UTH battery operated

So, after doing more research, I've descided to go with the aquarium tank after all (thank you all who responded to my previous post!) Now here's another question. Other than the head packs, does anyone know of a uth that does not require an electrical outlet, or rather, uses batteries? If so, please let me know. Once again, thanks for all the help. This forum has been great.

Just so you know.....whether or not you use a plastic tub OR a glass tank...you MUST have either a t-stat or dimmer switch on that UTH. Whether it's against plastic or glass, it still has the capacity to get way too hot by itself.


I've never heard of any UTH (or any other long-term heat source, for that matter) that does not require an electrical outlet for power.

Oh ok thank you

Nope. Far as I know they're all electrical. The only thing you could do (if the reason you ask is because of possible power outages) would be to get a generator for it to run off of.

And just as JLC said, you will NEED a controlling device of some sort for any UTH on any type of enclosure. Thermostat recommended over rheostats.

If you are looking for reliable back up incase of a power outage, get an UPS/UPC. UPS stands for Uninterruptible Power Supply. UPC stands for Uninterruptible Power Conditioner, witch is the same thing, but as fixes miner brownouts and spike fluctuation.

UPS's are sold just about anywhere you can buy a computer. UPC's are a bit more rare. You normally only find them sold in HIGH HIGH end Audio Video electronics stores.

YOu won't need a lot of VA or whats as a small ( 10 - 20 Gallon ) UTH only uses 8 watts, medium ( 30 -40 Gallon ) use 12 - 18 watts. If you are using Frex Watt heat tape Here are the Watt's per foot. 3" = 10 W/pf, 4" = 8 W/pf, 11" = 20 W/pf, and 17" = 10 W/pf

As you can see there isn't a great draw from the heating element. Your rheostat on the other hand can be anything from 15 watts to 200 watts. Even with that, a common 650 VA, 500 watt UPS will probably give you over 12 hours of back up.

Hope this little rambling helped.