Winter Heating Issues with New Rack

When i first started out with my snakes i bought an old melanin rack with heat wire. I used it all winter long and it kept my tubs at the right temperature, i would only have to change the temp settings on really cold days. I recently upgraded to an AP rack which is light enough to move around and more aesthetically pleasing but i have been running into problems keeping consistent temperatures.

When my room gets colder i find the heat tape starts to drop temp too. To improve this i have been using a space heater that comes with some cheap thermostat. Well last night the space heater did not turn on which caused the room to dip in temperature which also caused the heat tape to also dip in temperature, i dont want to worry about this so im looking to make improvements to the rack and my setup.

But even when i am using the space heater it will bump my ambient temperature to to about 80 cold side and 83 on the warm. I use my temp gun to see the temp in the hides and its usually around 90 on the hot side and 80 on the cold. Do i need a consistent ambient temperature outside of the hides to be at 90 (hot) 80 (cold) or is it ok if the temperatures in the hides stay at those temps?

Either way i am looking for a solution to help provide better ambient temperatures to make sure my heat tape does not loose its efficiency with the cold weather fluctuations. I have it set at 105 F which is i've heard is the highest to safely run it but it usually stays at 104.5 or so. I don't have a small room available to keep the rack and space heater to maintain a stable temperature just my large room with lots of windows.

I have been looking around at different options and haven't found anything that seems to jump out at me as the best way to modify my rack. I thought about using larger size heat tape to warm the entire back portion of the rack but if the cold weather will affect it as well its seems pointless for me. I also looked at Radiant heat panels which look like the best possible option but installing them and their performance im not to familiar with or how many i will need for a 6 high cb70 AP rack.

My main concern is really just raising the ambient temperature on the hot side of the rack. Any input would be appreciated, quick fixes while im doing more research into a permanent solution would be great as well.


Thanks

The space heater to keep room temperatures up is likely your best bet, and what I do as well. The issue you're likely experiencing in the change of temperature between the new and old racks is because of how much more open the new rack is compared to the old one. Melamine is actually a fairly good insulator.

I am currently using a cheap space heater with an integral thermostat as well, with a wall mount thermostat on the way as I agree, the integrated thermostats are neither as accurate, or as reliable. A side effect is that it's frankly a bit nice to have my office/snake room at 80 degrees(with the thermostat set to 83 to maintain that) while it's snowing at below freezing outside.

Adding heat tape along the back would require quite a lot of heat tape to bring the ambient temperatures up along the whole rack, and may not be any more effective or efficient than just warming the whole room.

Having a temp under the warm side of 90*F is fine; in fact, if the ambient is that high it may be too warm. The surface temp (assuming belly heat) can be 88-92*F with an ambient in the low to mid 80's.

Is the rack set up for belly heat or back heat?

Is the rack design open so you can see the long side of the tubs, or is it closed?

The rack is surrounded on all sides except the front, its not the economy style AP rack and has belly heat. Not sure if this is a good or bad idea but i used some old blankets to help insulate the sides and a portion of the back. It seems to hold the heat better from when the space heater turns on. I feel a little better now knowing my ambient temperature weren't as off as i thought.

I'm in a similar situation. I have RBI racks with belly heat and it's been so cold lately that I've been using oil filled radiator heaters to keep the general rack area at 70 degrees (also in a big room). Problem with this is my electricity bill went through the roof. That 1500 watt heater is almost always on. I was thinking about using flexwatt on the sides of the rack to increase ambient temps just by heating up the PVC walls around the tubs. Even at 4 feet a side and 23 watts per foot (using 12" THG tape) I'm at 184 watts max. Could all be controlled by my Herpstat 4.

I may just try putting a blanket over it first and seeing how that does for the ambient without the extra heater.

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Originally Posted by Ba11er

The rack is surrounded on all sides except the front, its not the economy style AP rack and has belly heat. Not sure if this is a good or bad idea but i used some old blankets to help insulate the sides and a portion of the back. It seems to hold the heat better from when the space heater turns on. I feel a little better now knowing my ambient temperature weren't as off as i thought.

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I hang a towel or baby blanket on the front of my racks if they are in a cool area of the house (HVAC set at 72*F). It does help keep the cool side 4-5 degrees higher than the room ambient.

That's funny. I just built a new xpvc rack and was thinking about how I could hold in more heat and thought of the blanket over the front as well. Does it seem to work well for u? Was also thinking of putting on some kind of front door.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bcycling

That's funny. I just built a new xpvc rack and was thinking about how I could hold in more heat and thought of the blanket over the front as well. Does it seem to work well for u? Was also thinking of putting on some kind of front door.

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Oh yeah it's great. I just checked mine since I covered it up after dinner this evening - 72*F in the room, 78*F on the cool side of the rack just with a light beach towel over the front. The rack is melamine and enclosed so it holds heat very well.