THG Heat Tape

I would like to hear from breeders / keepers who switched from the old style heat tape to the new thg heat tape. My big issue with the old style is how inconsistence it is with heating a rack system.
this past weekend I spoke to a vendor at the local show (he wasn't selling this product) who first tested it, and now is in the process of changing out all of his heat tape. I'm considering doing the same. would like to hear some opinions on it first. please state if you have this product or just stating something you heard or read. thanks don

It is more consistent, and I think it's a much better product overall, I certainly would recommend it over flexwatt at this point.

Its a good product. I initially ordered enough for my QT rack to test it out, then I decided to get more to replace the flexwatt on my AP cages. Overall I don't regret switching over, but don't expect anything revolutionary.

I had been using flexwatt for multiple years and it wasn't keeping temps even and consistent. I thought it was just getting faulty, and bought some new stuff. Turns out the new stuff was THG heat tape. Been working 100% A++

Basically what Aaron said. I have one rack with flex watt and one with THG. New stuff is better in every way.

I have trashed all of the crappy flexwatt and completely replaced everything with THG Heat Tape.

A+ in my book.

Flexwatt gave me a couple sick animals from their inconsistent temperatures over the years... which really sucked. THG is the :banana:

http://www.reptileradio.net/reptile-...heat-tape.html

THG was designed for herp keeping..... Flexwatt isn't.

/thread

Where can I find out more about THG ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rcjgm5

Where can I find out more about THG ?

---

http://thgheat.com/faq/

http://www.reptilebasics.com/heat-tape

Don, my 41 qt rack system is THG my other rack system is flexwatt. Honestly I haven't seen any difference. I will double check to make sure my 32qt rack is flexwatt and not THG. Both are also ran by Herpstat with same temp setting and checked daily with the same temp gun.

Also I wasn't sure on what side on the THG to put up, my OCD didn't like the copper strips being visilble not that it should matter what side when coming to heating but you never know.

THG Has not been out very long. For example, my Flexwatt gave perfectly consistent temps for over a year and now seems to have some hot spots and cool spots.

THG hasn't been out long enough for anyone to say it's immune to the same issue.

First impressions are that they're exactly the same thing and simply produced by a different manufacturer. The makers of Flexwatt claim they have a proprietary software that ensures the conductive material is applied with the greatest consistency possible. This could very well be smoke and mirrors. THG simply hasn't been out long enough to say that it is or is not equal or better at consistent temps.

One thing I will say though is that Rich at Reptile Basics is fantastic to work with. I was concerned about the THG tape fitting the recess in my Animal Plastics rack. Rich saw my post here on the thread and sent me a test strip of THG to fit it free of charge. I told him the wrong size tape... when I told him he sent me the right size the following day without hesitation. I'll use THG moving forward unless I hear horror stories simply because he's the kind of business owner that deserves my patronage.

I just order 40 feet of the 12" stuff for my juvi racks I got hands on with the stuff at the last Dixie Reptile show. From my observations the plastic coating is thicker which would make of a longer lived product. Also the preferred connection method is far superior to the old soldering method or even clips for flex watt. I've had to trash flex watt soldering it because the copper heated up so quick that it separated from the lasting coating and even the heat rails. I also order the double sided tape I've had problems with the aluminum tape to attach the flex-watt even shorting out if you get it to long. I'm really excited to get in the THG and give it a go. I've go 40 snakes that will be on it, if it does well I'm going to be switching over to it exclusively.

Thank you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

http://thgheat.com/faq/

http://www.reptilebasics.com/heat-tape

---

Thank you for the info.

We recently switched to the THG tape. Love it so far. Again, I cannot say enough good things about Rich at Reptile Basics. Any questions that we had, Rich answered right away.

I switched all my racks to THG. The RBI racks were a bit of a cuss-fest, but I got it done.

Love the new heat tape. Seems to be more even heating, and as mentioned above it's stouter than the old flexwatt.

I was right, about having flexwatt on one and my other rack is THG.

Ok so what I did was I turned up the AC and I let my snake room cool off until it hit 77 degrees. I then shut off power to both racks. Both racks are running on a herpstat 2.

Once the tubs was around room temperature I plugged them both back in to see which one would heat up the fastest and hold the correct temperature of 89.4 degrees. The flexwatt heated up the fastest the THG was about 25-30 minutes behind.

I then observed to see which one was not holding the heat the best. Honestly it's a tie for this. They both fluctuate at the same pace. I have the herpstat set on dim so when it would drop a lil it did seem like the THG took a lil bit of time to catch up.

This is what I observed I think both are even and the only down side to the THG from what I can see is it takes longer to heat up. I dont think THG is game breaking either, it's just another option. O and I've had my flexwatt plugged in for over 3 years.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Diamond Serpents

I was right, about having flexwatt on one and my other rack is THG.

Ok so what I did was I turned up the AC and I let my snake room cool off until it hit 77 degrees. I then shut off power to both racks. Both racks are running on a herpstat 2.

Once the tubs was around room temperature I plugged them both back in to see which one would heat up the fastest and hold the correct temperature of 89.4 degrees. The flexwatt heated up the fastest the THG was about 25-30 minutes behind.

I then observed to see which one was not holding the heat the best. Honestly it's a tie for this. They both fluctuate at the same pace. I have the herpstat set on dim so when it would drop a lil it did seem like the THG took a lil bit of time to catch up.

This is what I observed I think both are even and the only down side to the THG from what I can see is it takes longer to heat up. I dont think THG is game breaking either, it's just another option. O and I've had my flexwatt plugged in for over 3 years.

---

the THG heat tape should take a little longer from what I've read so far as it is less wattage per foot than the same size flex watt. reason for doing this is that it don't top out at a higher temp, as an added safety feature for your snakes.

the THG heat tape doesn't have a top side, so how you installed it is fine, info on the faq on reptile basic's website.

did you temp each level on your rack system to see how consistence the temps are. this is what I would like to improve in my snake room. I have a few thoughts in my head how to go about this, even if I go to the THG heat tape.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by don15681

the THG heat tape should take a little longer from what I've read so far as it is less wattage per foot than the same size flex watt. reason for doing this is that it don't top out at a higher temp, as an added safety feature for your snakes.

the THG heat tape doesn't have a top side, so how you installed it is fine, info on the faq on reptile basic's website.

did you temp each level on your rack system to see how consistence the temps are. this is what I would like to improve in my snake room. I have a few thoughts in my head how to go about this, even if I go to the THG heat tape.

---

Just took the temps after reading this. The THG rack was 89.4 from bottom to top and the flexwatt was off by .3 and .4 on the 3 bottom tubs. Nothing game breaking my THG tape is also only around a month old. Compared to my flexwatt which is 3 years old.

Hopefully the THG won't lose any at all when it does ill have to compare more then.

Any one else have both flexwatt and THG tape so they can try the same experiment as I did?

Let us know :D

This is really good info here folks. I've been using flex watt in my rack for over 6 years now and I honestly can't say that I find that big of a delta from top to bottom. :) I am currently seeing .5 degrees difference at this time. I don't think that's too much or little to worry about. I am very impressed with the lower wattage THG uses in the same space, thus limiting the heat output at the top range. :gj: If more would chime in with some more real use cases then I may consider swapping out the rows of flex watt, but for the time being, if it's not broke...;)

So far I've been very impressed with the THG tape. It's very consistent, feels more durable than the flexwatt, and it's much easier to solder. When I soldered the flexwatt, the bus bar would try to come apart from the other side very easily with a little heat exposure. The THG didn't have this issue and the thicker bus bars made things easier.

Sent from microwave via Tapatalk ll

I've decided that I'm not going to touch this stuff with a solder gun at all I'm going to do something different that should be safer, less work and no risk of damage or bad connections. It will also allow me to disconnect each level of the rack incase I need to replace a peice of THG or to help clean the rack. :D Thank you radio Shack

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

I've decided that I'm not going to touch this stuff with a solder gun at all I'm going to do something different that should be safer, less work and no risk of damage or bad connections. It will also allow me to disconnect each level of the rack incase I need to replace a peice of THG or to help clean the rack. :D Thank you radio Shack

---

on an electrical connection, I would love to hear more. I also have some thoughts about running this a little differently. I have a degree in electronics. my racks in my snake room from top to bottom temp wise, isn't close enough for me. I've seen the THG heat tape and liked what I saw, liked what I read and liked what other breeders I talked to had to say about it. they changed their heat tape out, not because it didn't work any more, but had the same temp difference in their racks as I have. big improvement with the new connection used with the THG over the old style for those you need it. I'm still soldering mine, unless freakie frog changes my mind. :D

I also want to thank everyone for taking the time and answering my post. it's been helpful to me, thank you, don