Back vs. belly heat

[satomi325]

It depends on your ambient room temps.
Back heat is easier if you can maintain room temps high enough. If your house is cooler, belly heat is more effective and safer.
Back heat uses more power since it's heating up the air compared to belly, which is creating a specific hot spot.


Back heat is only easier if your ambient temps are around 77-80+. Since it's heating up the air, the actual flexwatt is hotter than if you were doing belly heat.
It's not effective if your room temps are low.

I used back heat for a while. I loved it, but the flexwatt had to maintain 120 degrees in order to get a 90 degree hot side and 80 cool side in the tub. My room temp was 70-75. Flexwatt isn't designed to safely run over 100-105 degrees, so I wasn't comfortable with that hazard. I switched the belly heat, and the flexwatt runs at 98 degrees to achieve a 90 degree hot spot and 80 cool side.

No, when you're heating a rack you don't use heat lamps.

You can use a lamp with a rack system. Animal Plastics has a rack designed for lamp placement. (This rack and lamp use will kill humidity though)