Using heat tape instead of heat cable in Vision rack

[bproffer]

I'm finally getting around to moving my snakes from a T8 into a Vision rack. I havnt been very happy with the heat cable system so far. Very uneven heat and when I check with a heat gun only the very back couple inches of the tub are near 90°. I havnt added any substrate yet but plan on using sani chips so I don't know if that will insulate the bottom more.

Does se anyone with the vision racks use heat tape instead of the heat cable? Ambient room temp is 76°. Thermostat is set at 101° and heat gun registers between 86-91 degrees in the hot spot. Too much fluctuation for me.

The specific rack I am talking about is the 1756 32 quart model.

[Warren_Booth]

I have thought about this one a lot recently. I wrap my vision racks in insulation board from Lowes (the 1" think pink foam stuff). This certainly helps hold heat, but I find that the cable alone is still to weak. As such, I plan to with install 4" heat tape on each row. I will likely have to use the Dremel to remove some plastic, or I could use 12" heat tape and install it on the back of the rack between the insulation and the tubs. I will let you know when I do this and the outcome. The later option sound like the most practical right now.

Warren

[blk02ssmonte]

When I built my rack I used 6" THG heat tape. It's flat and the tub can slide right over it and I had no issues with heat. Although I had 8 levels and used 8 separate pieces all spliced together, looks like you could use one continuous piece as long as the stat can handle the watts, otherwise might have to use 2. If you don't want the tape showing on the sides(I thought it looked trashy that's why I made 8 separate pieces) Then just make the pieces, and splice them. Besides that I think you have better heating surface to heat with than just one small cable.

Like Warren said you could do back heat...I preferred belly heat. IMO that gives you more surface heat. There are many ways that you will have to figure out what works best for you.

[bproffer]

I have 1/2" rigid foam insulation in the sides. I think I'll go the 4" heat tape route. It is flat enough I can slide the tubs over it without too much worry and I can put the thermostat probe in the space beneath the tape.