Flexwatt

[boasandballs]

What is the lifespan of Flexwatt?

Last forever as long as you take care of it.

1) Put flashing over it or indent the shelves, so the tubs do not rub over it when you pull them in and out.
2) Make sure the connections don't get pulled or wiggled to much.
3) Make sure you don't run it wide open (without some sort of thermostat) or it will melt or burn out.

Otherwise it will last forever.

[seeya205]

we kind of copied the reptile basic CB70 rack style when we made our rack. We did 2 rows of 4 inch tape for each shelf.

Should I be doing two rows of 3"?

[MARSexotics]

We use the 3" - 6 watt on smaller, we are in Fl so we use a helix to monitor. The 10 watt would most certainly burn a hole through a tub if your helix(or whatever you use) were to fail, in my experience anyhow.
for larger tubs we dont use bely heat, we use heat panels(solar-energy setup), which helps out on bills in the annual run.
I'd say to aim for at or a little less than 1/3 of their tub being heated.

[trott]

Im in the process of bldg a rack now. I'm using the 3" 6 watt and going to groove the the sides of each shelf so i dont have to run so many in a 10 shelf rack so i can have more consistency. Alot of people use the 11" when constructing say a cb70 or you should really run 2 rows.

[WildReptiles]

Hi guys,
hope I'm not stealing this thread but would any of you care to share pics or maybe link me to some of your set ups?. I'm planning on building a small rack as well and am a visual learner lol I can't seem to picture how one could weave the flexwatt through shelves. I'd really appreciate the pics! Thanks in advance.
-Johnny

[seeya205]

You simply go along the back of the first shelf, down the side to the next shelf(notch in shelf to feed the heat tape through) across that shelf and so on!

[WildReptiles]

You simply go along the back of the first shelf, down the side to the next shelf(notch in shelf to feed the heat tape through) across that shelf and so on!

I see, so basically zig zagging it along the shelves? Thanks!

[trott]

You simply go along the back of the first shelf, down the side to the next shelf(notch in shelf to feed the heat tape through) across that shelf and so on!

Just wondering how many strips of flexwatt your planning on running ? I figured on about 3 in a 10 shelf "upright". Not sure one real long strip would be feasable. lol

[trott]

Heres a real good build on BP.net i'm going to base mine on.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=79217

[seeya205]

I see, so basically zig zagging it along the shelves? Thanks!

Ya. that's right!