Rack Temps Again?!?

[travis11]

I just saw that someone posted a thread with kind of the same problem i am having. I didnt want to "jack it" so i made my own. I just got a new rack a few days back and now that i have it up and running i noticed that the top two racks are not getting as hot as the bottom three. The bottom three temps are great (89-92), but the top two (85-87). I have the thermostat placed on the middle shelf directly on the flex watt. The heat tape is snaked through the entire rack and ends at the top, with the cord running out a hole in the bottom. I know its not that much of a differance in temp, but to me its matters. Any thoughts on why this could be? Or how i can fix the problem? I searched around on the web and some forums and couldn't really find much. Any help would be appreciated.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Something is wrong, if anything the top shelfs should be hotter.

How hard is it to pull the heat tape out?

[travis11]

I honestly dont know. I have never done it before. It has two screws at the end of it and as far that it seems pretty simple. But it is brand new, thats what i dont understand

[Gloryhound]

What kind of rack are we dealing with?

Are all the levels identical in design?

[travis11]

Yes they are the same. It is a Boaphile Rack. I read up the flexwatt though and basically i figured out that it has a tendency to have up to a 5 degree differance, in some areas. Its the top rack though.

[kitedemon]

Does the heat source snake through the rack in an s pattern or is it a lot of short strips together?

Sometimes the top shelf they stop it just of the flat and not up the side too that causes it to be cooler than the others.

The next question is what are the ambient room temps? racks don't do well in rooms much below (or above) 80ºF typically people use oil filled heaters to regulate the room temps. There are a lot here who advise racks with out mentioning that the whole room is a big part of the heating system with racks and there are very few options to do otherwise.