Rack/Heat Tape Not Heating Evenly, Help!

Hey guys, I just checked the temps of the hot side of my 3 tubs and I am shocked. My thermostat is set at 90, and its a vivarium electronics ve-100. The top tub is at 95, the middle is ~80, and the bottom was at 103! What could do this? Is the heat tape messed up? Could it be the thermostat probe? Please help I dont want this to continue

Sounds like a problem with the heat tape, or their connections...

What end has the cord, who wired it and have you checked voltage at your outlet. Pics of connections would be great

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Originally Posted by sho220

Sounds like a problem with the heat tape, or their connections...

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What should I do? take the heat tape out and put it back in?

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Originally Posted by ElliotNess

What end has the cord, who wired it and have you checked voltage at your outlet. Pics of connections would be great

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the ending part at the bottom has the cord, my father and I wired it, i dont know how to check that hahah, and i'll take pics now

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Originally Posted by ElliotNess

What end has the cord, who wired it and have you checked voltage at your outlet. Pics of connections would be great

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x2...pics of how it's wired would help the best. Can't be the rack itself, and I doubt it would be the thermostat. It's only a 3 bin rack...a small variation is expected but nothing like what you're seeing...

What kind of heat tape is it? I've read about problems with flexwatt having hot spots or cool spots...

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Originally Posted by sho220

x2...pics of how it's wired would help the best. Can't be the rack itself, and I doubt it would be the thermostat. It's only a 3 bin rack...a small variation is expected but nothing like what you're seeing...

What kind of heat tape is it? I've read about problems with flexwatt having hot spots or cool spots...

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it is flexwatt and what do you mean pics of how its wired?

Also make sure your tubs aren't warped, if the one in the middle has a bigger air gap between the tub and the tape than the other two, that could account for some of the discrepancy.

Do you have a volt-meter available?

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Originally Posted by Eazyyyb

it is flexwatt and what do you mean pics of how its wired?

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Is it just one piece of tape heating the entire rack? Or do you have each level connected to it's own strip of flexwatt wired in parallel? http://www.herpcenter.com/reptile-ar...heat-tape.html

And did you connect it with crimp connectors or solder it?

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Originally Posted by sho220

Is it just one piece of tape heating the entire rack? Or do you have each level connected to it's own strip of flexwatt wired in parallel? http://www.herpcenter.com/reptile-ar...heat-tape.html

And did you connect it with crimp connectors or solder it?

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it is just one piece, and i didnt have to do anything special, the rack had groves for it to lock in, so you just fish it through top to bottom, and then the end sticks to the bottom and thats what plugs in to the thermostat, it came ready to go from AP pretty much

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Originally Posted by Eazyyyb

it is just one piece, and i didnt have to do anything special, the rack had groves for it to lock in, so you just fish it through top to bottom, and then the end sticks to the bottom and thats what plugs in to the thermostat, it came ready to go from AP pretty much

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hmmm...sounds like just a bad strip of heat tape to me...:confusd:

this sucks! well i cant do much about it now, i turned the thermostat down to 80 and im gonna monitor the temps closely till i can get it in a safe range and ill look more into it tomorrow

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Originally Posted by Eazyyyb

this sucks! well i cant do much about it now, i turned the thermostat down to 80 and im gonna monitor the temps closely till i can get it in a safe range and ill look more into it tomorrow

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I would also shoot an email to AP and see what they have to say...

What width tape and still need pics...

Try to get THG if they have it in the states Much better quality tape IMO, But my guess is its a issue with tape to where the connection of heating elements is broken. From top to bottom youll always have a variance, in taller racks but 3 bin it should all be 100% the same, if you probed it in the middle.