Rack/Heat Tape Not Heating Evenly, Help!

[Eazyyyb]

Hey guys, I just checked the temps of the hot side of my 3 tubs and I am shocked. My thermostat is set at 90, and its a vivarium electronics ve-100. The top tub is at 95, the middle is ~80, and the bottom was at 103! What could do this? Is the heat tape messed up? Could it be the thermostat probe? Please help I dont want this to continue

[sho220]

Sounds like a problem with the heat tape, or their connections...

[ElliotNess]

What end has the cord, who wired it and have you checked voltage at your outlet. Pics of connections would be great

[Eazyyyb]

Sounds like a problem with the heat tape, or their connections...

What should I do? take the heat tape out and put it back in?

[Eazyyyb]

What end has the cord, who wired it and have you checked voltage at your outlet. Pics of connections would be great

the ending part at the bottom has the cord, my father and I wired it, i dont know how to check that hahah, and i'll take pics now

[sho220]

What end has the cord, who wired it and have you checked voltage at your outlet. Pics of connections would be great

x2...pics of how it's wired would help the best. Can't be the rack itself, and I doubt it would be the thermostat. It's only a 3 bin rack...a small variation is expected but nothing like what you're seeing...

What kind of heat tape is it? I've read about problems with flexwatt having hot spots or cool spots...

[Eazyyyb]

x2...pics of how it's wired would help the best. Can't be the rack itself, and I doubt it would be the thermostat. It's only a 3 bin rack...a small variation is expected but nothing like what you're seeing...

What kind of heat tape is it? I've read about problems with flexwatt having hot spots or cool spots...

it is flexwatt and what do you mean pics of how its wired?

[bcr229]

Also make sure your tubs aren't warped, if the one in the middle has a bigger air gap between the tub and the tape than the other two, that could account for some of the discrepancy.

Do you have a volt-meter available?

[sho220]

it is flexwatt and what do you mean pics of how its wired?

Is it just one piece of tape heating the entire rack? Or do you have each level connected to it's own strip of flexwatt wired in parallel? http://www.herpcenter.com/reptile-ar...heat-tape.html

And did you connect it with crimp connectors or solder it?

[Eazyyyb]

Is it just one piece of tape heating the entire rack? Or do you have each level connected to it's own strip of flexwatt wired in parallel? http://www.herpcenter.com/reptile-ar...heat-tape.html

And did you connect it with crimp connectors or solder it?

it is just one piece, and i didnt have to do anything special, the rack had groves for it to lock in, so you just fish it through top to bottom, and then the end sticks to the bottom and thats what plugs in to the thermostat, it came ready to go from AP pretty much