Is my heat tape working?

[colbyjh]

Okay so here is what I have. I just built a 6 foot tall snake rack for ball pythons. It holds 11 tubs and is completely enclosed except the front, where the tubs slide out. I am using 6 foot of 11 inch flexwatt for back heat. It is taped to the back panel. I am also using a herpstat intro thermostat and have the probe taped directly to the heat tape.

I have had everything plugged in for about 15 hours now. The thermostat says that the desired temperature is 105 degrees F. But it is sitting at 89.7 and has been for hours. Before you freak out, it isn't set to make the snakes 105 degrees. Just the tape. As we speak the tape is at 89.7 and the hot part of the tub is at 76. Could I have faulty heat tape? I did a lot of research online before starting and read how you have to be careful with flexwatt because it gets so hot. I barely feel any heat when touching the tape.

I have checked all of my wire connections and everything seems good. I left a 1 inch gap running down the sides on the inside of the enclosure. Do you think I should run more heat tape down the sides towards the back? If there is a way around this I would prefer not to. Maybe I misunderstood heat tape, but I thought it should get above 90 degrees pretty easy. When I set it up using the 11 inch heat tape I actually thought that I would have to drill holes in the front of the tubs to get the temperature right.

Any help or suggestions would be really appreciated. Right now I have 7 snakes, in 7 fish tanks, with 7 heat pads just sitting in my room. This is taking up way to much space. I am really looking forward to moving them all into the rack... if I can get the temperatures right.

Thank you,

Colby

[Zombie]

Try plugging the heat tape directly into the wall and see if it gets hotter. Is the tstat probe taped directly to the heat tape? Did you solder the heat tape or use the clips?

[colbyjh]

The temperature probe is taped, using electrical tape, directly to the heat tape. I purchased the metal clips to connect the power cord to the heat tape and covered the clips with electrical tape also. I was thinking about testing it by bypassing the thermostat and plugging it straight into the wall, but was worried that this could damage the tape. I'll go ahead and give it a shot. Shouldn't melt if I'm there watching it.

Thanks for the quick reply

[satomi325]

The temperature probe is taped, using electrical tape, directly to the heat tape. I purchased the metal clips to connect the power cord to the heat tape and covered the clips with electrical tape also. I was thinking about testing it by bypassing the thermostat and plugging it straight into the wall, but was worried that this could damage the tape. I'll go ahead and give it a shot. Shouldn't melt if I'm there watching it.

Thanks for the quick reply

What is the room temp? Back heat does poorly in a cooler room.

And make sure not to cover the probe with tape. This traps heat and makes it read inaccurately. Just tape down the cord closest to the probe and the very tip of the probe.

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[snakesRkewl]

You should know within minutes if it runs at it's full temp.
Those clips can be the issue, soldering the connections is not only safer but give you a better connection making the flexwatt work better.

What are you reading the temps with?

[Zombie]

You should know within minutes if it runs at it's full temp.
Those clips can be the issue, soldering the connections is not only safer but give you a better connection making the flexwatt work better.

What are you reading the temps with?

Yea, make sure you watch it.

If it gets hot within a couple min. Turn it off and you know it's not the tape.

[colbyjh]

Okay, I'll adjust the tape, I do have the probe covered. Although I figured that even with it covered, it should have still atleast gotten the probe to read the "desired" temperature.

I will try soldering the wires to the heat tape later today. I went ahead and added the bedding to the enclosure to hopeful hold in more heat.

I'm measuring the temperature of the heat tape with the temperature probe connected to the thermostat. And the temperature in the tub with one of those sticker thermometers.

The room temperature is between 65-70. The house is heated to 70, but the rack is in an addition that has no direct heat. Meaning the room has a doorway that allows heat from the house in, but no heat vents. I would very much prefer having them in that room. Although if nothing else works, I can move the rack upstairs to my room which is warmer. This would be inconvenient thought as the mice are downstairs and cleaning up after the snakes would require trips downstairs. This is "doable" seeing as I only have 7 snakes at the moment, but will definitely become a chore once I start getting more. Also this rack is solid, I kind of went crazy when designing this. It weighs a lot, so moving it upstairs is not very appealing.

[colbyjh]

Also the temperatures before adding the bedding were: 98.9 for the heat tape. (this was measured when the tape was covering the probe.) and 76 in the tubs.

[Zombie]

The sticker thermometers are unreliable at best. You gotta try and get a digital thermometer with a probe. Walmart has a good one for about $13 name brand accurite. It's an indoor/outdoor thermometer.

You should see about moving the rack to a different room. Those temps are really cold for most racks. You could also get an oil filled heater and hook that up to a tstat to heat up that room to the desired 80-82 degrees.

[colbyjh]

Okay, thanks everyone for the replies. I put the temp probe on the tape and after 2 days, it's at the right temperature. I didn't think it would take that long. Also I closed the room off and used a small heater to heat the room up.

Thanks again,

Colby