Boaphile ranco thermostats?

[bigt0006]

Its factory refurbished

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[CryHavoc17]

Yeah it's terrible when that happens especially when it's due to the failure of a piece of equipment. I know I'm not the only one around here who's lost animals due to a ranco failure, there was a thread about it here some time ago and I remember that there were a few others with similar experiences. Funny thing is that I've also got several Johnson thermostats (which are very close to the same thing) which I got about the same time and THEY are all still working just fine. It's NOT just because we're using them in a way they weren't intended for, I really believe that the Ranco's are just an inferior product.

Please dont take this the wrong way, I dont mean it as an attack at all, but I feel like this is worth mentioning.

This reason is exactly why the frequency neglected topic of minimum neccicary wattage is so important. Thermostats fail. Some brands/types more then others. Some have safety features, some dont. The best safety measure in the world is appropriate wattage. You want the smallest amount of heating output possible to still get the thermal gradients you need, and no more. In the event of thermostat failure, your animals are only mildly overheated, instead of dead. All my set ups are run on stats, and before any animals move in I know exactly how hot that setup can get unregulated, and it is never enough heat to kill anything. I dont know why no one ever talks about this, but I think its very important

Btw I learned this concept from the boaphile

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[MarkS]

Please dont take this the wrong way, I dont mean it as an attack at all, but I feel like this is worth mentioning.

This reason is exactly why the frequency neglected topic of minimum neccicary wattage is so important. Thermostats fail. Some brands/types more then others. Some have safety features, some dont. The best safety measure in the world is appropriate wattage. You want the smallest amount of heating output possible to still get the thermal gradients you need, and no more. In the event of thermostat failure, your animals are only mildly overheated, instead of dead. All my set ups are run on stats, and before any animals move in I know exactly how hot that setup can get unregulated, and it is never enough heat to kill anything. I dont know why no one ever talks about this, but I think its very important

Btw I learned this concept from the boaphile

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You're assuming that the animals died because they were overheated. That did happen one time, but another time I actually lost animals because the thermostat failed a day after feeding. A couple of the snakes that were digesting their meal suddenly had NO heat and the half digested food started to rot and they bloated up and died. One time they did overheat, because there was suddenly no regulation of the temperature and the heat tape was going at full speed. However, I don't know where you get this heat tape, but the only kind that was available to me and most other people at that time only came in two wattages. You could either get flex watt heat tape at 10 watts per foot or the wider stuff at 20 watts per foot there were no other choices available. (and by the way, one of the snakes that died from bloat was in a boaphile rack)

[CryHavoc17]

I had never considered the possibility that no heat could be just as lethal as too much heat. That totally sucks man.

I know im significantly in the minority on this, but I really dont care for flexwatt at all for a number of reasons and view it more as a neccicary evil in some situations then an effective standard for heating. But then again I have significantly different husbandry standards then a lot of people. Its a luxury of having a smaller collection

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[MarkS]

I agree that flexwatt has plenty of problems, but at the time that was the best thing available. The first rack I ever built was heated with hot water (Melanine shelves with a groove routed for 3/4" vinyl tubing that was hooked up to a small pump sitting in an aquarium that was heated with an aquarium heater. Hot water from the aquariumm was pumped up to the top shelf and drained back and forth through the rest of the shelves until it drained into the aquarium again) It actually worked pretty slick but I was never able to get it very hot. Worked okay for corn snakes though.