New thermostat

[sporty02]

i just scored a Zilla 1000 watt thermostat!! i can now hook up my flex watt as soon as it gets here. I know its not a ranco or herpstat or something fancy but for $21.00 brand new, shipped from ebay its worth a shot, better than a dimmer switch right?

[Slim]

better than a dimmer switch right?

Marginally, yes.

[Mike41793]

I would have just saved up until i could get a herpstat personally.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Or a hydrofarm for $10 more.

[sporty02]

just wondering do any of you actually have any first hand experience with this thermostat? i know its probly not the best but my local reptile store (not petstore) says they are decent entry level thermostat i just need to run 2 eight in pieces of flexwat for now may be a 3rd soon

[The Serpent Merchant]

I don't have any first hand experience but I have seen a good number of people on here who have had issues with them.

[kitedemon]

I own one. To be honest it is in a drawer I simply do not trust it. They are very poor quality and although I could use it for a back up fail safe unit I don't ever trust it for that. Mine is painfully inaccurate, when set to 90 it is shutting off at 84 and on at 95 it has a monster swing. I would suggest a hydrofarm is slightly better.

I believe that on off t-stats are really good under certain conditions, basically stable temps and in direct heat or large amounts of thermal mass. Let me explain, indirect heat (where there is a small space between the enclosure and heat source ie Rack) or large mass (lots of weight) deal with the swing better. ON off deliver max power and then no power the problems arise in the time it takes the probe to power off the unit. Under certain conditions like a thin walled enclosure (tub) and the heat source fastened directly to the bottom. If located in a cool room the probe takes longer to respond than normal and the heat is transferred inside very quickly there is no delay. I have tested my hydrofarms and zilla and been able to see on times of five to ten mins. This mean the snake is subjected to 125º-160º for 5 to ten min. To me this is unacceptable. If the heat is not direct the max temp is lower and it takes longer to change the temp so this time is not so critical. Same for heavy enclosures they take longer to cool and heat so the spikes are absorbed some.

Generally speaking the no off types do not make good entry level t-stats because the conditions that make then perform the worst are very common. (a single tub is a regular variable room temp with a UTH stuck on the bottom) I would suggest that a more versatile proportional t-stat that does not suffer the same issues would be a better safer and more useful option. I believe the lest expensive out there is the Herpstat intro.

[PitOnTheProwl]

I have several that I got off a ebay too.
I have not had any problems with them but I also keep a very close eye on my animals.
The sticker on the front of them really sucks and is off a good bit but that is what thermometers are for.
I have one running my QT tanks, one running my hatchling rack with back heat and two running backup to my VEs.
After a couple days of tinkering I have yet to adjust any of them in close to a year.

[sporty02]

thank you kitedemon that is a very helpful explination i understand alot better now. guess i wasted 20 bucks no i will just have to save up for a VE or herpstat it will just take a while. my 2 snakes are in 1 tub now bc i only have 1 uth and i was trying to hurry up and get a 2nd tub up and running but i dont want to cook my snakes just to hurry it up

[sporty02]

on second thought maybe i could use the Zilla for running some 11 in flewatt as backheat when i build my new rack next month what do you guys think of that idea since it wount be in direct contact with the tubs