heater ?

Just picked up a oil filled heater with a built in t-stat..man this thing came with so many warnings...anyway the t-stat has a cheesy little dial ..should i hook it up to my own t-stat cause i have an extra 1 hanging around if so where would i put the prob...sorry one more ? should i run it all the time or just at night..thanks

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Originally Posted by Marc from CT

Just picked up a oil filled heater with a built in t-stat..man this thing came with so many warnings...anyway the t-stat has a cheesy little dial ..should i hook it up to my own t-stat cause i have an extra 1 hanging around if so where would i put the prob...sorry one more ? should i run it all the time or just at night..thanks

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Haven't seen that one before. Are you just trying to get the entire room one temperature? How would you provide warm/cool sides to the snake enclosures so that they can regulate their own body temps?

yes the whole room my snakes are in a rack on heat tape..my room temp as of around 68 maybe low 70s in the day and it only gonna start getting colder..so yes trying to get ready 4 winter

I have my oil-filled heater on a t-stat with the probe hanging freely (about 1 foot down) from the ceiling in the center of the room. It isn't the prettiest thing but does the trick. I definitely understand vamping up for the winter. I live in a 100 year old house on top of a mountain with no heat (we heat with wood) so keeping accurate and steady room temps are important. I keep mine at around 75 degrees in order to maintain proper 2 sided temps. Just make sure you keep the heater at least 5 feet from the cages. They def put out some heat.

I use an oil filled heater and I just use it as it came. Works fine, just have a thermometer dedicated for the room temp. and go from there. You will have to play with it to get it to the temp. you want. I see lots of people use the same style of heater.
Sorry, didn't read the last question. If you plan on cooling down for breeding than you might turn it down or just shut off. They have a heavy duty timer that you should be able to plug the heater into.

Yes you can run the heater with the thermostat, but there are some things to consider. You will need to know what the wattage handling capability of the thermostat is. On my oil filled heater there is a 3 positioned switch marked I-II-III, which amounts to Low-Med-High. This switch determines how fast the heater will heat up by using different wattages. For my heater, Low= 300 Watts, Med= 600 Watts, and High= 1500 Watts. I am using a Ranco thermostat which is rated at 1500 Watts. However, the Ranco and Johnson's that are pre-wired with a power strip can only handle 700 Watts due to the built-in protection cicuit in the power strip. I modified mine by removing the power strip and wiring in a heavy duty extension cord. So, depending on what type of thermostat you are using will determine what position you need to put the heater switch in. I set the built in heater thermostat pretty high so that it doesn't over-ride the other thermostat. As far as where to put the probe and t-stat, I did just have the probe mounted next to the tubs, but I got tired of looking at everything on the floor so, I basically mounted it all to a spare piece of melamine I had and the probe is about the same average height as my tubs. Here are some photo's:

What it did look like...

http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...s/HPIM0630.jpg

Using a spare piece of melamine from my garage, I added 2 screws and a few hooks to the front and 2 hinged brackets to the back, all from this assorted picture hanging kit I have...

http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...s/HPIM0632.jpg
http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...s/HPIM0635.jpg

Then, I just hung everything on the board and used a zip tie and the hinge brackets on the back to secure it to a desk I have in the snake room so it won't fall over...

http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...s/HPIM0637.jpg
http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...s/HPIM0643.jpg

Hope this helps...

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

Yes you can run the heater with the thermostat, but there are some things to consider. You will need to know what the wattage handling capability of the thermostat is. On my oil filled heater there is a 3 positioned switch marked I-II-III, which amounts to Low-Med-High. This switch determines how fast the heater will heat up by using different wattages. For my heater, Low= 300 Watts, Med= 600 Watts, and High= 1500 Watts. I am using a Ranco thermostat which is rated at 1500 Watts. However, the Ranco and Johnson's that are pre-wired with a power strip can only handle 700 Watts due to the built-in protection cicuit in the power strip. I modified mine by removing the power strip and wiring in a heavy duty extension cord. So, depending on what type of thermostat you are using will determine what position you need to put the heater switch in. I set the built in heater thermostat pretty high so that it doesn't over-ride the other thermostat. As far as where to put the probe and t-stat, I did just have the probe mounted next to the tubs, but I got tired of looking at everything on the floor so, I basically mounted it all to a spare piece of melamine I had and the probe is about the same average height as my tubs. Here are some photo's:

What it did look like...

http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...s/HPIM0630.jpg

Using a spare piece of melamine from my garage, I added 2 screws and a few hooks to the front and 2 hinged brackets to the back, all from this assorted picture hanging kit I have...

http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...s/HPIM0632.jpg
http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...s/HPIM0635.jpg

Then, I just hung everything on the board and used a zip tie and the hinge brackets on the back to secure it to a desk I have in the snake room so it won't fall over...

http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...s/HPIM0637.jpg
http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/...s/HPIM0643.jpg

Hope this helps...

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What's the brand of your heater?

its a comfort zone oil filled raditor its kinda looks like your ...low 500 watts med 700 watts and high 1200 watts thanks for the pics

If you can get that set up to work right check out this heater with digital thermostat.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ef=oss_product

I recently picked up this heater for my snake room. The thermostat it comes with works good with about a 3 degree swing.

I have the heater set to 77 degrees 24/7.

This is the one i use and its built in digital thermostat with low,med,high modes.

Been running on its built in t-stat for 3 years now no problems.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

I understand why the OP has a heater, but why so many of you others? Is it in case the heat tape (or whatever you use) fails, or to save money on gas/electricity, or something else?

its to maintain room temps to be stable which gives a consistent cool side temp as well. Which in turn helps stop thermostats from working non stop up and down from cool rooms.

No other way to keep a 80F room without a heater unless you want entire house 80 from furnace.

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

its to maintain room temps to be stable which gives a consistent cool side temp as well. Which in turn helps stop thermostats from working non stop up and down from cool rooms.

No other way to keep a 80F room without a heater unless you want entire house 80 from furnace.

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God... I still have so much to learn. I kind of assumed that the 90 deg hot spot would force the ambient temp of the rest of the tubs to 80 deg or so.

My hatchling rack should be here today, so I'll find out soon I guess.

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Originally Posted by spitzu

God... I still have so much to learn. I kind of assumed that the 90 deg hot spot would force the ambient temp of the rest of the tubs to 80 deg or so.

My hatchling rack should be here today, so I'll find out soon I guess.

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it may bump it up a few degrees inside the tub but thats about it.

If ur room were to drop to lets say 60 deg ur tubs would be like 62 deg maybe. Still too cold even with a hotspot

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Originally Posted by f4n70m

it may bump it up a few degrees inside the tub but thats about it.

If ur room were to drop to lets say 60 deg ur tubs would be like 62 deg maybe. Still too cold even with a hotspot

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Thanks. I guess I have yet another item to purchase! Gah!

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Originally Posted by spitzu

Thanks. I guess I have yet another item to purchase! Gah!

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My rooms been 77-80 during the day 73 has been the lowest its gotten during night in the house. Here soon i may need to start kicking on my heater.

Its something u may need if it gets too cold in ur room