Urgent heat tape question

[hungba]

I have a rather urgent question as I need to order the side pillars for my racks by tommorow and need to know this about heat tape and thermostats.

I know that if you have heat tape on multiple racks/shelves that are IDENTICAL in length and also identical tubs, that you can plug all those into one set of thermostat, with probe on one shelf, and it is fine. If you have two racks with identical set up and heat tape, you can plug both into the same thermostat with probe on one rack and it is fine.

Now, this is my question.

I have TWO racks. The tubs are identical. The heat tape length on EACH shelf is identical on all of them for both racks. HOWEVER, one rack has 7 shelves, the other has 6 shelves. Each rack has one single electrical plug, and all the heat tape is wired together from top down one piece directly to the next (the wires going in and out of each flexwatt strip is on the SAME side of the heat tape. For the life of me I can't find if this is called series or parallel.) The diagram below shows what I mean.

Can these be plugged into the same thermostat set?

[Seth702]

I personally would go with a T-stat that has two outlets and 2 probes. This way each rack is controlled by one t-stat but each has its own probe and heat setting.

[dillan2020]

As long as the rack is similar I think you should be fine to run just one. if the strips of heat tape are all the same length they should all get to the same temp no matter how many shelves are on either side. what it would come down to is how well each rack holds that heat. if the tubs are the same size and racks are same material and thickness you should be fine. but if one is 3/8 pvc with open sides and the other is enclosed 3/4 plywood then you would need 2 thermostats.

[hungba]

As long as the rack is similar I think you should be fine to run just one. if the strips of heat tape are all the same length they should all get to the same temp no matter how many shelves are on either side. what it would come down to is how well each rack holds that heat. if the tubs are the same size and racks are same material and thickness you should be fine. but if one is 3/8 pvc with open sides and the other is enclosed 3/4 plywood then you would need 2 thermostats.

The two racks are exactly identical EXCEPT one has an extra level. I know that if all the heat tape were individually wired and plugged into a power cord that went into the thermostat it would be fine. But for example, if two heat tape was different length, you can't plug them into one. What I am asking I guess is whether having an extra piece wired together in the 7 tier rack, would essentially be like "longer" piece of flexwatt. Or would it still be the same, because the actual heat strips are the same.

[Rickys_Reptiles]

I use a different proble on all my racks. Well, I used to (I don't use heat tape anymore). I used to use 1 probe for every 3 shelves.

The way you have it, the top shelves will not be the same temperature as the bottom shelves.

Get a Spyder Robotics Herpstat 4 and you can have 4 probes, 2 on each rack.

[hungba]

No herpstats here. We have 220V electricity. Someone did order one and tried using a transformer but it caused a lot of problems.

[hungba]

I use a different proble on all my racks. Well, I used to (I don't use heat tape anymore). I used to use 1 probe for every 3 shelves.

The way you have it, the top shelves will not be the same temperature as the bottom shelves.

Get a Spyder Robotics Herpstat 4 and you can have 4 probes, 2 on each rack.

Ricky, I presume you use whole room heating. Correct?

If so:

May I ask what temperature you heat your room to? For balls.
How big is the room and how much difference do you see in terms of your electric bill?
I have thought about it myself but thought of problems because for example, during the "cooling" phase before breeding I lower the temps slightly on the heat tape for my breeders but the raise up snakes are kept the same etc. Also during different stages of breeding the females would look for cool side vs. hot side so don't know how to deal with that.
I presume you would keep all other species in a different room?

[CD CONSTRICTORS]

I would rather see you run all 13 tubs in a series... just like it was a 13 tub rack. I could then see running it off one t-stat probe if you pay close attention to your tub temps with a heat gun.

You just need a short 6-8ft extension cord to wire the two racks in series instead of parallel like your diagram shows.

[hungba]

The idea was to put breeding snakes in one rack and non breeding snakes in another. When cooling time comes, I separate them to different thermostats and normally can plug them into one. Of course, you may ask, if you need two sets anyway for cooling, why not just adjust the temps on the second t-stat? I am thinking ahead when I have more and more racks, then I can just plug all cooling snakes into one set, non-cooling snakes into the other set etc.

[PitOnTheProwl]

The idea was to put breeding snakes in one rack and non breeding snakes in another. When cooling time comes, I separate them to different thermostats and normally can plug them into one. Of course, you may ask, if you need two sets anyway for cooling, why not just adjust the temps on the second t-stat? I am thinking ahead when I have more and more racks, then I can just plug all cooling snakes into one set, non-cooling snakes into the other set etc.

honestly now you are over complicating things. There really isn't a need to cool your balls for breeding and even if you still want to, its only a couple degrees so cooling both wont be a problem.