Melted UTH Warning!

I only seen this happen when ther no air flow under the tank ( i melted some flexwatt befoer) but I got lucky andwhen it melted it stopped owrking at the same time ) but anytime you set a glass tank onto a surface that down not have a opening under it ( like a coin ot 2 you need to set it on something. I have in the pass used lego blocks on their side ( a couple of thme ) to allow air flow) and i even used small strips of wood anything that will give you the space ot let air flow under helps. and if on carpet a trickto prevent the carpet from getting burnt is as thin sheet of plywood. ( panellng) with some thing ot lift for air flow. this prevent the carpet from melting andgives a little better chance of the uth from failing ( seem like carpet will insulate the uth and cause it to run hotter .

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Originally Posted by mechnut450

I only seen this happen when ther no air flow under the tank ( i melted some flexwatt befoer) but I got lucky andwhen it melted it stopped owrking at the same time ) but anytime you set a glass tank onto a surface that down not have a opening under it ( like a coin ot 2 you need to set it on something. I have in the pass used lego blocks on their side ( a couple of thme ) to allow air flow) and i even used small strips of wood anything that will give you the space ot let air flow under helps. and if on carpet a trickto prevent the carpet from getting burnt is as thin sheet of plywood. ( panellng) with some thing ot lift for air flow. this prevent the carpet from melting andgives a little better chance of the uth from failing ( seem like carpet will insulate the uth and cause it to run hotter .

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But if the UTH is being regulated by a good thermostat this shouldn't happen even without any airflow. If heat starts to build up the thermostat detects it and reduces power going to UTH thereby preventing dangerous heat build up. People shouldn't be relying on air flow to keep their UTH's from burning up.

First - yeah, that advice from CS was crap. The reason that happened was because of your probe placement and the fact that you used a cheap, bad thermostat.

Second - I've been using ZooMed UTH pads for years with no incidents at all. The only thing I've had happen is that one of my pads just stopped heating up (after 4 years of use). And I use these pads inside homemade wooden cages. Granted, for extra safety I drill ventilation holes where the pad sits, but otherwise it's sandwiched between the vinyl flooring and the wood. And I leave the paper on the sticky side as well.

The main issue at hand is the thermostat. You NEED a good one, and the lowest I would recommend is a Johnson or Ranco. Do NOT go with Zilla or ZooMed unless they're backup or just for a short period like a car trip or QT.
Make sure you place the t-stat probe DIRECTLY onto the pad. I tape my probes right to the underside of the pad using foil tape, which can handle high heat better than most tapes out there. Remember, the STAT probe goes OUTside, and the METER probe goes INside. :)

As for the melted pad...only a short out and total failure would cause that. I've run those pads at full power, without t-stat control, on wood and plastic both for days straight to test them (empty cages and tubs, of course!) and a properly working pad could never even melt the tub plastic let alone itself, even at top power. So you either got one that shorted out and spiked horribly, or the pad somehow ran at much much higher than normal temps when uncontrolled. Either is rare.

It sucks that ZooMed didn't want to own up and replace the pad, but at least now you know what you can, and can't, do in the future. :)

I had a zoomed heat pad short out and catch fire a few weeks ago. I wouldn't say it's rare. You can google it and its happened to tons of people. A thermostat wouldn't be able to do anything in that situation.

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Originally Posted by CaGirl5

I had a zoomed heat pad short out and catch fire a few weeks ago. I wouldn't say it's rare. You can google it and its happened to tons of people. A thermostat wouldn't be able to do anything in that situation.

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If the probe is on the UTH itself it should as it will cut power before it gets that hot. It isn't 100% failsafe but most of the time a thermostat should catch things like that.

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Originally Posted by CaGirl5

I had a zoomed heat pad short out and catch fire a few weeks ago. I wouldn't say it's rare. You can google it and its happened to tons of people. A thermostat wouldn't be able to do anything in that situation.

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This is a good case for reptile specfic better T-stats (Herpstat,Helix,ecozone,herpkeeper,habistat •VE series• I am unsure about it is not mentioned in manual or specs...) If the probe were to be damaged in a short it still cuts power. Other units may when the probe is damages continue to power the pad. This is also a good case for a failsafe which will shut down the power in a short.

Probes should NEVER be inside enclosures

Just for the heck of it, I sandwiched a UTH between two pieces of glass and wrapped it in a big thick blanket (don't try this at home kids), left it on for hours, while it got super hot, nothing melted or caught fire. I'd say UTH was bad plain and simple. It shouldn't get hot enough to melt no matter the conditions. No I'm not saying it's acceptable to go without a thermostat because it will certainly get hot enough to cook your snake. And yeah a thermostat with a failsafe would have certainly come in handy here though. For half the price of one of the fancy thermostats you can get two of the Hydrofarms.

Sorry guys I posted this and have been completely offline since then. Thanks for all the replies!!!

Just to clear things up the tank and heater WERE lifted off the ground. No UTH sandwiching here.

And now thanks to all you lovely helpful people, I know the probe in the picture, should not be on the inside of the tank, like it was. :oops: But here is how it looked... The red wood underneath had the tank lifted off the ground. The small probe runs to a digital thermometer, the large one goes to the thermostat. You can see how the pad is melted off the tank and barely hanging on. The pic looks a little confusing cause you can see the wires that are running under the tank too.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me...q0jo2_1280.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me...q0jo1_1280.jpg

:agrees it is a thermostat problem:

Never had luck with Zoo Med UTHs myself. They either stopped working after 3 months or came unglued. Latest one I had, I came home and the pad was hanging from the tank stand with a hole in it and sparking. Been using a Zilla one since(7 mos.) with no problems.