Ranco etc burned out?

I just got home and went into my reptile room to have 62 degree temps and a burning smell. The burning smell was coming from my ranco etc thermostat that was controlling my oil-filled space heater. The thermostat itself still shows the temps of the room but will no longer control the heater. I took the thermostat off the wall and it left black burn marks, i then unplugged the thermostat and now have my heater on low and have to manually turn it on and off. Can anyone let me know what happened and why? P.s the thermostat is less than a year old.

Sounds like said heater was pulling more current than said ranco can handle.

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Those thermostats are meant to control thngs lk heat tape or radient panels... Not those types of heaters..unless ofcourse ranco manual says otherwise. Be glad u didnt burn your house down.

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What model was it?

Ranco are not thermostat that were originally designed to control heat panels or heat tape, they are house thermostat and are commonly used by herpers even sold to control oil filled heater (wired especially for this purpose) and sold to control other heating devices as well.

The issue can be the wattage, which is something that always need to be check with any T-stat and heat source.

Ranco however also sometimes fail which is why like any T-stat they should be doubled with another t-stat as a safeguard.

I have had one fail on me and it was not because of the wattage http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ight=Heat+tape

I believe Mark has had issues with them too.



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Quote:

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

What model was it?

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Ranco ETC-111000-000 prewired with a heavy duty wire(15amps/1800watts).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jeanne

Those thermostats are meant to control thngs lk heat tape or radient panels... Not those types of heaters..unless ofcourse ranco manual says otherwise. Be glad u didnt burn your house down.

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They are meant to control oil heaters, or at least that what the site i bought it from said.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Ranco are not thermostat that were originally designed to control heat panels or heat tape, they are house thermostat and are commonly used by herpers even sold to control oil filled heater (wired especially for this purpose) and sold to control other heating devices as well.

The issue can be the wattage, which is something that always need to be check with any T-stat and heat source.

Ranco however also sometimes fail which is why like any T-stat they should be doubled with another t-stat as a safeguard.

I have had one fail on me and it was not because of the wattage http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ight=Heat+tape

I believe Mark has had issues with them too.



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What t-stat do you recommend for a oil-filled heater?

I started off with Ranco thermostats and I would never buy another one. I went through at least six that either burned out or started having problems within a couple years of purchase. I now use Helix and Herpstat thermostats and I've never had an issue. I only use them on racks though.

Herpstat for the win!! :gj: