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How to heat my rack?

Missymonkey

Missymonkey

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Rack as in rack housing system :p

My husband and I built a rack system out of melamine and sterilite tubs. Now we don't really know how to heat it. I can't find flexwatt around here and no one's ever heard of it. I have found pipe cables but I don't know if they will get hot enough. They are suppose to keep your pipes from freezing but that doesn't necessarily mean that they get significantly hot.

Any sugguestions are welcome. I also would like info on what type of rheostats you guys use. I haven't a clue what to use. I have used a dimmer switch that is suppose to be for lamps but that isn't too accurate.

It's just important because I live in Wisconsin and it's friggin cold here!!!

Thanks

Missy
 
heating for rack system

hey you can get flexwatt at big apple herp in new york at really good prices.
Hope that helps
Billie Rederth
Native Reptiles
 
There are numerous suppliers of flexwatt on the net. I've always gotten mine from the Bean Farm.
I wouldn't use anything else to heat a rack myself.
 
You will have trouble finding it locally. You can use any type of 2-pole dimmer. The reason they are not accurate is because they set to one place and supply that amount of current no matter what the temps are in the room. So flexwatt wil rise and fall with the flux in the room. A thermostat is the best way to go with flexwatt or any heating element except bulbs.. Hope this helps,
-Matt
 
I live in Wisconsin,... no Big Apple store's here. Thanks though :)

I just don't want to pay an arm and a leg for this stuff. But I guess I may just need to bite the bullet.

Any brand names on thermostats/rheostats that you guys have used and found work well?
 
I live in Wisconsin,... no Big Apple store's here. Thanks though
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure Big Apple Herp ships, even to Wisconsin :idea: .

You don't have to pay an arm and a leg... Heat tape and heat cable are all cheap. And shipping isn't terribly expensive either.
 
It might take some work ,

but i have ALWAYS used the plumbers pipe heat tape and now they have rheostats capacity. Of course there was no other way in the olden days of the late 60ties and 70ties. I sometimes " grooved " the back end of the slots ( mine wasn't divided though except for shelves ) and ran the tape back and fourth form one shelve to the next shelve. Then when it wasn't possible to do that, i tacked the tape at the back about lower mid-center. Of course the only cut that I had to make on using this technique was a slot at both ends of the shelves to allow the tape to be utilized from shelve to shelve. The last one i bought was at a West Lake hardware store with thermostat and the cost was around $22 and it was like 50 feet or so. I know they had smaller lengths and larger lengths as well. Yes, the ones that I found was capable of a range of temperature from 60 to 80 somewhat but had a built in " over heat " shut off. In fact we used these many times on our crocodilians in our stock tanks by duct taping them to the under neath outside bottom. AND that was definitely in the early 70ties. The only problem was they didn't come with thermostats or rheostats in those days and we had to hard wire one in. Hey, it worked !
 
I checked out Big Apple Herps very cool! I am glad to see that it won't be such a hassle to heat it. My husband is trying to piece it together from stuff at our local Hardware store but they don't have directions for what we are doing. So I worry.

Now is heat rope better than tape? I am thinking that rope may be the best fit for my situation since you can't reall bend tape into flat Us on the back panel of the shelving unit. I'm pretty sure I could drill a groove in the back of my shelves for the heat rope though. It's just a matter of taking the back panel off and doing it. Blagh!

You can tell I like handling snakes much better than carpentry.

Oh well C'est la vie des serpantes!
 
Ok hubby and I finished the rack and although it isn't perfect I think it'll do the job!

We buckled down and bought flexwatt since that seems to be most practical and everyone uses it. We put a dimmer switch like you use for lights on it and have been tweeking it so it's the right temp.

The hubby just bought red ear sliders and put them in the rack too but I'm worried that it's too hot. So far they seem ok though and not much evaporation either.

Everyone in the rack seems much happier. Almost everybody ate last night and they are more active today than they have been in awhile.

It looks pretty good too.

I don't think I'm going to use it for hatchling corns though because the tubs have a little lip where the "handle" is and I can picture them sqweezing out.

Now I just have to fill the rest of the tubs with new stock!!! All the better reason to build another rack!

thanks for all the help
Missy :dancer01:
 
Flexwatt

I agree Flexwatt is the way to go. I have used it on all my racks and the nice thing is it can be installed with foil tape.
Greg
 
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