New rack questions

I just got a 5 tub 28 qt melamine rack yesterday. I can't seem to get the temps right. I have my helix set at 107. My accurate probe is on the flex watt(backheat) and my accurite says 92? The back wall of the tub is only hitting about 86. My helix only goes to 110, I'm not sure what to do?

The room is at a steady 70 degrees

The room is really cold, racks do much better in rooms at least 75 and preferably closer to 80.

Where is the helix probe?

I don't really have anywhere else to put it right now til I move next month. The helix is on the middle shelf, 3rd one. I'm using 11 inch flex watt. The back is pegboard. Anyway I could better insulate it?

You can get a piece of hard foam to place along the back on the outside of the pegboard.

Ok. Would I get that at lowes? And do I glue it on?

yes, you can get it at loses... no I wouldn't glue it. nails or screws would be much better.

So the probe is attached to the 11" flexwatt correct?

if so you could try putting the helix's probe into one of the tubs (set the Helix to 90) and see if the flexwatt is even capable of heating the tub. back heat is hard even in warmer rooms. belly heat is far more efficient at transferring heat.

The back of my racks are covered with aluminum insulation wrap, works very well in my setup. The base of my racks are also insulated with R7 Foam board which drastically helped raising the temps. Those two things along with a regulated space heater should help you along.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

yes, you can get it at loses... no I wouldn't glue it. nails or screws would be much better.

So the probe is attached to the 11" flexwatt correct?

if so you could try putting the helix's probe into one of the tubs (set the Helix to 90) and see if the flexwatt is even capable of heating the tub. back heat is hard even in warmer rooms. belly heat is far more efficient at transferring heat.

---

Thanks I will try the helix in a tub. Only 2 will be used when temps are right

Set probe in back of tub with helix at 90. The helix never hit 90, says 83 on screen. Could the flex watt be bad? A bad connection? So confused

When you had the probe on the flexwatt and the thermostat set above 100 how hot did the flexwatt get?

The helix said 100. I gotta be losing all the heat somehow

my guess is that back heated rack (which is very inefficient at transferring heat compared to belly heat racks) + cool room = tubs not getting hot enough.

If you can't get this figured out would it be possible to reconfigure the rack into a belly heat rack?

I just built a new rack because our old malamine one had back heat and to put it bluntly, it sucked balls (pun intended). We were having the same problem. Thermostat was set to 108 and the back of the tubs were barely getting to 90. Keep in mind that was only the back of the tub, not the ambiant temps. Belly heat keeps the hotspot more in the tub so the snake can place more of itself on the heat and since the flexwatt is closer to the tub there is way less heat loss. Therefor the ambiant temp in the tubs gets better as well. If its possible, I would order some flexwatt and rig our rack up to use belly heat and you will not regret it.

I'm going to pick up a piece of foam board tomorrow and see how that works. In my new house the rack will be in a walk in closet so should be nice and warm. My house now is insulated as good as a barn lol, which is the main reason I'm moving. $600 heat bills a month aren't fun

Also would mini blinds on the front hold heat too? Probably not too much

Not a noticeable amount

You could also get a oil filled space heater to heat the room.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

I nailed a piece of linoleum on the back. It's working great. My helix is at 100 and warm spot is steady 91

I use 1/2 blue foam insulation on the sides and TOP and bottom of the rack. I test the snot out of everything and I found that adding to the top helped a fair bit more than the back alone. I would expect that is something you should plan on as well. I hear your power bill I used to heat the room and 1000$ a month was not reasonable. I have added 5 snakes since than and have the bill down to 100$ a month. In the long run the extra measures I took paid for them selves in a couple of months.

Wow 1000 a month is nuts. My problem is my oil bill, not electric. Hopefully this new place treats my wallet better

I have a similar setup and had same issue. I picked up a small space heater at target and set it to 80.

That did the trick for me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mitchball519

Wow 1000 a month is nuts. My problem is my oil bill, not electric. Hopefully this new place treats my wallet better

---

Old house with little bags of seaweed in the walls as insulation. :mad: Slowly but surely that is changing...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kitedemon

Old house with little bags of seaweed in the walls as insulation. :mad: Slowly but surely that is changing...

---

wtf dont you live in canada? How do you survive winters???