Heat Tape

[kitedemon]

I have a few questions,

The first is there a Canadian supplier I would like the chance to tinker with it.

Aaron, That is a tough test there. Did you run an open air test with the product on a hard surface with out something in direct contact? My tubs I have lifted 1/8 inch. I'd be very interested in this result.

My flexwatt the 11 inch hits 143º at 75º room temp uncovered. Too hot to be safe during a failure. The 17 inch flexwatt during the same only hit 88ºF I use it as a secondary heat source even if the primary fails and the fail safe fails it still never hits critical mass.

The connectors are quite elegant, much nicer. I am guessing if one felt so inclined the leads could be soldered to the rivet as well.

I have never been a bit fan of flexwatt it simply gets too hot for my tastes it just never felt 'safe'. I prefer the to see the use of lower wattage heaters there is no real need for a reptile heat appliance to get much over 100º-110º . I am very glad to see you all to take that to heart and also the commercial UTH some of them as well.

I have often wondered if it were possible to have a thermal decay patch built into to the carbon elements. That would melt down at the 130º mark to protect against shorts or thermal gain from contact. I suppose such a thing would be cost prohibitive? Perhaps built into the end of the cord close to the connector a thermal switch option. Just thinking out loud here.

[The Serpent Merchant]

I have a few questions,

The first is there a Canadian supplier I would like the chance to tinker with it.

Aaron, That is a tough test there. Did you run an open air test with the product on a hard surface with out something in direct contact? My tubs I have lifted 1/8 inch. I'd be very interested in this result.

My flexwatt the 11 inch hits 143º at 75º room temp uncovered. Too hot to be safe during a failure. The 17 inch flexwatt during the same only hit 88ºF I use it as a secondary heat source even if the primary fails and the fail safe fails it still never hits critical mass.

The connectors are quite elegant, much nicer. I am guessing if one felt so inclined the leads could be soldered to the rivet as well.

I have never been a bit fan of flexwatt it simply gets too hot for my tastes it just never felt 'safe'. I prefer the to see the use of lower wattage heaters there is no real need for a reptile heat appliance to get much over 100º-110º . I am very glad to see you all to take that to heart and also the commercial UTH some of them as well.

I have often wondered if it were possible to have a thermal decay patch built into to the carbon elements. That would melt down at the 130º mark to protect against shorts or thermal gain from contact. I suppose such a thing would be cost prohibitive? Perhaps built into the end of the cord close to the connector a thermal switch option. Just thinking out loud here.

I'll run an open to the air test, maybe even turn the A/C on to cool the room off a little (got to love Florida "winters") at the same time that I test my old style flexwatt

[Reptilebasics]

I have a feeling we will prevail in this heat test that more closely resembles the actual reptile application but I would rather watch someone else do it I am happy with the results presented. Not a run away train on the temp and a pretty slow curve getting to its peak in a pretty severe scenario. Look at the temp being quoted on the old style 11" in OPEN AIR. Granted 75F room but it will still hit the peak insulated temp found with the new element. Now cover it up?

I agree, much of the element gets warmer than it really needs to. I believe this is an artifact of our hobbies constant need to borrow existing things from other industries. The way we went about it was slightly different. Initially I was after a target temp range and let the wattages fall where it may. Too little and it won't do the job intended or will be running flat out all the time to do so. Too much and it is, well, too much. You accelerate the breakdown of the laminate if things do get out of hand, you stand a hugely greater chance of cooking animals, etc. We tweaked it until it was in the zone we were after and then did the math on the wattages. That is the reason they are a little different than what we are used to up till now. This was not a copy and paste or knockoff exercise as the video might imply. The people behind this did a little thinking and testing first.

As for the thermal decay idea-
One drawback is indeed the cost but there are some other issues. I have played with thermal decay style fuses quite a bit. First is they have to have a significantly higher "break" point than the normal operating temp. If you run too close with them they will blow after an extended period that can be a little unpredictable. No one would be happy if their normally operating element just up and quit after a few months. So where do you draw the line and how consistent will it be in actual practice? Go too high with them and then they really don't accomplish much either. I am working on a new gadget that hopefully will help out with this issue some but we are still a little ways off.

You can get the new element in Canada from Exclusive Snakes. I have also talked to Greg and we will see where he is at when his current supply runs low.