Hi,

Use a dimmer or thermostat to control the secondary heat source the same way you are supposed to control the primary?

If it is a ceramic bulb (i.e. no light emitted ) then you could use an on/ off type of thermostat but if it emitts light then you are better spending the extra for a proportional thermostat as the light blinking on and off gets annoying as heck pretty swiftly plus it shortens the bulbs life considerably compared to the proportional. In both instances you could try using a dimmer ( rheostat ) but remember that if your room temps fluctuate you would have to be continually monitoring and adjusting that - this also gets to be a pain remarkably swiftly.

Possibly the most econimical way to do it would be to use proportional thermostat connected straight to your primary heat source to get the warm end temps spot on and connect the secondary heat source to it through a rheostat then simply adjust the rheostat untill both the warm end and cool end are at the right temps.

It sounds more complicated than it really is but it does require a little more monitoring and fiddling at first to get it right - but once it is right then you shouldn't have to do anthing more than just monitor for problems the same way you would with anything else.

The main thing is to have good reliable (digital ) thermometers during the process so you actually know for certain what the temps and himidity in various locations are - the one most often recomended is the acurite weather station with probe from wallmart for around $10.

For random spot checks I cannot overstate how great (and fun ) temp guns are.


dr del