Can you buy in?

Would you just place the probe in the middle of the room? Leave the heaters setting on medium and let the T stat just cycle it on and off?

Here's how I keep my snake room. The Ranco thermostat is set to 78, so it never falls below that ever, but it's getting to the time of year where the heater never runs at all here in AZ. I keep the heater's own thermostat turned barely above the point where if the Ranco fails, it won't get too warm. I circled where I have the probe for the Ranco placed.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...RoomHeater.jpg

When I get my own house I plan on going back to ambient only temps. It's just going to be less of a fire risk with all the snakes and enclosures I plan on having.

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Originally Posted by Marrissa

When I get my own house I plan on going back to ambient only temps. It's just going to be less of a fire risk with all the snakes and enclosures I plan on having.

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One heater in a room only allows for two points of failure, the heating element and the thermostat. Having a bunch of little heaters makes it harder to control the ambient temp of the entire room and offers many points of failure.

Someone is more likely to inspect one or two pieces of hardware than go through and inspect 10 different pads and thermostats.

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

Here's how I keep my snake room. The Ranco thermostat is set to 78, so it never falls below that ever, but it's getting to the time of year where the heater never runs at all here in AZ. I keep the heater's own thermostat turned barely above the point where if the Ranco fails, it won't get too warm. I circled where I have the probe for the Ranco placed.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...RoomHeater.jpg

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Eric this picture is super helpful. This is exactly how I envisioned this in my mind. So are all your racks unheated themselves? No heat tape or heat wire?

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Eric this picture is super helpful. This is exactly how I envisioned this in my mind. So are all your racks unheated themselves? No heat tape or heat wire?

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Nah - they all have 3" heat tape. I'm still in the "I like to give my collection options" camp. It's what works for me. ;)

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

So how would one heat a snake room safely full time, without having to worry about a space heater burning out and causing a fire?

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You are already in this boat if you have heat mats or tape. ;)

He does say that he's not calling for everyone to up and change everything just because that's what he does.

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

You are already in this boat if you have heat mats or tape. ;)

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Yeah, see thats what I was just thinking. I like the idea you had about the oil based heater. After reading reviews it seems to be the best option. I really want to move over to the ambient only practice. I feel like having one central heater, rather than yards and yards of heat tape, connectors and multiple thermostats is safer.

Any thoughts?

The power draw on these radiant heaters seems pretty high compared to the draw with heat tape/mats. Anyone using them see a drastic increase in their electric bill?