Small thermostat question

[sufficio]

Hey, so I've been using a heat lamp up until now, but I caved and bought an UTH and themostat and I am definitely never going back. I love the level of control I have. I have one question, should the probe go into the substrate or in the air/on the side of the tub? It's in the substrate at the moment. Currently I have it set at 95, but the substrate temp is reading at 88. Worth noting, I also have a low powered heat lamp over the whole tub to keep the ambient temps up. I just wasn't sure where to put the probe for accurate temp settings.

Funnily enough, I couldn't find a good UTH and thermostat anywhere in town, until someone recommended, of all things, a hemp growing supply shop. Good ole Canada. But sure enough they had exactly what I needed

[jmcrook]

Definitely want to get it out of the substrate and off the floor of the enclosure. The reason being is that if the snake pees on it, dumps its water, moves the substrate off the probe, or moves the probe somewhere else it will give an inaccurate reading and tell the heating element to either increase or decrease power incorrectly. I would put the stat probe either hanging under the CHE about halfway down or against the back wall around the same height. I have mine hanging about halfway under my RHPs and set at 84*-85* (just barely behind the RHPs) and they give me hot spots around 89*. It will take a bit of time to dial in your temps this way but once you've got it set up you're pretty much squared away. Try the different probe placements and let it ride for an hour or two and then take temps with an infrared temp gun and adjust the thermostat up or down to hit your target temps. Hope this helps!

[sufficio]

Awesome, that's exactly what I needed to know! It has a suction cup so it's easy to just stick it to the wall. Thanks so much for the help!

[jmcrook]

Hey! I just reread your post and realized I misread UTH for CHE for some ridiculous reason. With an under tank heater you want the thermostat probe outside the enclosure between the bottom of the cage and the pad itself. Set it for about 90*, check temps, and adjust accordingly. I think I went on autopilot and read CHE because you had mentioned using lamps previously. Also worth noting that your UTH will do approximately nothing to keep ambient temps up. It just provides a hot spot. Sorry for the confusion! However if you do ever use a Radiant Heat Panel or Ceramic Heat Emitter follow my previous suggestions for probe placement and such. Again sorry for the mixup! (Credit to PitOnTheProwl for the drawing)

[sufficio]

Oooh, that makes more sense =) Thanks a bunch for the help! The UTH is doing wonders, my ambient temps were okay, but the hot spot was just 5-10 degrees too cold at all times so this provides exactly what we need.

[PitOnTheProwl]

(Credit to PitOnTheProwl for the drawing)

Even when I'm not here, I'm here to help.