Thermostat failure?

Today I had to move around the snake room a bit. I added one more heat source to the Herpstat (total is now 7 pieces of flexwatt). I went in there a short time later and even though the Herpstat still read 99 degrees (to get about 93-94 in the tub), the thermometers were reading close to 127 degrees. Luckily there don't appear to be any injuries from this but I am wondering where the failure might have been. The only change was the addition of that last piece of flexwatt (actually a premanufactured UTH, cobra mat I believe). This is the first time I have seen anything like this happen and in the future I am going to include a failsafe t-stat in every application. Any help would be appreciated.

J

Is it possible you exceeded the maximum allowed wattage for your t-stat? Otherwise, I dunno. But I'm SUPER glad you caught it quickly enough and avoided any injuries or worse!! :hug:

hey jamie, what is the total wattage of the flex on the herpstat? i had one problem with one of my herpstats also. i sent it to dion at www.syderrobotics.com he repaired it and sent it back to me. dion was easy to work with. mine was doing crazy temps too, made me a little nervous.


vaughn

Hard to say Vaughn/Judy. 11" flexwatt is about 20 watts per foot I believe. I have 6 - 1 FT pieces and that premanufactured piece that couldnt be much more than that. Had to be under 200 watts. Scary that this would happen at 200 watts. I emailed Dion so ill see what he says.

I ain't gonna say it. ;)

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

I ain't gonna say it. ;)

-adam

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hah..You dont have to... :colbert:

I would check each seation of your heat and see if they all read the same and if they don't try to level the heat temps between them and start over and see what happens that's what i had to do once and it worked for me.

make sure the cobra heat mat is the same wattage!

I'm curious, did you get a temp reading next to the probe?

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Originally Posted by xdeus

I'm curious, did you get a temp reading next to the probe?

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Well funny you should mention this. I am a complete idiot and am totally responsible (not the tstat). Turns out when I was moving things around, the plug for the piece of flexwatt that the tstat probe was attached to got unplugged. So the others were allowed to skyrocket. I hit the unlucky lottery and with my 1 in 6 chance managed to unplug the wrong piece of flexwatt. Thanks everyone for the support. Unfortunately, the adapters I use to extend the amount of plugs I can fit doesnt hold too well.

Oh no! Now Adam really CAN'T "say it". ;) Just kidding... I find this whole thermostat war kind of amusing. I'm sure Herpstat and Helix make great thermostats, and I've heard about both of them failing, but until many units of one or the other start failing picking sides is kind of pointless. I know Adam mentioned that many big breeders use Helix, but that could be because Herpstat wasn't around when they were starting and people usually buy what works and what they're used to.

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Originally Posted by xdeus

Oh no! Now Adam really CAN'T "say it". ;) Just kidding... I find this whole thermostat war kind of amusing. I'm sure Herpstat and Helix make great thermostats, and I've heard about both of them failing, but until many units of one or the other start failing picking sides is kind of pointless. I know Adam mentioned that many big breeders use Helix, but that could be because Herpstat wasn't around when they were starting and people usually buy what works and what they're used to.

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Well I take it back that the Herpstat failed. It didn't, I did. As far as the debate, it'll rage on as will all the other hot button issues (we all know what they are) :rolleyes:

Hehehehehe........ Helix Rocks!!!
:sabduel:

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Originally Posted by xdeus

Oh no! Now Adam really CAN'T "say it". ;) Just kidding... I find this whole thermostat war kind of amusing. I'm sure Herpstat and Helix make great thermostats, and I've heard about both of them failing, but until many units of one or the other start failing picking sides is kind of pointless. I know Adam mentioned that many big breeders use Helix, but that could be because Herpstat wasn't around when they were starting and people usually buy what works and what they're used to.

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No war here. I have no problems with Herpstats and have nothing bad to say about them. I am just very loyal and believe in supporting products and companies that have taken care of me over the years ... I think everyone can understand that.

I talk to many of the big ball python breeders on a regular basis and as they expand their collections, they continue to buy Helix controls. They are aware of what else is out there and from all of the feedback that I have gathered, they stick with Helix for the same reason I do ... because Helix has been working great for years and they continue to do so!

I don expect anyone to take what I say about a thermostat as "gold" ... each person should do their due diligence ... listen to/read all of the information that is available ... understand the "whys" behind why someone might recommend one product over another ... and then make a decision that works best for them, their budgets, and their balls. ;)

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

I don expect anyone to take what I say about a thermostat as "gold" ... each person should do their due diligence ... listen to/read all of the information that is available ... understand the "whys" behind why someone might recommend one product over another ... and then make a decision that works best for them, their budgets, and their balls. ;)

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I agree. There's nothing wrong in supporting a company that you've been happy with, but I see no reason to pick sides over one or the other besides loyalty and the slightly different features that each of them have. I think it's unfortunate when a reseller pushes one product over another for whatever reason, and that seems to happen way too often. Look at how many heat rocks get sold in pet stores. However, that shouldn't be a reason to not buy something either. I think I stated in a previous post that it would be nice to have some legitimate failure rate data on the equipment you purchase, but until that happens you just have to trust what you hear and what you experience, even if some of what you hear is biased. :irkd: