New Habitat construction underway!

[norwegn113]

I will have a thermostat for the flexwatt tape. Considering some sort of temperature readout for the ambient air in the habitat as well. My other question is would it be fine to connect the flexwatt in parallel since I will be stacking them. (Two stacks of four on an insulated base. I live in an older house and though the room is warm the floor can feel cool. I will make sure to take some pictures of the work in progress. I will order the flexwatt next week. What gauge of wire is used for wiring flexwatt? Is is solid wire or braided? I am guessing probably 12 or 14 gauge wire for it.

gauge of wire in this case is not relevant. your local hardware store will have what they call "lamp cord" this is what your want to get to wire heat tape. It comes in standard and heavy duty. Either will work because you will be dealing in low wattage.

[norwegn113]

After reading through this thread I am sickened by the way members on this site handled the OP questions. people lets remember whats at stake here , its nos not pride but an animals well being. we ALL should have a common goal to help new members create the best environments possible. The thing I find sad is that the 2 members arguing were both right and wrong in their statements at the same time. I deal in wooden cages so here are some facts that should help the OP. Wooden cages made out of 3/4 " material hold heat and humidity better than glass cages. Heat tape DOES NOT raise ambient air temps, but rather it heats objects such as cage material, substrate , rocks or anything else placed on top of it. This in turn will raise air temps a few degrees ( max 5-10 degrees) Room temp. also plays a large part of it. If your room temp is 65 deg. then heat tape alone will not be able to create optimal conditions. While arguing who is right and wrong both members failed to touch on the more important topic in wooden cages , floor thickness. Heat tape will be ineffective to heat 3/4" material properly. You will need to install some sort of an inlay into the floor of the cage. Some members have used glass, plexi or tile. All will work ok , just make sure its at least 1/4" thick. attach the heat tape to the inlay. I also want to add a word of caution. Melamine board is water resistant not water proof. It contains harsh chemicals such as formaldehyde that can leech out if subjected to moist conditions for long periods of time. My suggestion would be to either use another type of material for the floor or cover the melamine floor with either clear acrylic (plexi glass) or linoleum tile, etc. Melamine is fine for the walls and top. Hope this helps.

[Danomano]

I should clarify what the plan is for the interior. I am planning on having the heat tape inside the habitat with a layer such as linoleum or some sort of thin layer to cover it.

[norwegn113]

I should clarify what the plan is for the interior. I am planning on having the heat tape inside the habitat with a layer such as linoleum or some sort of thin layer to cover it.

NEVER NEVER NEVER put heat tape inside an enclosure! The only acceptable way to use heat tape on a wooden enclosure is the way i have explain earlier. Please do some more research.

[Danomano]

NEVER NEVER NEVER put heat tape inside an enclosure! The only acceptable way to use heat tape on a wooden enclosure is the way i have explain earlier. Please do some more research.

Again, the heat tape will be covered. It would be from bottom layer to top layer: Melamine (subfloor if you will), heat tape w/probe, linoleum or better product I can find. It is basically the same thing you said earlier I just perhaps phrased it wrong. There is no way that the heat tape could heat properly through 3/4" board. That is what the layer of linoleum or acrylic is for, to go over the heat tape.

[norwegn113]

Again, the heat tape will be covered. It would be from bottom layer to top layer: Melamine (subfloor if you will), heat tape w/probe, linoleum or better product I can find. It is basically the same thing you said earlier I just perhaps phrased it wrong. There is no way that the heat tape could heat properly through 3/4" board. That is what the layer of linoleum or acrylic is for, to go over the heat tape.

It is not the same thing. you can not sandwich the heat tape between the 3/4" material and the linoleum. it is a fire hazard. The heat tape needs to be mounted outside the cage with a small air gap on bottom to keep from over heating. Please take my advice and do some more research on this topic.

[BrianDallek]

AThe thing I find sad is that the 2 members arguing were both right and wrong in their statements at the same time. I deal in wooden cages so here are some facts that should help the OP. Wooden cages made out of 3/4 " material hold heat and humidity better than glass cages. Heat tape DOES NOT raise ambient air temps, but rather it heats objects such as cage material, substrate , rocks or anything else placed on top of it. This in turn will raise air temps a few degrees ( max 5-10 degrees) Room temp.

Ok so I was done with this thread, but I'll chime in one last time. I was not wrong in any part of my statement. Heat tape DOES raise ambient air temps. Seriously man. Your saying that it heats something that then in turn raises ambient air temps. Please tell me an application where heat tape does not touch anything first off?? AND.....I'll try to explain this with an example even a child can understand. If I had a mini fridge and I hung two feet of heat tape inside only hanging by the wire that powers it, NOT touching any part of the fridge at all and I shut the door. Your saying that the heat tape would not raise the temps inside the fridge because its not touching anything? Heat tape is not a microwave. The plastic casing on the heat tape is the material your talking about, and it is part of the heat tape. Your 5-10 degree max may be true through 3/4" wood, but sure isn't true on cages/tubs specifically made for reptiles. Like I said before it easily raises temps in my Vision tubs 11 degrees and that is with a thermostat. If I left it unregulated it would raise the ambient temps in my tubs over 20 degrees no problem. And my tubs have 1/16 to 1/8 inch gap around the entire top and thy have 9 holes drilled in the sides.

My personal advice: By the time you factor in time and materials your wood enclosure will not be a better choice over say a Vision cage or similar, sorry. I have vision cages going on 15 years old still like new cause they are one piece plastic. For dry climate animals wood is great, but what your trying to make is gonna be a tank. You can get a Vision 221 which has 128 square inches more floor space than what your building for $155 plus shipping.

[norwegn113]

Ok so I was done with this thread, but I'll chime in one last time. I was not wrong in any part of my statement. Heat tape DOES raise ambient air temps. Seriously man. Your saying that it heats something that then in turn raises ambient air temps. Please tell me an application where heat tape does not touch anything first off?? AND.....I'll try to explain this with an example even a child can understand. If I had a mini fridge and I hung two feet of heat tape inside only hanging by the wire that powers it, NOT touching any part of the fridge at all and I shut the door. Your saying that the heat tape would not raise the temps inside the fridge because its not touching anything? Heat tape is not a microwave. The plastic casing on the heat tape is the material your talking about, and it is part of the heat tape. Your 5-10 degree max may be true through 3/4" wood, but sure isn't true on cages/tubs specifically made for reptiles. Like I said before it easily raises temps in my Vision tubs 11 degrees and that is with a thermostat. If I left it unregulated it would raise the ambient temps in my tubs over 20 degrees no problem. And my tubs have 1/16 to 1/8 inch gap around the entire top and thy have 9 holes drilled in the sides.

My personal advice: By the time you factor in time and materials your wood enclosure will not be a better choice over say a Vision cage or similar, sorry. I have vision cages going on 15 years old still like new cause they are one piece plastic. For dry climate animals wood is great, but what your trying to make is gonna be a tank. You can get a Vision 221 which has 128 square inches more floor space than what your building for $155 plus shipping.

that is exactly what im saying. Heat tape should never at any point reach temps higher than 100 deg. If you were to hang a piece like you stated it would not do much at all to raise internal temps. The plastic coating you speak of has no significant mass, therefore is not a good conductor of heat. ( try your experiment and let us know how it works. ) if what you say is true why then would people spend $100.00 on a radiant heat panel when they could just buy a piece of heat tape for $15.00 and put it on the ceiling instead? I will agree in the long run a vision cage is the better value and perhaps a better route for beginners. Wood cages can however create a look that cant be matched by any plastic product and if built correctly can last as long as any plastic cage system.

[BrianDallek]

that is exactly what im saying. Heat tape should never at any point reach temps higher than 100 deg. If you were to hang a piece like you stated it would not do much at all to raise internal temps. The plastic coating you speak of has no significant mass, therefore is not a good conductor of heat. ( try your experiment and let us know how it works. ) if what you say is true why then would people spend $100.00 on a radiant heat panel when they could just buy a piece of heat tape for $15.00 and put it on the ceiling instead? I will agree in the long run a vision cage is the better value and perhaps a better route for beginners. Wood cages can however create a look that cant be matched by any plastic product and if built correctly can last as long as any plastic cage system.

Ok so to be fair (to myself of course) I said that heat tape raises ambient temperature. I can not for the life of me see a situation where the heat tape would not be in contact with something. Either touching the bottom of the cage or the table the cage is on (unless we are talking about that new hover tape). Either way ambient temperature is raised when heat tape is used for floor heat. I mean one could argue that really it isn't even the heat tape and that it is the electricity powering the heat tape. Or in this case your saying that it is the material the heat tape is touching that is in fact raising the ambient temperature. Either way without the heat tape there is no heat or ambient temperature rise. So I feel my original statement was correct."I find that it raises the ambient temp" & "The tape heats the floor temp to 91 degrees in my tubs and that heat travels up... as heat tends to do and becomes trapped in the tub raising ambient temps to 84 degrees". Clearly I say that it heats the floor first and then raises up creating ambient temps. I was quickly met with "Heat tape doesn't raise ambient temps". Never once did I say that it would create enough heat for his cage he is building. I merely pointed out that 11" would be better than 6" because it would create more ambient temperature because it would be heating more surface area. That is it. So unless i reread this thread incorrectly I still stand behind what I said 100%.

Now somehow I have gotten into a hypothetical experiment (brought on by myself) on wether the heat tape alone by itself hanging in mid air will create ambient temperature. of course this has no practical application and is merely a pointless side track that I should have not brought up and I get enough of that from the wife. I do not have extra heat tape right this second, but I still feel even without it touching anything that it will still raise ambient temps. And honestly all i need to be right is 1 degree in my opinion. See by saying it creates no ambient temps your saying 0, no exception. by me saying it does that could be anything from .0001 degree to 100+ degree increase. My money is on my side of this, sorry.

[BrianDallek]

Ok so I found a flukers heat tape thing and am conducting the experiment right now. Unfortunately I do not have any extra flexxwatt wired up right now, but this should be good enough. Keep posted for the results. the tape is 6x11 (small) and the fridge is a pretty big wine fridge. I have a temp gauge in there now acclimating and will plug in the heat tape after about 10-15minutes with no thermostat.