THG Heat tape. Dimmer question

You can use THG heat tape on a dimmer to accomplish what you are talking about. However it will not hold consistent temps like it would with either an on off T-stat or a Proportional T-stat. The On Off T-stat will hold temps fairly well by the time the heat gets threw the tubs and substrate a split of 1-2 degrees will not show up as much if you attach your probe to the THG heat tape between two tubs or just on the tape itself. I personally would not use a dimmer on heat tape failure rate is a lot higher than an On Off T-stat. I have used both style T-stats with the new THG heat tape and been happy with both.

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Originally Posted by seang89

You understand that if I use a traditional thermostat (on/off only). It is going to be turning the heat tape on and off every half hour or so.
A few months of that and I'd probably burn out my thermostat from clicking on and off 48 times a day.

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no it won't..? that's exactly what they're built for. before i got my herpstats i was using a cheap little on/off hydrofarm, and it was going strong for six months and it still works. i still have it set aside as a back up.. and it doesn't matter if the temperature in your house doesn't fluctuate at all. i've had to use a dimmer to hold me over until a thermostat came in. i checked the temps twice a day and had to bump it up or down almost every time to keep the desired temps.

I've been using the same on/off thermostat for years without any issues. They won't "burn out" after a few month's usage...at least, not if it's a quality t-stat.

Your argument that the t-stat would turn on and off so frequently to maintain proper temps pretty much cancels out your argument that your ambient temps stay steady and therefore a dimmer switch should work. Both of those situations can't be true. I've lived in a LOT of different houses of all styles and environments...and NONE of them ever kept ambient temps in a range precise enough to support using a dimmer switch to maintain critical temps in a reptile enclosure.

A quality thermostat (on/off OR proportional) is the BEST investment you'll ever make for your reptiles.

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Originally Posted by JLC

I've been using the same on/off thermostat for years without any issues. They won't "burn out" after a few month's usage...at least, not if it's a quality t-stat.

Your argument that the t-stat would turn on and off so frequently to maintain proper temps pretty much cancels out your argument that your ambient temps stay steady and therefore a dimmer switch should work. Both of those situations can't be true. I've lived in a LOT of different houses of all styles and environments...and NONE of them ever kept ambient temps in a range precise enough to support using a dimmer switch to maintain critical temps in a reptile enclosure.

A quality thermostat (on/off OR proportional) is the BEST investment you'll ever make for your reptiles.

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Did you not read that I said I already have thermostat? The argument your posing makes no sense to what I actually said.
You need to read things better before you try to formulate a response.

Theres just so much wrong with your first sentence I'm not even going to pick it apart and show you what you're looking at bass ackwards.

I maintain a hotspot of 92-93 with ambient temperatures of 77-83 All year round. I don't know what kind of houses you lived in, if you have so much trouble keeping ambient temperatures. Ambient temperatures are not an issue for me whatsoever.

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Moving forward.

I've already got the answer I've been looking for. What I want to be done can be achieved(though it may not be as consistent as needed) . I've already got a few strips hooked up in parallel connected to a dimmer. Im going to be taking readings from it for a couple weeks checking how consistent each strip is staying heated. If it passes that test. I'm going to end up using it (even if failure rate with dimmers is higher) cause if my dimmer fails, the strips will go full power and my T-stat will just shut everything down.

If readings arn't consistent when hooked up to a dimmer, there's no point of using this method. And I will use standalone t-stat with the heat tape.

The biggest issue with what you are planning is choosing a Max level that will deliver the power you need when the temp drops. The newest comparison tests done between flexwatt and thg show flexwatt running lower temps. Why use the new tape if you are going to limit it?

I would suggest a failsafe t stat it will account for the ambient air temps as well and completely kill power In a failure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

The biggest issue with what you are planning is choosing a Max level that will deliver the power you need when the temp drops. The newest comparison tests done between flexwatt and thg show flexwatt running lower temps. Why use the new tape if you are going to limit it?

I would suggest a failsafe t stat it will account for the ambient air temps as well and completely kill power In a failure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I understand what you're saying about flex vs THG. Even though flexwatt runs at a lower temperature, if you look at the infared pictures, its is not as consistent all around as the THG heat tape(flex will have cooler/warmer portions). It also is more consistent from each parallel strip to the next. It seems to evenly use the electricity between all the heat tape in the parallel. That is my reasoning behind using THG over flex. Because either way, its going to be limited by t-stat or dimmer.

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Originally Posted by seang89

Did you not read that I said I already have thermostat? The argument your posing makes no sense to what I actually said.
You need to read things better before you try to formulate a response.

Theres just so much wrong with your first sentence I'm not even going to pick it apart and show you what you're looking at bass ackwards.

I maintain a hotspot of 92-93 with ambient temperatures of 77-83 All year round. I don't know what kind of houses you lived in, if you have so much trouble keeping ambient temperatures. Ambient temperatures are not an issue for me whatsoever.

----------------
Moving forward.

I've already got the answer I've been looking for. What I want to be done can be achieved(though it may not be as consistent as needed) . I've already got a few strips hooked up in parallel connected to a dimmer. Im going to be taking readings from it for a couple weeks checking how consistent each strip is staying heated. If it passes that test. I'm going to end up using it (even if failure rate with dimmers is higher) cause if my dimmer fails, the strips will go full power and my T-stat will just shut everything down.

If readings arn't consistent when hooked up to a dimmer, there's no point of using this method. And I will use standalone t-stat with the heat tape.

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Pardon? JLC's response makes complete sense. You saying you have a steady ambient temp of 77-83 makes no sense whatsoever. That is not a steady temperature AT ALL. That is 6 degrees of variance.

I still simply do not understand why you want to use a dimmer when proportional thermostats are far superior and work better. And they won't burn out. It's what they were designed to do. You know those thermostats mounted on your wall in your house? Yeah....those are thermostats. How long have they been there? Probably since the house was built.

Anyways. Readings WON'T be consistent when hooked up to a dimmer so you might as well just skip that and go straight to the Herpstat or VE thermostat or whatever it is you have, and then get a cheap on/off type thermostat such as the ReptiTemp 500R to use as a backup in case your main thermostat fails.

7 degrees of variance I mean

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Originally Posted by SquamishSerpents

Pardon? JLC's response makes complete sense. You saying you have a steady ambient temp of 77-83 makes no sense whatsoever. That is not a steady temperature AT ALL. That is 6 degrees of variance.

I still simply do not understand why you want to use a dimmer when proportional thermostats are far superior and work better. And they won't burn out. It's what they were designed to do. You know those thermostats mounted on your wall in your house? Yeah....those are thermostats. How long have they been there? Probably since the house was built.

Anyways. Readings WON'T be consistent when hooked up to a dimmer so you might as well just skip that and go straight to the Herpstat or VE thermostat or whatever it is you have, and then get a cheap on/off type thermostat such as the ReptiTemp 500R to use as a backup in case your main thermostat fails.

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Ugh, is this a circle jerk or what?

Lets break it down then, even though I didn't want to.

Your argument that the t-stat would turn on and off so frequently to maintain proper temps pretty much cancels out your argument that your ambient temps stay steady and therefore a dimmer switch should work

First of all, JLC starts talking about ambient temperatures, nowhere did I mention ambient temperature being my concern. So that almost completely disregards that whole sentence as non-issue.

But lets break it down further so the thicker boned people will understand.

I attach THG to a traditional t-stat. I place the t-stats probe, on the substrate of the enclosure over the heated portion of enclosure. Heat tape heats up to get the substrate to 92 degress. Then shuts off completely. Now with the heat turned off completely, it isn't going to maintain that temperature of 92 very long. As soon as it drops below 89-90(whatever i choose) it will engage again until it hits desired temps.

Adding a dimmer is to limit the heat tape to get it to achieve a temperature of 92 consistently (with minimal intervention of a t-stat)

See how this has nothing to do with ambient temperature? maybe not, but I can't help you anymore.

My ambient temperatures are nowhere near an issue, so don't try to make it one. These snakes endure *nearly* freezing nighttime temperatures in their burrows, and up to the 100's during the day ambient temperatures. They've lived for a few million years under these types of climates. My 76-83 are minimum and maximum ambient temperature readings, It usually reads 78-79 almost all the time. Steady enough for me and my ball pythons for 7 years now. Without a single issue. Thanks though.

I shouldn't have to explain this, should I?
I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but at least I tried.

If you don't understand what someone is talking about, you can opt to not chime in. That's usually the best choice.

Unfortunately ambient temps do factor in. Even slight differences in ambient affect you main heat source. Your 92 wi shoot up a few degrees. I have done this myself. Now maybe your experience will be different than mine but when my room temp went up 3-4 degrees my primary heat source shot up 5-6 degrees. Now it didn't hurt my BP but if I fixing adjust it 2-3 times daily it would have peaked at what most consider unacceptable temps (96-100). It also dropped too low IMO at times.

Honestly after two weeks of running a dimmer I was so tired of adjusting it I was dying for my Herpstat to arrive.

We aren't trying to argue just help you through what we have already done. You are more than welcome to try out your dimmer.

I agree with the others because it works. Use a tstat to control you main heat source so it is always perfect. You ambients are fine and will continue to be fine. Now personally like the dimming style of tstat (proportional/ pulse proportional) like Herpstat and VE.

If you want a failsafe

1) use your tstat as it was designed and use a dimmer set for more power than needed to allow some breathing room for the tstat but stop your heat tape from running 100% in the case if tstat failure.

2) the best choice. Use a Herpstat to control your heat and use your existing on/off tstat as the fail safe. Set it at 95 or so.


You did ask for advise and many have offered it. If you don't like the answers you are free to do what you intended to in the first place. Nobody is stopping you. Please post your findings after. Month or two and let us know how it worked out. Maybe your room is stable enough the dimmer will work. Maybe you will have large temp swings. You won't know for sure until you test it in your house. Breeders have extremely controlled rooms and still have to use tstats not dimmers on the heat tape. Something to consider.

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Lol sorry for the novel. My posts are always too big.