Dimmer just as good as thermostat for heat tape?

I am about to buy flexwatt and got to thinking, am I going to buy a Helix or save the money and use a 10 dollar dimmer. This is where I got the conclusion a Helix might be pointless in a small DIY rack. Maybe I'm wrong and please tell me if I am but this is my thought....

With a thermostat you are taking the probe and taping it to the heat tape. Well this is outside the tubs, so your thermostat is not adjusting with the temp inside the tubs. It seems like once the Heat tape hits the certain temp you are looking for, its not going to adjust at all since your probe is taped to the flexwatt. For instance if your house temp goes up and down 6-8 degrees your helix will prob not recognize this change since its taped to the heat tape and not inside the tub.

With a dimmer it seems all you have to do is tape a thermometer probe to the heat tape and adjust the dimmer once to the desired temp. Also with this, if you have different sized tubs and want different sized flexwatt for each, just by a dimmer and thermometer for each different size. Unlike a thermostat, if your running 4" and 11" flexwatt and trying to heat a 15 quart and a 32 quart off the same unit your going to have unreliable temps.

One more thought, you also don't have to worry about the thermostat failing, probe falling off and so on. Well let me know your thoughts. Thanx.

Sorry everyone, I meant to post this in the caging forum.

I whole heartedly believe in thermostats. If the probe is not in the tub you just adjust for it. Set the temp to 95 or 97 instead of 92 if it were in the tub. The tstat will adjust if your house temps go up even if the probe is taped to the flexwatt. Plus with a dimmer you could accidentally knock the knob and cook your snakes. Where atleast with a thermostat its harder to do and if you manage to you will know the temp you pumped it up too. I say go big or go home. You dont have to go helix but any tstat is worth the money over a dimmer.

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For instance if your house temp goes up and down 6-8 degrees your helix will prob not recognize this change since its taped to the heat tape and not inside the tub.

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If you're under the impression that a thermostat would have lots a variance in this situation a dimmer would be much worst. Was my main issue when I used dimmers, you constantly have to adjust the knob if your room temps are not fairly stable.

I agree with Spaniard. You pretty much have it backwards. A thermostat does account for fluctuations in air temp because it keeps the temp constant, not the power output. A dimmer keeps the power output constant, but if the ambient temp changes, so does the temp on the tape/in the tub.

Also, more or less, the temp of the tape is the temp of the tub...your interpretation of how that works was a little confusing to me too.

All in all, if your room temps are stable, you can get by with a dimmer. If not, or there are drafts, etc...you should get a thermostat. Thermostats offer peace of mind also, which is worth more than you may think.

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With a thermostat you are taking the probe and taping it to the heat tape. Well this is outside the tubs, so your thermostat is not adjusting with the temp inside the tubs. It seems like once the Heat tape hits the certain temp you are looking for, its not going to adjust at all since your probe is taped to the flexwatt.For instance if your house temp goes up and down 6-8 degrees your helix will prob not recognize this change since its taped to the heat tape and not inside the tub.

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Yes it will

A reliable thermostat such has Helix or Herpstat will adjust the temps constantly to maintain proper temps.

A rheostat will not adjust the temps and let the temps fluctuate greatly. If the ambient temp of your room fluctuates the temps will fall and rise all the time and you will need to adjust your rheostat all the time.

If the temp rises in your room this could lead to a temp spike on the warm side and you want to avoid that.

Spending money on a reliable thermostat will be money well spent.

Like the others said... A thermostat doesn't care if your house is 90 degrees or 30 degrees. It is only concerened with keeping the enclosure at a constant temp. If the room reaches the desired thermostat setting it will just shut off until the room/enclosure go below the desired setting. Thermostat all the way unless the temps in your house NEVER change.

But, the probe that is reading the temperature is secured to the heat tape so really its not totally reading the temp in the room. Its reading the temp on the tape. So I guess as the room cools down so does the tape which the thermometer reads then sends to the helix to heat up? Is this right?
So really does a drop in room temp. of a few degrees actually cool the heat tape down that much.

I guess the way I'm looking at it is.....if you connect a thermometer probe to a stove top thats 200 degrees and the room temp is 100 degrees....its prob going to read 200 degrees on the thermometer.....now if you crank the AC down and the room temp. is 80 degrees....the probe should still read very very close to 200 degrees since the probe is connected to the 200 degree stove.

Does this make sense to anyone else? I hope I'm not sounding like to big of an idiot.

I use thermostats on most of my racks now, but I used dimmers (rheostats) for decades and they worked just fine, still use them on some of my racks. You just need to get a digital thermometer and tape the probe to the heat tape and adjust the dimmer according to the thermometer. I usually only had to adjust it a couple of times a year, in the late fall and again in the late spring. If you're room temps are fairly stable it shouldn't be a big deal and it's a HECK of a lot cheaper. Just keep an eye on it. Those thermometers with the MIN/MAX memory function work the best.

Dimmer/rheostat is just fine IF your room that your snakes is in has a very constant temperature. If it fluctuates a lot then spend the money on a good thermostat. The most important investment in this hobby IMO.