Lesson learned.. get your proportional thermostats!!!

[OhhWatALoser]

Every thomostat is different and every thermostat can fail. There are cases of herpstats failing in the on position, there's not one brand with a 100% reliability record.

However I bet herpstats fail at a far less rate than a hydrofarm. When it comes to cheap thermostats, it seems hydrofarm fail at a far less rate than all the others. Even the clones which obviously is not the same thermostat. There is a reason they are the recommended cheap thermostat.

The OP is attacking the wrong thing. You can get crap proportional stat as well. There are on offs that have good track records, there are people who run multi thousand dollar collections off rancos. Did you know any modern herpstat can be turned into an on off in the settings?

It's tough but it's also not a good idea to base how good a product is based off of your experience alone. There people who think herpstats are garbage from having problems, just like there are people who think the Amazon specials are awesome because they never had a problem.

Get a thermostat with a track record you are comfortable with is what it comes down to. Personally I wouldn't run anything but herpstat or Helix, far too much money time and energy invested in this hobby to not use what has the best track record.

[Lizardlicks]

I used a Hydrofarm for a couple years and still have it as my back up/quarantine/portable. Upgraded to a herpstat 2 for my main collection as soon as I had some change to spare, but for a $35 piece of equipment, the Hydrofarm does fine, and I'll probably continue to find use for it. I imagine since plants have growing seasons, hydrofarms aren't meant to be used year round 24/7, so you can probably extend the life by upgrading to something else and just using it as a back up.

[distaff]

I thought Herpstat was designed so it could NOT fail on the On position?

One of my VE's turned out to be a lemon. Ticked about that, and had to use a spare HydroFarm in its place.
Waste of money!

Would like to get another snake, but need to upgrade the three I have to Herpstats first. I don't like the Hydro temp swing, but it has proven to me to be the more reliable t-stat.

I've heard of chaining two for a backup, but never done it.

[OhhWatALoser]

I've heard of chaining two for a backup, but never done it.

The back up thermostat has to be on off type. The heat source plugs into the main thermostat, its temp is set. The main plugs into the backup, which is set for a higher temp but still not unsafe 5 degrees or so. That plugs into the wall. So your back up should always be on, but in the event the main fails on it should eventually get cut by the back up.

[distaff]

Thanks. Makes sense.

I e-mailed Herpstat about the possibility of failing while On. Will see what they say. Acc to the site, the Herpstat1, at $119 (or so) doesn't have the "safety relay." I am ordering one this week - which one, depends on what they tell me. Just need this one to regulate one UTH for the rosy boa.

[GoingPostal]

I'm super paranoid about cooking a snake. I ran a dimmer type thermostat when I first got my ball, ended with a slight burn at one point, not a risk I am willing to repeat. I have herpstats with the alarms set running on all my cages, each cage has both a rhp and flexwatt so I could run either or both as needed and the room itself is heated (controlled by another thermostat) so the cage heat doesn't have to work as hard or at all in some cases, just providing a hot spot usually. Digital thermometers on both sides of cages to quick check and a temp gun to directly double check all areas. Snakes checked on 2x a day. I have controllers running most of my aquarium heaters at this point too since I've had a couple of those stick on or die and cost me livestock.