Heat Tape Tests Part 1:
In this test I will be comparing the UNREGULATED temperatures that Flexwatt Heat Tape and THG Heat Tape at various room temperatures.
I started by using aluminum foil tape to attach both the Flexwatt and THG heat tape to the underside of one of my Animal Plastics cages. (this cage has a thermostat probe slot on both the left and right sides of the bottom of the cage making it ideal for side by side comparison) I used a herpstat 4 to measure both strips of heat tape as well as the air temperature in the room. I took temperature measurements at 10 minute intervals for 1 hour at 3 different room temperatures (70 Degrees F, 75 Degrees F, and 80 Degrees F) Inbetween each test I unplugged the heat tape and let it sit for 30 minutes to cool back down and allow my apartments A/C to heat/cool the room to the next tests temperature.
*Note* I did have the heat tape plugged into the herpstat 4 and not directly into the wall. I had to do this because of one of the safety features on the herpstat 4. (If the temperature probe doesn't read a change in temperature after x minutes at 100% power it triggers the safety relay and sounds an alarm which would interfere with me being able to use it to measure temperatures) I set the thermostat channels to the max set temperature (150 F) and let the thermostat soft start before I plugged in the heat tape. I made sure that the thermostat never reduced power to the heat tape. It ran at 100% power on both channels during the entire test.
For this test I used 2 feet of 11" 20 watt Flexwatt and 2 feet of 12" 23 watt THG Heat (the increased wattage is due to the increased width of the tape. The wattage density of these 2 strips of heat tape is the same. so we are comparing apples to apple here) The cage that the heat tape was attached to was placed on an Animal Plastic 8" stand. (the flexwatt was completely exposed to air on the underside as the stand is just an open frame)
Test 1: Room Temperature 70 Degrees F
(Air Conditioner turned on)
Time Elapsed (in Minutes) THG Heat Tape (degrees F) Flexwatt Heat Tape (degrees F) Air Temperature in Room (degrees F) 0 72.9 72.9 70.2 10 88.9 85.7 69.2 20 96.6 91.9 69.0 30 100.7 95.4 69.1 40 102.5 97.0 69.1 50 103.2 97.4 69.5 60 103.6 97.4 70.3
Test 2: Room Temperature 75 Degrees F
(Air Conditioner Turned off)
Time Elapsed (in Minutes) THG Heat Tape (degrees F) Flexwatt Heat Tape (degrees F) Air Temperature in room (degrees F) 0 77.2 77.1 74.6 10 94.3 90.8 75.3 20 103.1 98.8 74.9 30 106.3 101.8 74.7 40 107.7 103.1 74.7 50 108.2 103.6 74.6 60 108.5 104.0 74.6
Test 3: Room Temperature 80 Degrees F
(Heater turned on)
Time Elapsed (in Minutes) THG Heat Tape (degrees F) Flexwatt Heat Tape (degrees F) Air Temperature in Room (degrees F) 0 82.6 82.5 79.8 10 97.9 95.1 79.8 20 106.0 102.2 79.9 30 109.1 105.2 80.0 40 110.4 106.2 79.4 50 111.0 106.9 79.9 60 111.4 107.3 80.1
I was amazed at how consistent the data was from these 3 tests. Both stayed cooler than I expected but s the following data shows when heat tape is in an enclosed environment unregulated the temperatures are far more extreme:
Test Procedure: 2 feet of 12" 23 Watt per foot THG heat tape was placed on a glass desk then a 1/2" piece of plywood was placed on top (simulating the worst case scenario). I placed a probe from my herpstat in between the flexwatt and the plywood. (in a routed slot) All fans & central heat/AC have been turned off and room temperatures have been recorded with a second herpstat probe along with humidity just for good measure. (herpstat humidity probe)
Time of Day THG Heat Tape Temperature (in Degrees F) Room Temperature (in Degrees F) Room Humidity 12:15 78 78 59% 12:22 100 78 59% 12:28 105 79 59% 12:35 110 79 61% 12:42 115 79 61% 12:48 120 79 61% 12:56 125 79 61%
Overall I am very impressed with the new THG Heat Tape it performs very well and has a far more robust feel to it. It does appear to heat more consistently over its surface. (I don't have data to back this up, but just by going by feel it seems to be the same temperature over its entire surface which is more than i can say for the flexwatt) An added bonus is that aluminum foil tape peals off of it much easier than it did on flexwatt heat tape.
