What cheap thermostat do you recommend?

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Originally Posted by decensored

I never recommend cheep thermostats. Period.

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Second that. For the peace of mind and ease of use, spend the money and buy a quality unit. Helix isn't bad for quality, although the features are a bit annoying in terms of setting the temp. I have both a Helix and a Herpstat and would far and above recommend the Herpstat if you're going to spend the money. Just my two cents. Good luck, whatever you decide!

As stated nothing is fool proof.

my experience with thermostats both with snakes and in my professional life leads me to this.

this is about stable temps to me the first task it to get perfectly stable then you have control not the elements and if you decided to night drop you chose when and how much.

Rheostats work perfectly in a room that does not change temps at all. Perfectly stable ambient temps give perfectly stable rack temps. If the room changes the rack changes with it. The failure rate is very very small especially if it is set and left.

On/off types (all of them) generate very good temps when you do not have direct het ( the heater attached directly on the enclosure like commercial peal and stick UTHs) or the enclosure has great thermal mass (glass tank) The second thing that is needed is not too cool room conditions. In cool rooms (more than ten degrees off the set point) the probe being slower to respond often leads to over and under shoots and under the right (or exactly wrong) conditions that can be a 20 degree shift ten or more over or ten or more lower. The on off types do best in semi controlled rooms that are around 80º and don't get cooler than 75ºF if you are running a 90ºF set point. The failure rate is more than rheostats but still very small.

Proportional thermostats work in all conditions and don't really have many situations where they do not deliver the set point temp to the probe (if the probe is on the heat tamp it will not be the same temp in the tub as on the tape itself.) The limitations are the heat source if the set point is beyond the output of the heat tape no thermostat will get there. They have a higher failure rate but also have more safety circuits to shut down the unit in the case of a failure.

I like to use proportional units as they are simply more versatile tools, incubator down the road? I have it. Moving to a new place and the room is really draft no problem. You see my point. I can't tell you what your room conditions are but my room is draft and changes with the wind. I used to try to heat the whole room (500$ a month in power bill later) I needed 2 1000w heaters to get it to 80ºF Now I use local heat so I have cool side and hot side heaters and dual t-stats and a well insulated rack. Works for me. (and 30$ a month power...) In my case the herpstat pro paid for its self (and the 17" flexwatt and effort) in the first month. Again my experience.

Thermostats are odd tools and temperamental all of them. my home one generates huge unevenness heat come on it gets too hot heat goes off it gets too cool heat comes on...

I agree with the probe in a rack should be on the heat source directly. It makes temps a bit more unstable (room rooms make this much more complicated why most racks are in 80ºF rooms) but the constant opening and closing is more likely to stress wires and make cleaning more of a pain that racks already are. I find the rack harder to clean than any thing else. It is the only thing you have to lay on your back on the floor and bash your elbows and worrying about getting electrical connections wet while you do it. :rage: hate it. If I had the room it would be gone in a second.

Interior mounted probes are fine for enclosures where you are not always moving the wire around. In any thermostat system the probe MUST NEVER move it MUST be SECURE! I also always recommend with a rack especially a failsafe thermostat as any failure in that system can result in the death of all the animals in the rack. Failsafe thermostats will double the protection.

Racks systems are expensive power heating animals inside than and set up costs. They save space big time but that is about all. they spend power like crazy. If you cannot afford spending more than 40$ on a thermostat perhaps you might want to look at some other system to house animals? Unless you have a really warm room somewhere they really do need a room that is 77-82ºF year round. That is an expensive task depending on where and what kind of heat you have.

Nice run down, Kite. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I couldn't agree more about your statement regarding a cool room. Thermostats and Flexwatt were never intended to warm an enclosure that sits in a 65 degree room.

I have a Ranco and a Vivarium 300 both seem to work great in a 72f room and keep temp well. I like the vivarium better easier to use and setup but both are working great. When I move to a custome built enclosure for my snakes the Viv will be my primary tstat the ranco will be my backup just my :2cent: but i thought I would share the info
Robie

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Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh

Uh, Warning! This is completely and totally wrong. Ask any profesional rack manufacturor and they will all tell you the same thing... the probe should be taped directly onto the flexwatt (heat tape) ONLY.

Why? In many racks if the flexwatt is allowed to get to full temperature for even a short period of time, It can melt / damage / destroy the rack.

Lets say one day during the winter your power cuts out. The room and rack temperature drops to 60 degrees. You have your probe in the tub and not on the flexwatt.

Power cuts back on and your thermostat turns the flexwatt on 100%. It is VERY possible that the flexwatt will be running at 100% long enough to melt / damage / destroy the rack before the inside of the tub gets to temperature.

The WORST place you can put the probe is inside the tub. What do you think will happen if the probe is damaged in some way by the snake? What if he somehow gets caught on it and loosens the connection while you are on vaction? What if he spills his entire fresh water bown on it causing it to fail as you head to work for the day? What if a rat you throw in there gets one bite on the cord in the 5 seconds it is in there prior to getting struck then you go to bed for the night having no way of knowing the probe isn't working any more?

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I did call the manufacturor. They said they could send new tape but I would have to be charged for it? That it wasn't covered even though thats what is sent with the racks. Believe me, I was really concerned when I smelled the burned plastic. That is the first thing I did was call. So she said to tape the probe. Some people don't know especially when the manufacturor is the one that told them to do it. I agree about the power out/on but I don't work and that is probably what saved them in the first place and I would never ever put a live rat in their homing cage unsupervised......I had a rescue someone did that to and he had over 2/3foot of scarring from where a rat ate him. So alot of those things you are asking if I thought about, NO cause I don't do them.....

I've learned with any advice regarding accuracy for anything, I take Kite's over anyone's lol. Like everyone has said, it's a personal preference and what you're comfortable with. I do use a couple hydrofarms, but I also own a Johnsons and a Herpstat. The herpstat being my favorite and the one I'm most comfortable using, however the Johnsons is just as good for an on/off for less money. The hydrofarms are good for me while I save up money for better ones. A 3 degree difference for an on/off IMO is not a huge deal, since mine's set for 90 degrees inside the tub, 93 degrees or 87 degrees doesn't make a huge difference for me. However, I will be buying better thermostats to replace them in the future.

I'm not sure why this thread was started in morphs and genetics, so I've moved it to Husbandry.

I do want to make one comment. It is NEVER recommended to use tape INSIDE the enclosure where it can become stuck to your critter. Heat plus tape = loosened tape that sticks to your animal and tears their skin. NEVER use tape inside the enclosure - it just won't end well.

Ummm im confused. Am i reading this right? Put the probe directlly in the heat tape? Heat tape warms up to 115 degrees plus when it cycles on so it would never keep tubs at temps and constantly cutting on and off

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Originally Posted by snake lab

Ummm im confused. Am i reading this right? Put the probe directlly in the heat tape? Heat tape warms up to 115 degrees plus when it cycles on so it would never keep tubs at temps and constantly cutting on and off

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I had that question myself. I thought the probe went in the tub, but was secured to the outside of the tub. I have holes in my tubs right at the bottom where I put the probe through to rest right inside the tub, and then secure it to the outside of the tub with tape.

All my racks have the probe on the top underneath of the middle drawer in each rack. I use a router to make the channel and then cover it with clear packing tape. My stat always sits on 89 and every tub sits at 89 to 90 in the back of the tubs. I have never had nor seen 11 inch flexwatt burn or melt anything. Now if your using smaller flexwatt that has to work too hard on inadequate setups then i could see stuff happening.