Ambient temp, racks, and my office!

[PsychD_Student]

So I sacrificed my office in my 2 bedroom house for my snake rack and ASF colony. I am a person who enjoys their own ambient temp to be 65-70 degrees However, I have closed/stopped up the vent in the second bedroom to maintain an ambient temp of 75-80. I'm building my replacement rack now. I have the one they're currently in sold-- just waiting for the replacement rack before I let them have it. I am planning to use the 4" heat tape on its way in parallel for belly heat in the back of the melamine rack.

My predicament:

I would like the option to use my office again! As a doc student, I work alot. I've been using my kitchen table, but I will sweat my ass off in the office if I used it for work again. The room doesn't smell in the least, so I wouldn't mind working there if the temp were more suitable for me. I also have holes poked in each tub for additional air flow-- not helping me with the option of keeping the room cooler, but Im sure my babies enjoy the fresh air.

Does anyone have any ideas for this issue? I will probably put some pegboard or similar type of thin particle board on the back of the rack to assist in insulation. However, I am willing to sacrifice the office and continue work in the dining room if necessary. If anyone can help this poor grad student get back in their office, I would GREATY appreciate it!!!

[The Serpent Merchant]

This is the downfall of tubs... there really isn't any easy way to insulate them enough that the Air temperature in the room doesn't matter.

Anything like pegboard isn't going to do anything. You might see half of a degree increase. Remember that Flexwatt does not heat the air in the tubs so its not like there is much heat being trapped in to raise the temps.

[Mike41793]

The ambient temps in my room are usually 73-75. 65 is a bit chilly to me. Im comfortable with the AC set to those temps (73-75).

What type of rack do you have them in now? Mine are in an enclosed PVC rack.

[Kaorte]

I also have my house set to about 75* and I easily get upper 70's or 80* on my cool side. You should be abe to find a happy medium without sweating a bunch!

[PsychD_Student]

The ambient temps in my room are usually 73-75. 65 is a bit chilly to me. Im comfortable with the AC set to those temps (73-75).

What type of rack do you have them in now? Mine are in an enclosed PVC rack.

Mine is currently a melamine rack I've made to hold 12 1755 sterilite 28qt boxes. Although, I've been investigating the possibility of making an expanded PVC rack and selling off my melamine one.

- - - Updated - - -

This is the downfall of tubs... there really isn't any easy way to insulate them enough that the Air temperature in the room doesn't matter.

Anything like pegboard isn't going to do anything. You might see half of a degree increase. Remember that Flexwatt does not heat the air in the tubs so its not like there is much heat being trapped in to raise the temps.

Well its not the end of the world if I sacrifice my office. I'll just have a much larger amount of space to fill with new racks!!!!! Haha I did work in my dining room most of the time anyway.

[kitedemon]

My place is cool often 66º summer I have no problem as it is usually 81º but... I hold 90 on the hot spot with no issues but the cool end is almost always 3 or 4º warmer than the room. Not enough. The AIR temp is only a degree above the room also not enough. The simple solution is not to use a rack. Custom enclosures are many times easier to heat and keep ambient temps controlled.

That said, my rack is a PVCx enclosed rack. I have altered it to increase ambient air temps and hold correct cool end temps with the extremely variable room temp I experience.

The first alteration is to add a second set of flexwatt for the cool side. (4 inch for the back hot spot and 17 inch low density for the cool end. The low density stuff maxes out at under 90º increasing the safety margin of a dual heater system)

I found a huge difference between the top tiers and bottom my solution is to use 4 heating zones. The top 3 warm and cool, the bottom 2 warm and cool. This provides good temps but the ambient air temps are still cool.

I added 1/2 inch foam insulation to the body of the rack Top and bottom especially. This bought a couple more degrees ambient and used less power. I then moved the location of the vents on the rack from mid way up each level to the exact height of the shelf to help hold warm air in. I also added small groves from the front of the tub to the back on the floor of each shelf. These are covered with al tape and then the flexwatt runs over the top. There are holes to the tub below each slot. (the top has none of this) This allows cool air to enter and be warmed by the under side of the flexwatt. It has worked very well. I now get a constant 80º cool end surface temp with only 1 degree variation between all (79.5-80.5) the tubs. The warm side is 90º with only 2 degrees total variation (89-91) tub to tub. The ambient air as it is heated by the flexwatt partially from the channels it reflects the temp of the room so it too has only small variation I have 78-81º through the day.

This is my solution it has been working perfectly for quite a long time. Complex? it sure is, but it works super well. I hope you can find some method that works for you. It took a few weeks to get mine settled so I might suggest giving your self some time to tinker with it.