100% back heated stack

I figure Id post this since this isn't a typical setup.

I've toyed around with a lot of different rack designs and placement of heat. I think I finally found what I like the best. The difference between back heat and belly heat never matter to me when I was using newspaper. When I switched to cypress, I found I had to turn the heat up to get 90 degrees on the cypress, but under it was 100+. Back heated I can easily get a 90 degree hotspot without having to turn up the heat tape too much. So I've discovered this, I've been slowly switching to back heated racks.

Another thing that didn't work out for me was single stack racks that are 6+ feet tall, even with a fan going in the room, I would have atleast a 5-6 degree difference between top and bottom of the room, which by no means is the end of the world, but hotter or colder days in the house might lead to unwanted temps.... so my solution was to spread out tubs on the same thermostat along the wall. I now have 4 rows of 41qt, 3 rows of 28qt, 3 rows of 6qt, and a 2 row (soon to be replaced by a 4 row) of 6qt. Now the thermostats control tubs that are closer to the same elevation in the room, making my temps way easier to control. Used the empty back part of the 28qt to mount the thermostats.

As for the design, I build mine a little different, from what I typically see. all my sides, back, and support pieces are cut to the height I need for the tubs, so its just a piece the size of the rack, put the sides,back, and supports on. wire heat tape, set the next row on top. Everything just stacks on top of the other.

I build it enclosed and it works out quite well, I only have a couple snakes that require a hide, the rest don't need it. With a water bowl sitting up front, it appears to be enough for majority of them to feel secure and eat like I want them to.

6qt and 28qt have heat tape running along the back, the 41qt run along the back and a foot along the side of the tub. I just felt like the bigger snakes could use a bigger hot spot.

So that's where I'm at now and so far It's working out great.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...9206760438.jpg

Awesome. I'm so impressed with a lot if the home made rack systems I've been seeing. I very much want to try making one but I'm somewhat intimidated by the idea. Some day I'll have to man (woman?) up and do it.

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Originally Posted by Coleslaw007

Awesome. I'm so impressed with a lot if the home made rack systems I've been seeing. I very much want to try making one but I'm somewhat intimidated by the idea. Some day I'll have to man (woman?) up and do it.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

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just a bookshelf for tiny books and some heat, nothing you need to be intimidated by :)

Very Cool.

I use back heat racks and am very happy with them. Took a little bit of tinkering with them, but they work great.

Just have to keep the ambient air temp in the room stable and you are good to go.

Very cool! And thanks for the info you put into that post, that makes a lot of sense and gave me some points to ponder when I order or build my next rack.

Very nice rack! :O I had been planning on building another this weekend similiar to the AP economy rack. I had already planned on casters but when I went to Wal Mart yesterday I couldn't find any tubs I liked. Now instead I may get IRIS tubs online and wait until next weekend to build. Since I am using casters I may go more of an enclosed build again. I really like the idea of splitting zone temperatures so may have to look into that also.

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Originally Posted by BPLuvr

Very nice rack! :O I had been planning on building another this weekend similiar to the AP economy rack. I had already planned on casters but when I went to Wal Mart yesterday I couldn't find any tubs I liked. Now instead I may get IRIS tubs online and wait until next weekend to build. Since I am using casters I may go more of an enclosed build again. I really like the idea of splitting zone temperatures so may have to look into that also.

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I use sterlite clears (ones with the normal pop on lid) I normally get them from target. home depot and meijers has them also, but doesn't seem to carry as many as target for some reason. I think a store by me called bed bath and beyond carries the iris tubs, not sure where else might. So if there one by you, check it out.

Made out of melamine or something else...?

That looks proooo-fesional. I wish i lived near detroit so you could build me one. :(

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Made out of melamine or something else...?

That looks proooo-fesional. I wish i lived near detroit so you could build me one. :(

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yup melamine and thanks

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

I think a store by me called bed bath and beyond carries the iris tubs, not sure where else might.

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the beyond section...that's where they keep the coffee mugs...:D

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Originally Posted by sho220

the beyond section...that's where they keep the coffee mugs...:D

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gotta love family guy :D

Thanks for sharing! I really want to switch to back heat for that same reason--I much prefer using a substrate other than paper. My only issue is getting a dedicated space to be able to heat.

Awesome set up!
Love how organized it looks.

Thanks for sharing!:gj:

I recently built a rack out of plywood that I painted and sealed. It is a vertical stack that is 6 foot tall with 11 tubs. It uses back heat with flexwatt that was a little too long so that I could run some under the bottom tub. I am running into the same problem that you spoke of about the temperatures varying from shelf to shelf. Unfortunately the top tub is 91 degrees and the 3rd one from the bottom is 75. I'm currently trying all sorts of ways to fix this with insulation board on the side and drilling extra holes near the top to help cool off the top few tubs. If you have any suggestions to fix that please let me know.

I saw the rack that you build and am very impressed. I will build another rack soon and use a design much like yours. My question to you is how did you attach the vertical boards between the tubs. Did you just screw from the top board into the side of the divider? or did you use some kind of bracket. Also about how much did all of the melamine cost for this?
Thank you,
Colby

I think the biggest thing that would help is moving air around the room, get a fan in there so you don't just have heat rising and staying up there.

I make my rows by cutting out the bottom piece, screw the sides/back/supports to the bottom, wire the heat tape and put it in, leaving enough wire to make it to the next row. Then I build the next row the same way, with a hole in the bottom for the wires from the heat tape below to come up. I fish the wires through the hole and glue the row on top of the bottom row, I use liquid nails for this. I wire the flexwatt together, go onto the next row, repeat for as many rows as I need. The top row gets a cord to plug in the thermostat out the back. Then screw a top on and I'm done.

I think melamine is 37 bucks a sheet now by me. I think when I built my first rack it was only 25 bucks a sheet. I really don't know how many sheets it took, I didn't build them all at the same time. If I had to guess Id say somewhere around 7 sheets for all of it.

I would like to see more pics.
What size heat tape are you using?

3 inch heat tape on all of it, ill see if i can grab some more pics after work.

Side
http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9d8f0119.jpg

Back, Power for heat tape and probes for thermostats
http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0f1a4c78.jpg

Back heat
http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/...ps30fa53b8.jpg

Heat tape connection, solder with liquid electrical tape
http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/...psaf2a8e27.jpg

Supports
http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/...ps13fd17c5.jpg

Back of my thermostat mount
http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/...psbf07ea65.jpg

That's an awesome setup!
Thanks for posting the extra pics.

Very nice! The extra pics were a great idea. This type of setup would work in our space much better than a vertically oriented one