3" heat tape question

I just got a nice space heater for my herp room, so it's at a constant 80 degrees. I wonder if 3" heat tape would be enough to sufficiently warm some of my medium size snake cages.. like a 35 qt tub (around 20" x 15")

If it is, then I can have 11 of my snakes on one thermostat, which would save me money (otherwise I need to buy two or more t-stats)

What do you guys think?

my whole rack has 3" heat tape and it works great and the rack is a kreature keeper with the 41qt tubs that are like 33x17

depends on how you have your tubs. are they in a rack or side by side on shelves? if in a rack i say yes. if side by side maybe. if one strip isn't enough you could run 2 strips of 3 inch tape. or you could maybe get the room warmer like 82-84.


vaughn

I used 3" for my homemade rack but its only two tubs wide...I don't have any issue keeping the temp up. However I did notice something between sunday night and yesterday. I was using a cheap 2-wire extenstion cord to power my heat tape and I brought home a childrens python this weekend which is way to small for a tub yet...using an extra heat pad I had I plugged into the same cheapo ext cord. After 30 minutes it wasn't even warm yet. I ended up daisy chaining two good surge protectors which the rack is on now and this other heat pad...instantly heated up and seems like the rack temps have even become more stable. I guess my point is to make sure you have some quality power connections to get the most out of your heating devices.

They're on shelves.

I hesitate to make the room any warmer because I have colubrids.. not sure if they'd appreciate the warmer temps.

I can't be of much help on colubrids, this room that my pythons are in stays pretty warm upwards of 80-85+ when we have the computers on in the evenings otherwise its between 75-80. The 3" flexwatt I installed is across the back of each shelf level, i posted pics of it in another thread. Since i've gotten rid of the cheapy extension cord like i mentioned above I have had good stable temps even when checking with the temp gun.

It just seems that the flexwatt only heats what is directly above it. A 5' snake isn't going to be able to squish itself so it's just over the little 3" strip.

Maybe now that my herp room is heated, things will be better. Before I got the heater, it could be 68 degrees in here in the fall!

I have my flexwatt fixed to the back of each level directly so the tubs are not "over" it at all and the heat is projected forward through the shelf/tubs to the opening. I don't have problems with keeping the heat at the right range and I always jumping at the chance to check the temp of the tubs in different spots with the new temp gun. I am looking at one of the digital temp units sitting to the very front of my rack (furthest away from the heat tape) and it is currently reading 80 degrees. Since it is now night time the temps are down a few degrees so that isn't bad at all. We also have the door open since we are in here on the computers...with the door closed the "cool end" of the tubs in the rack where the temp guage is i just described would be reading around 80-85.

The only thing I have briefly brought up in another topic with Matt from mgreptiles is creating a more efficient use of the heat. I was wondering about using foil tape or something similiar behind the heat tape so more of the heat was "projected" towards the tubs. As it is now the heat tape is projecting heat with no medium so some heat is obviously lost through wood structuring it is affixed to. I also had open sides on my rack but have since put up some partial side panels with scrap plywood which helps keep the hot end warmer and allows for the disipation of heat to the cool end. (the sides are not full sides but cover roughly 75% of what was a completely open rack besides the back. My other thought was to line these partial side panels with a thermal reflective material such as the foil tape to hold more of the heat in...but I really don't need to go to that extreme. In fact I am sitting quite well right now but I may still look into the foil tape for behind the flexwatt just so it isn't sitting on the bare wood and losing heat energy as it is absorbed through it.

It really just depends on how big of a hot spot your looking to get when your dealing with a heated room.. 3" will probabbly do the trick for you but of course the amount of the surface that si heated will be less then the 11".. If it was for colubrids the smaller hot spot woud be ok, but when your dealing with boids I like to make the largest hot spot I can(depending on the animals size)...:)

Hey Matt is there a simple way to connect 2 strips of 3" tape so they're on one t'stat and only use one power cord?

Do you think that two 3" strips would be enough for my big 7' boa, or should I go for 3 or more?

If your planning to use 3 different strips of the 3" already I'd almost say go for the 11" rather than having to mess with wiring several different strips for one enclosure...BUT I am NOT an expert with flexwatt at all having only setup one rack with it so far.

As for your question about multiple strips...I have a strip for each level and each has its own power connectors soldered fast to it. I found 3 to 1 (3 female to 1 male) plugs at walmart and used that to consolidate and its working fine.

The reason I'd go for multiple 3" strips is that I would only have to buy one thermostat for each of my two herp rooms. You can't have both 3" and 11" on the same thermostat, so, to save money (I'm broke after the show..) I want to use only 3" in the warmer room.

The 3 to 1 plugs.. is that three power cords plugged into it and that would only take one slot on the t-stat's power strip?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Hey Matt is there a simple way to connect 2 strips of 3" tape so they're on one t'stat and only use one power cord?

Do you think that two 3" strips would be enough for my big 7' boa, or should I go for 3 or more?

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Sure you can use flexwatt wired in parellel.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...e/parallel.jpg

I realy think that the 11" is going to be your best bet. If you have 3 one foot strips than thats 30 watts of power. That shoudl be enough to heat several tubs.. The 11" flexwatt is 20 watts per foot.. Larger surface area as well.. Thats the way I woudl go. The 3" wired in parellel in 3+ stips is way to much juice....:)

Then I have to buy at least 3 thermostats.. can't afford it..

Thanks for the diagram btw.

Hey no problem.. Me likie draw:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shelby

The 3 to 1 plugs.. is that three power cords plugged into it and that would only take one slot on the t-stat's power strip?

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PRECISELY...this is how I am getting around using multiple tstats as well. All 3 strips go into the 3-1 adapter and use 1 plug in outlet to my tstat. I'm using seperate temp sensor for accuaracy.

Actually you can just add a power strip to the thermostat.. That will give you 6-8 more plug ins.. If you r using a different size/wattage/type heating element you will still need a seperate tstat...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by justcage

Actually you can just add a power strip to the thermostat.. That will give you 6-8 more plug ins.. If you r using a different size/wattage/type heating element you will still need a seperate tstat...

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exactly! I went with the 3 to 1 adapter just because I didn't want anything to over bearing on the low end tstat I'm using. And as Matt said each strip I have connected is approxomately the same length and all the same 3" width.

Does it matter if I have a 5' section of 3" and several 1' sections connected to the same t-stat?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Does it matter if I have a 5' section of 3" and several 1' sections connected to the same t-stat?

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As long as you are shooting for the same temps on each strip its not a problem.

Ok good, because I'd be in some trouble otherwise.

We always need just one more dont we..lol.

Always. One more snake, (or 10, that works too) one more order or flexwatt, one more thermostat, one more snake hook.. one more... yeah.