Heat Tape Mishap (pics and questions)

[zx92027xz]

Sorry the images are so big... but i need help quickly.

i woke up and the tubs were cold, i checked out the tape and it was melted to really badly. i have pics of the wiring, and the tape itself.

(the system ran fine, nonstop, for about 2 months...) then this...

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...eatTape005.jpg

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...eatTape003.jpg

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...eatTape001.jpg

i have 2 more unused levels, so i just have to plug the heat tape into the thermostat and put the snakes in the tubs, but i am hesitant to do so, as i dont want to light anything on fire, or risk the snakes.

additional info...

thermostat set to 91
room temp about 70
heat tape was the only heating element for the rack.
theres almost no seperation between bottom of tub and top of heating element.

id appreciate any help... i just want to know how this happened and what i can do to prevent it from happening again...

[littleindiangirl]

What kinda thermostat are you using? It sounds like it failed to shut off... and if thats the case, dont hook up your tape to it until you can do some tests to see if in fact it was the thermostat

[chimpkin]

This is not the first time I have seen pictures of failed Flexwatt. It could be your thermostat but that doesn't seem like a valid excuse for that kind of failure. You should be able to plug flexwatt directly into the wall socket and not have that happen.

Flexwatt is made by Calorique and they make a similar product for under floor heating. Imagine if that happened in your under floor heating.

I would contact the manufacturer about the issue. It doesn't seem anything you did was wrong.

[ctrlfreq]

i woke up and the tubs were cold, i checked out the tape and it was melted to really badly... i just want to know how this happened and what i can do to prevent it from happening again...

Did you have your thermostat plugged into a surge protector? Also, have you experienced any power outages recently?

In either case, I would consider the entire setup compromised at this point, and replace it. Don't trust the remaining tape (since it could be a fab issue), or the thermostat, and replace it all asap. Additionally, I would have someone look at the circuit in your house, and make sure the breaker trips as expected on a short, since not doing so could over-amp your gear, and at this point is also a suspect as the potential source of your problem.

[Bright202]

Sorry the images are so big... but i need help quickly.

i woke up and the tubs were cold, i checked out the tape and it was melted to really badly. i have pics of the wiring, and the tape itself.

(the system ran fine, nonstop, for about 2 months...) then this...

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...eatTape005.jpg

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...eatTape003.jpg

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...eatTape001.jpg

i have 2 more unused levels, so i just have to plug the heat tape into the thermostat and put the snakes in the tubs, but i am hesitant to do so, as i dont want to light anything on fire, or risk the snakes.

additional info...

thermostat set to 91
room temp about 70
heat tape was the only heating element for the rack.
theres almost no seperation between bottom of tub and top of heating element.

id appreciate any help... i just want to know how this happened and what i can do to prevent it from happening again...

Okay well I'm not sure if this is right, but I read that this can happen is there is thermal blocking or something like that? I'm not an expert but I would defiantly call the manufacturer or someone to get things resolved and so this won't happen again!

[Nate]

How are your snakes doing? I hope none of them were burned I hope everything is OK.

[ivylea77]

What kind of thermostat?

[lord jackel]

Here is my logic - the first pic shows 2 seperate pieces of flexwatt (that are wired in parallel) both showing signs of excessive heat...which makes me believe that it is not the flexwatt that is the issue. Unlikely that 2 seperate pieces both had the same issue at the same time. Also, the flexwatt if plugged directly into the wall should only heat to about 140 degrees on its own which isn't enough to melt it - again unless a surge or power spike occured which forced more current into it.

So that leads me to either blame the thermostat - I forgot which one you said you were using?

Or...what ever the brown cords are plugged into? I assume since the rack has more then 2 shelves you are running the brown cords to a multi plug extention cord (then to a thermostat)? So this could be the issue to if you got some sort of surge or spike into the system. Since the flexwatt isn't burned up and you said the tubs were cold it shut itself down at some point...so a spike is more than likily the cause...now you need to track down the how and why.

Again this is just my fuzzy logic at work.

BTW...it looks like the rack turned out really well. I never saw finished pictures after we had talked about how to build it.

[aaajohnson]

Sorry the images are so big... but i need help quickly.

i woke up and the tubs were cold, i checked out the tape and it was melted to really badly. i have pics of the wiring, and the tape itself.

(the system ran fine, nonstop, for about 2 months...) then this...

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...eatTape005.jpg

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...eatTape003.jpg

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...eatTape001.jpg

i have 2 more unused levels, so i just have to plug the heat tape into the thermostat and put the snakes in the tubs, but i am hesitant to do so, as i dont want to light anything on fire, or risk the snakes.

additional info...

thermostat set to 91
room temp about 70
heat tape was the only heating element for the rack.
theres almost no seperation between bottom of tub and top of heating element.

id appreciate any help... i just want to know how this happened and what i can do to prevent it from happening again...

I see 2 problems.

#1 It looks like the cut ends of the flexwatt have not been taped over. Unless you used some sort of clear electrical tape???

and/or

#2 Did you have the reflectix on top of the flexwatt? I would sure think this would cause overheating problems as reflectix is designed to reflect 99% of the heat energy or something. Looks like you maybe between the reflectix and the tin you had nowhere for the heat to go.

Neil

[West Coast Jungle]

What is the purpose of the reflector tape stuff! The flexxwatt needs to breath a little or it will overheat. What kind of t-stat? The pet store ones are garbage and it leads me to believe that's what may have been used. The cheapest I would go is a Ranco or Johnson.