Vivarium Electronics / Reptile Basics Radiant Heat Panel warning

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Hi all,
I wanted to share my experience in the interests of the safety of your animals and not wanting you to waste your money like I have.

After only one year this radiant heat panel started failing on me, and was no longer able to consistently hold the needed temperature. I contacted them thinking it would be a simple matter of replacement since they state they have a lifetime warranty, but their customer service was exceedingly unhelpful. I spent many emails trying to explain to them the dropping temperatures, and they simply refused to acknowledge it, reminding me that their warranty is "at their discretion". It is a very expensive device and now I have to replace it after only one year at my cost.

I have since learned that this device is not UL or CE certified for safety, which means if melts or catches on fire (google it, it has happened) and burns down your house, not only will you loose your reptile and house, your insurance may not cover it. They advertise that they use a thermo fuse for safety. While fuses help reduce the risk of fire, all fuses degrade and fail eventually, and once it fails on this unit, shorting of the element, melting of the housing and fires are possible.

My temp readings indicate that the device is overheating at times and the "safety fuse" seems to be tripping, and then grossly under-heating for 15 hours. So with the constant tripping, it is likely to fail very badly soon, and I am not going to wait for it to burn us to death.

I will definitely not be buying this product one again, most likely will go with Pro Heat as my replacement. If you have had negative or positive experiences with Pro Heat, please share.