Heat mats for a rack system

[Salingreptiles]

i want to build a melamine rack system with tubs of 60X40X18 (cm)
the question is - does a 15X28cm heat mat will be good for each of those tubs? (Picture)
if it matters im going to use the rack for ball pythons, blood pythons, and carpet pythons, but mostley ball pythons
i live in Israel and its pretty hard to get heat tape over here plus i dont want to take any risks of fire

[kitedemon]

Well the first comment is don't use particle board covered with melamine, it is flammable. Additionally the particle board is not water resistant and off gasses either formaldehyde gas or leaches phenols. The former has an unknown effect on reptiles (human carcinogen) the latter is highly toxic to reptiles.

Heating safety is paramount. The guideline I use is simple. Nothing that heats beyond 38ºC (100ºF) gets used. What the pad you have shown runs is anyones guess.

Luckily for you one of the best UTH on the market is made in Europe (UK) it should be relatively easy to get for you. Ultratherm.

[Rickys_Reptiles]

Most melamine is made with particle board (particle board covered with laminate). In the industry we call is beaver puke. It's only flammable at very high temperatures and are used to build racks all over the world without any *notable* issues.

A 15cm x 28cm heat mat would be fine, in my opinion. People have been using 4" (~10cm) deep heat tape for years...

Just make sure to use a thermostat probe on each and every heat mat because they don’t all heat at the same rate. It would be devastating to have 1 level get really hot and the other not hot enough.

If I were you I'd just import heat tape, assuming the electricity in your house would work with it. If not, you could always use a transformer to convert it to the correct wattage.

[Rickys_Reptiles]

A little scientific data about melamine for reading enjoyment

http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9924600

[kitedemon]

I am not sure that 225ºC (domestic over will auto ignite particle boards) is very high temp compared with PVCx at 800ºC. The fact that particle boards will self ignite and continue to burn make them flammable. PVCx for example will NOT auto ignite under 800ºC and will not continue to burn after the source of ignition is removed, self distinguishing. The OP is concerned with fire safety I would included electrical sparks that are easily hot enough to catch particle boards on fire.

Have you ever seen any study on the effects of formaldehyde on reptiles? I have not. I do know for a fact that animals in racks sometimes get RI with perfect husbandry is there a link? I can't say. There is a link to cancer in humans however.

The new particle boards on the market are not using fomeldahydes but phenolic glues that can leach phenols as the content of phenols is greater than cedar (12ppm to 2ppm), and most believe (as do I) cedar is a respiratory hazard I would conclude particle boards are also a respiratory hazard.

The MSDS sheet you linked is for the raw component that needs to be polymerized with formaldehyde to form a resin that can be thermoset.

The other issue of melamine resin is its incompatibility with make disinfectants (oxidizers like peroxides, acids like acetic acids, and alkaline like bleach) It really limits the playing field.

It is one thing cheap. High quality particle board furniture? I think not. Cheap disposable furniture. It is used because of its price. For myself the time and effort to build something and the effort to and cost required to seal the substrate of melamine it not worth it. My time is more valuable than the 60$ savings add there is a question of health around it totally not worth it at all.

https://www.formica.com/~/media/File...nate_MSDS.ashx

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/eve...d-outgassing#b
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/pa...ard-safety.htm
http://www.afmsafecoat.com/downloads...0data%2008.pdf
http://www.drfranklipman.com/how-to-...d-furniture-2/

water issue...

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/par...os-and-donts#b