Melted UTH Warning!

[Amber Mathews]

That's what happened to mine. I bought 3 med zoomed UTH last august. All 3 of them were on their own t-stats, about 3 weeks ago all of them stopped working, I thought it was weird and took apart my cages (I have stacking showcase cages). It turns out all 3 of them had burn holes all over them. I'm lucky it didn't start a fire. I immediately replaced all of it with flexwatt.

[nimblykimbly]

This may have already been mentioned.... BUT....

I have a Zoomed UTH on my display tank that I just recently got. For them to give you that excuse is ridiculous, especially since it actually SAYS on the box that if you use it on the bottom of the tank vs. on the side, to make sure that you put a layer of material (I chose natural felt) down to prevent the animal's direct contact with the heated glass. Paper towel should be no different (and actually insulate LESS than) the felt! I think there was a problem with the wiring within the pad itself, causing it to overheat like that.

I am not suggesting it's a good idea or that it's safe for a pet, but one of my neighbors has used her Zoomed pad with NO thermostat on the side of her tank for a long time with no repercussions or melting issues. I think it was a faulty pad in your case!! Just my opinion!

Kim

[Evenstar]

That's what happened to mine. I bought 3 med zoomed UTH last august. All 3 of them were on their own t-stats, about 3 weeks ago all of them stopped working, I thought it was weird and took apart my cages (I have stacking showcase cages). It turns out all 3 of them had burn holes all over them. I'm lucky it didn't start a fire. I immediately replaced all of it with flexwatt.

I had that happen with my ZooMed UTH. Lucky I didn't start a fire either. And mine was on a t-stat too. I'll never use them again. I like the Ultratherms from Reptile Basics. They seem really nice, reliable, and much safer!

[Xaila]

Probe placement has nothing to do with it either, the Tstat failed to shut down the heater at the set point plain and simple. Replace the Tstat and use a failsafe. A good t-stat has a much lower chance of failing and the failsafe will prevent over heating.

Hosted on Fotki

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cheap T-stats NEED a fail safe and most other should have one IMO the only ones that I would suggest it MIGHT be optional are the new higher end herpstats 1 or better as they have what amounts to a built in failsafe.

Somewhat off topic but thanks for the graphic. I was actually gonna ask how to properly set up a primary/secondary t-stat, but you've saved me the trouble.