Okay. You guys can shoot me for being stupid later. That's fine.

So I just got my flexwatt/thermostat in the mail. I'm stoked. But I have a FEW questions that should be 100% commonsense...but I do not, under any circumstances, want to take ANY chances, so I'm asking them here.

1.) Flexwatt should be applied ribbed side up, correct(I can feel the grooves barely with my fingernails)?

2.) I bought foiltape to hold the Flexwatt in place. Should I just tape it down at the edges, or cover all of it?

3.) While reading the instructions for setting up the Thermostat, I admit I was having a few :|9 moments.

First, I set it to F, obviously. For the setpoint, I set it to 93degrees. I then set the differential to 1, for one degree more. Then, at step for, I set it to H1, for heating. Is all of this correct?

1.) I don't think it matters...whichever way it lays easiest (if its curling or something)

2.) I put mine just around the edges. Easier to move or re-move if necessary in the future.

3.) That all sounds about right. ;)

Oh, one more thing; The piece of Flexwatt is a bit bigger than 1/2 half the enclosure, if I lay it out flat. I know it's called FLEXwatt, but tempature wise, is it okay to curl it up a bit along one of the sides of the enclosure, so that it doesn't cover so much 'belly' space?

As long as you don't crease it, it should be fine. ;)

all sounds right, if that is a ranco thermostat you are all set. experiment with the probe position and the amount of flexwatt under setup to get things right.




vaughn

First of all, can someone slap this over in BP/Husbandry? I think my brain fried and just didn't put it there.

Two: What settings have youguys found(temp wise)for your thermostats to be good places to get the ambient/warm tempatures you require inside the enclosure?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LSama

First of all, can someone slap this over in BP/Husbandry? I think my brain fried and just didn't put it there.

Two: What settings have youguys found(temp wise)for your thermostats to be good places to get the ambient/warm tempatures you require inside the enclosure?

---

Moved it. :)

As for what temps to set the t-stat to....it really depends on your particular room, what type/size enclosure you're working with, and where you locate your t-stat probe. Best thing to do is to give yourself a few days to play with it and make sure the temps are all dialed in right before putting a snake in there. ;)

Well, I'm just asking because I want to get an idea of how high I can put the T-Stat before it starts getting...dangerous, so to speak. I mean, last night before I went to bed, I set the t-stat to 99. I wake up and the hot/cool temps have barely moved from where they were before I went to bed--which was high 70s. The humidity is at 69%, however. I haven't even put holes in the enclosure yet--I know this will just make the temps fluctuate more and I want to get a good idea of where the t-stat should be set before I do that.

The enclosure is 26.1 x 15.6 x 6.5. It's in the basement, though; Before I set everything up, for a few days I would get good readings of the temp in the basement, which usually hovered around 72-74 degrees. I'm just worried that A), the flexwatt isn't going to be enough heat OR B), I'm going to melt the plastic of the sterlite because I've got the t-stat set TOO high.

more than likely, the cold basement temps (low 70's) is robbing your heat. you might want to make a little 3 sided box (cubbyhole) type thing to put the tub in. maybe wood or foam board. something to help keep heat in and not lose as much to the cold open air of the basement. how long is the flexwatt and what wattage? maybe more heat?



vaughn

I'm going to have to do something. It's been just about 24 hours, and it's only at 80 on the hot side, 71 on the cool; The basement is causing a serious issue, yes. I'm using a Ranco thermostat currently set to 110, with 11" flexwatt at what I think is 20 watts. The problem is that the area it is in is very open--and I forgot, but it's also under a window. It will be moved very so as soon as it's confirmed that insulating the top(towel over it) will improve capturing the heat. After that, we're probably going to move it to another part of the room, away from the window.

However, barring that this does not improve, what else can I do for heat besides another UTH? The problem there being that wouldn't I technically need a second thermostat to control the temps for that as well?

Try isulating 3 of the four sides with cardboard or something that you can rig up relatively easily. And make sure its not sitting anyplace drafty.


Also...what kind of substrate are you using and how much? If you've got 3" of aspen in the bottom or something, then it may take a LOT more energy for your UTH to heat through it. It could be that your substrate is acting like a blanket, trapping almost all the heat on the floor of the cage.

I'd say I've got about...an inch and a half? I've got the outside(heat) probe under the hide on that side. My humidity, however, is at like 77%---which is WAY too high, yea?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LSama

I'd say I've got about...an inch and a half? I've got the outside(heat) probe under the hide on that side. My humidity, however, is at like 77%---which is WAY too high, yea?

---

Yeah, that's a bit high. In addition to insulating the sides and making sure there's no drafts.....I would highly recommend reducing the substrate considerably, or switching to newspaper or some other absorbent paper product. The main reason for the substrate in their enclosure is to absorb waste. I've got two sheets of newspaper and it works fine. That may also help lower your humidity some as well.

Looks like I'm going to have to move everything. *sigh* This sucks.

Alright, I've just taken a GREAT deal of the substrate out---moving it(the enclosure) didn't seem to help--in fact, it seemed to make it go down a degree. So, I've removed a lot of the substrate(as it was just making the humidity climb ever slowly upwards), to see if that will help matters any.

In the event that it does not help(I'm beginning to think that it's simply too cold down here in the basement to heat an inclosure with just a piece of flexwatt), is there any other way besides a UTH that would be safe to use with a tub? I've read that ceramic/overhead lighting can melt the plastic of a tub.

Update: I've taken the TStat probe OUT from between the enclosure and the Flexwatt. It is now currently sitting on top of the substrate, beside the thermometer probe, inside of the enclosure. This is only temporary(hopefully), until I can see that the inside of the enclosure will reach at least 92degrees. After that, I'll start tweaking; If I have to keep the tstat probe inside the enclosure so that I can accurately get temps, I'll certainly do it. I'll just make sure that it's properly secured in place so that the slitherbaby doesn't move it / get tangled up in it.