Rack temp problems!

Ok I bought a rack and got 3 snakes off of someone on craigslist. Its a 6 tub 28qt or 12 tub 15 qt. The heat tape weaves through and its plugged into a thermastat. But not a digital one its a cheap ZOOmed one that has the dimmer switch on it.

this is what i sent the guy who sold it to me any ideas will help! thanks!

Hey mike,

I seem to be having a problem with the temperature on the rack. Its set and the temp is around 88 to 90, then the light goes green and all of a sudden the temp skyrockets to 120-150 and even got to 200. (im checking with my tempgun) Idk how to get it to stay at the same temp. The probe is being held down by the foil tape peeled some extra off side and its touching the flexwat tape. Just wondering for any ideas?

i really suggest you buy a good thermostat . there are a few good ones like herpstat ,helix or ranco. i would not trust one of those zoo med dimmers with my snakes .

can you link what you suggest please? I will overnight ship it.. i dont want to trust this either :( But i need the rack cuz i dont have the room for the snakes if I dont use the rack!

i used a zoomed repti-temp 500r for a long time and didnt have any issues.

http://www.spyderrobotics.com/products/herpstat.html

check these out, they work great

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Originally Posted by mpkeelee

i used a zoomed repti-temp 500r for a long time and didnt have any issues.

http://www.spyderrobotics.com/products/herpstat.html

check these out, they work great

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thats what i have. He called me after the email and told me to put the probe in the tub with the snake on the tub. he said the heat tape heat is so sporadic it wont get a proper reading. He said once i get those temps right with probe in tub it will be fine! thoughts?

Yes its worth the money to put into a good tstat.

the probe shoulg go directly on the heat tape.not inside the tub

i dont understand why the heat tape was freaking out and temps were going crazy then while it was on there?!?!?!?

For your own snakes safety I suggest you buy a new thermostat and fix the flexwatt wiring. You're going to burn your snakes if it randomly super heats like that. Not a good idea.

Regards,

B

you think i should buy new heat tape? And rewire it from scratch?

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Originally Posted by bdevo

you think i should buy new heat tape? And rewire it from scratch?

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buy new everything and do it from scratch yes. Dont take your chances.

Room temp, probe, thermostat and rack itself are all the problems with racks. Racks suck unless you built 1 urself. My $0.2. I say this because I set my thermostat at 112-113 just to get a 88-91.4 in the tubs.

thanks everyone I ordered a helix herpstat and its overnight delivery for 60 bucks... (just for delivery. Also ordered some new heat tape hopefully get that soon then everything hopefully will be dandy!! thanks again everyone

Brandon

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Originally Posted by bdevo

thanks everyone I ordered a helix herpstat and its overnight delivery for 60 bucks... (just for delivery. Also ordered some new heat tape hopefully get that soon then everything hopefully will be dandy!! thanks again everyone

Brandon

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So which one did you buy, Helix or Herpstat?