Thermostats

Ok.. I keep reading that I should have a thermostat with my heating arrangement. At the risk of sounding totally stupid, what do they look like? Do you plug the UTH into the thermostat, and then the thermostat into the electrical outlet? How does the themorstat know what the temp is in the tank? Does it have a probe? My heating has been pretty good since I figured out how to use my digital thermometer, but I have noticed flucutations in the temp. I figured it was due to the temp in the house, but some fluctuations have been a little erratic. I've read that themostats can be purchaced cheaply at Wal-Mart etc. What brands do you recommend?

Brandy

Most of the stuff you'll find at local places would need some serious circuitry tweaking to get it to work properly.

I'd suggest buying a thermostat from Matt or Vaughn or another place online.
I know matt's site is www.mgreptiles.com off the top of my head. I can't remember vaughn's.

hey all, i don't really sell thermostats! i do hvac work and i can get the digital rancos and johnson controls at a good cost but by the time i wire it and ship it i don't think i could beat matt's (justcage) price. if you're looking for a proportional thermostat the herpstat that robert coombs sells is pretty good at $107.00 shipped!



vaughn

You can also buy a rheostat (lamp dimmer). Thermostats typically run $100+, so if you're on a budget you can pick up a $5 rheostat at the hardware store. They are just rotary dimmer switches. You will have to wire it to your piece of flexwatt (or heating pad) All you need is a soldering gun and some solder (found at the hardware store also.. inexpensive). I as well as others here can explain how to do it. It is very simple! Almost all of my snakes are on a setup like that, and I'm satisfied with it.

You can also have Matt (justcage) wire up one for you with a piece of flexwatt.

Thermostats...yum..lol.. Hey Brandy shoot me an email and we can talk about your setup and see what would be the most cost effective for your needs... matt@mgreptiles.com and thanks for the support guys!
-Matt

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Originally Posted by kavmon

hey all, i don't really sell thermostats! i do hvac work and i can get the digital rancos and johnson controls at a good cost but by the time i wire it and ship it i don't think i could beat matt's (justcage) price. if you're looking for a proportional thermostat the herpstat that robert coombs sells is pretty good at $107.00 shipped!
vaughn

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Oops..maybe I got you and Robert mixed up.. Sorry about that.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

You can also buy a rheostat (lamp dimmer). Thermostats typically run $100+, so if you're on a budget you can pick up a $5 rheostat at the hardware store. They are just rotary dimmer switches. You will have to wire it to your piece of flexwatt (or heating pad) All you need is a soldering gun and some solder (found at the hardware store also.. inexpensive). I as well as others here can explain how to do it. It is very simple! Almost all of my snakes are on a setup like that, and I'm satisfied with it.

You can also have Matt (justcage) wire up one for you with a piece of flexwatt.

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On the negative side of that set-up, as the room temp. changes, so will the cage temp. The MAIN thing a thermostat will do is MAINTAIN A SET TEMPERATURE, which is the whole goal of heating in the first place. As the room gets colder or warmer, it turns the heat on or off to regulate the cage temperature. If using a rheostat, the keeper needs to adjust it as needed.

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Originally Posted by vinnimac

On the negative side of that set-up, as the room temp. changes, so will the cage temp. The MAIN thing a thermostat will do is MAINTAIN A SET TEMPERATURE, which is the whole goal of heating in the first place. As the room gets colder or warmer, it turns the heat on or off to regulate the cage temperature. If using a rheostat, the keeper needs to adjust it as needed.

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Well put! I hate a dimmer but ont he oter hand I will not use anything else of a bulb...

Ya dimmers can be used but they really don't have aything to do with the heat control. They do cut the power going to the source, but its still FULL power just lowerd downa litte bit. As apposed to how T-stats actually lower the heat output so taht you cna keep the temp. That is the main difference, with a dimmer there is still a possibliliy of unsafe conditions, with a T-stat there just isn't and i love that security.