Flex watt close call. Beware!!!

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Holy moly! That's some serious over-heating.
Do you know how that happened?

holy cow how on earth did that happen?

no explanation? this is the equivalent of posting a picture of a chewed up snake with the title "Live Feeders. Beware!"

What is that on the bottom of?

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Originally Posted by TheSnakeGeek

no explanation? this is the equivalent of posting a picture of a chewed up snake with the title "Live Feeders. Beware!"

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Agreed.

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Originally Posted by Kodieh

What is that on the bottom of?

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Looks like a wooden bin with a glass/acrylic viewing front?

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Please tell us there wasn't a snake in there! :O

It looks like a DIY plywood cage and I don't see the charred remains of a thermostat probe. I hate to put the chicken before the egg, but I can probably guess what happened here... :O

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Originally Posted by jrysmile

holy *crap* how on earth did that happen?

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You should edit that before they give you an infraction. I got an infraction for a little slip recently. Try to keep it clean. :)

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Originally Posted by Gessler

You should edit that before they give you an infraction. I got an infraction for a little slip recently. Try to keep it clean. :)

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Quoting said infraction (and purposely skirting the filter) will also get you infraction. ;)

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

Quoting said infraction (and purposely skirting the filter) will also get you infraction. ;)

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It would, yes. But editing the quote to a word we don't infract is acceptable. We let folks get away with "crap." :P

Now I really wanna know what happened...

Did you have a thermostat hooked to the flexwatt?



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Fair enough. Maybe I'm just a prude. :)

Hmm... no replies??

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We want to know.....

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

It looks like a DIY plywood cage and I don't see the charred remains of a thermostat probe. I hate to put the chicken before the egg, but I can probably guess what happened here... :O

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Did you have a thermostat hooked to the flexwatt?



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Actually this can happen even with a t-stat if too much weight is put on the Flexwatt. I found this out the hard way early on.

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Originally Posted by treeboa

Actually this can happen even with a t-stat if too much weight is put on the Flexwatt. I found this out the hard way early on.

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But it looks like in this case, weight isn't an issue. It is indeed under the enclosure, but the feet of the enclosure is holding it up several inches, putting no pressure on the flex.

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I don't see electrical tape over the wire connectors - could that be the problem???
It would be nice to know what caused this to happen. :taz:

Now, OP, understand we're not judging you. We're trying to get to the bottom of why this happened, not accuse you of wrong doings.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

But it looks like in this case, weight isn't an issue. It is indeed under the enclosure, but the feet of the enclosure is holding it up several inches, putting no pressure on the flex.

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True! Didn't look close enough. Something had to happen to the Flexwatt to make it overheat to the point of catching on fire. Just running wide open alone wouldn't do it.

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Originally Posted by Andys-Python

I don't see electrical tape over the wire connectors - could that be the problem???
It would be nice to know what caused this to happen. :taz:

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Can't see the connections on the top piece, but the bottom piece has the plastic commercial connectors. You don't need electrical tape when you use those. I really hope the OP comes back with more information.

First of all the snake is fine.

Sorry everyone for not posting any info. I started the post at work.

The enclosure belongs to a friend. It houses his retic. Its a 12ft x 4ft x 4ft custom cabinet. My buddy is an electrician and very cautious when it comes to electricity.

The tape was mounted under the enclosure with 3 in of air space to the floor. Flex watt connectors were used. The tape was connected to a rheostat cranked up med high.

We are assuming that somehow the rheostat failed allowing too much current to flow to the tape. Or ????

The moral of this story is. Don't ever think it can't happen to you. Protect your pets with a quality thermostat.

My friend Matt and I had an indepth conversation about heat tape and fire risk. Pretty crazy days later up in smoke. We planned on moving that inclosure into his snake breeding building today. Could have lost his whole collection. Could have lost his house.

Double check your setup. If u don't have a thermostat connected get one. Smoke detectors. Got em? I know I'm getting some new ones.

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That's why I run back ups on mine. Even a lamp dimmer is better than no back up at all, especially on a rheostat. When rheostats fail they let the flexwatt run at full power.