UTH hot enough?

[hungba]

I bought some UTH pads which are 15cm X 28cm 7 Watts, so they should be the same wattage as the Ultratherms. I hear people say the Ultratherms get up to good temperatures. I am here and I have the heat pads set up, and they don't feel very warm at all to the hand. I have a thermometer in the tub, and when first switched on, it hardly raises the temperatures. I left it there for about 45 minutes and the temperature gradually rose, and is about JUST enough (88F) and not quite, but it took 45 mins to get there.

When using more powerful heat pads, the temperature would go up to a steady temperature very fast and stay there. With these, it seems to take forever for the temps in the tub to rise, but eventually it does seem to get there.

Is this a problem? Mind you, it is in a closed rack, three sides closed. And it is noon here and the weather is just starting to get cold these few weeks, no where near coldest yet, so I have no idea if these are just not hot enough and I have to replace them or not.

By the way, I first tested with only one level of the rack switched on, and it was barely hot enough. So I then tested to turn the whole rack on, every level heated, and it did NOT make much difference in the temperature in each tub! Still the same 88 F 89 F or so.

[decensored]

89 degrees is fine, but I imagine your going to have a problem with ambient temps. What temps do you have on the cold sides? What are you using to regulate your UTH? (thermostat/rheostat/dimmer?)

[hungba]

There is a thermostat but I haven't hooked it up yet, I am still testing the temps.
I do not imagine this will be enough as the weather gets colder than now.

How would you raise ambient temps? And is it a problem that the heat rises slowly instead of quickly?

[kitedemon]

ultratherm are designed not to get over 90ºF under normal ambient temp conditions. There are far to many variables to predict the max temp with any accuracy but what you are describing is fairly typical for rooms that are in the mid to high 70s. Or so the experience I have with them says. They offer an extra safety margin as the max temp even in a mid 80 room is still tolerable for short periods of time especially between feedings. The down side is in cool rooms they simply do not have the horse power to over come the low ambient temps. You will either need new uths or keep the ambient temps to a point where the pad can do its job.