the flexwatt has gotten too hot and would shut off.

Yeah, but it would have only shut off the backup unit if they were wired in parallel (leaving the primary unit to over-heat the tape). If they are wired in series, then the failure of either unit (ie. one dies and goes dark), would cause the rack not to heat at all.

[ctrlfreq]

I'm going to set the ranco a couple of degrees warmer and put its probe on a different level, and then plug the herpstat into the ranco. This way if I had what happened here happen, the ranco would have turned off the herpstat and shut down the power.

Yes, but that way, if either the Ranco or the Herpstat fails, your rack won't be heated at all -- not really a "backup" as much as a kill-switch. The question becomes whether the risk of a probe being jostled loose is greater than that of a thermostat failing, because either setup incurs risk.