Stat Broken! Can I use a light dimmer till I get a new one?

[zail]

Hi there,

Have been using an on off stat for the UTH mat on my viv - but it has broken and I'm worried that my UTH mat will get too hot! I have an on/off timer that I can use in the interim but I also wondered if I could use one of these on a temp basis (I have one for dimming a table lamp...):

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...l%3FMyEbayBeta

When I buy a replacement would I be best with an on/off, a dimmer or a proportional pulse stat for UTH mat use?

Thanks for any help

[ubecrew610]

i used one till my ranco showed up, it is just really difficult to hold a steady temp and u really need to watch it.

[zail]

Will it be better than trying to regulate with the on/off timer? Currently have the on/ off timer on there and temp is fluctuating quite a lot.. might be a few days before I can get a new stat ....

[ubecrew610]

if you are talking about a timer like (9am to 5pm) then yes, but i am kind of confused. with the dimmer u can control the amount of power the pad will get and a timer will just turn it on at a certain time and then back off again. so im my opinion use the dimmer

[zail]

Yes, I was talking about a timer - one that lets you turn on/off in 15 min intervals which I was using as I thought it would approximate the action of the on/off stat (although without the functionality of monitoring the temp) - I wasn't sure wether I could use the dimmer switch with the UTH mat or whether it would damage it as most people seem to use on/off rather than dimmer stats with UTH.. maybe that's a price thing?

[ubecrew610]

I know i didn't have any problems. but that may just be me.

[takagari]

the dimmer is fine. lots of people use them for the whole duration!

as for your new one. buy proportional. a lot nicer. I did a fair bit of research and the concensus seems to point towards the spider robotics ones

but use the dimmer. set it a tad low and just keep an eye on it.