Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last night, I was thinking about laminating some heat tape, to make it waterproof. I was thinking I'd laminate the whole piece, and either leave the end where the wires attach unlaminated, or laminating them, and scoring the part where the wires would need to attach. I have a store bought heat pad that was torn apart when I got it, and under that layer of cardboard, I found that it looks like it's just a piece of flexwatt with the wires attached to the head pad with metal rivets driven through, instead of clips. Is that what this stuff is? Would using rivets work on normal flexwatt? If so, I could laminate the whole piece, then run rivets through, and cover the connections with silicone.
If I can't do rivets, I could seal it all the way up to the connectors, and leave a bit of plastic extra, connect the wires via clips, and silicone the plastic shut at the end to seal it.
Does anyone see a problem with this? Is laminating plastic known to be flammable, or will it melt?
If it would work, I could make completely waterproof heat pads that I could put in any of my cages, rather than trying to tape up flexwatt under & between cages in a stack of cages.

This was just an idea I had, and I'd like to think it through before doing it, and see if anyone's done the same thing.

Does it have to be submersible, or just water-resistant, like able to withstand some moisture and an occasional spill?

The thing you have to question is how good of a job you will do laminating. I mean, your idea is possible, but only if you can ensure complete encapsulation of the heater and connections. I wouldn't put any heater in or near water if the connector wasn't also water-resistant/water-proof to some degree.

That is why all water-proof or water-resistant heaters I know of are made a heat element coated in silicon (or a glass tube in the case of aquarium heaters) and the connector covered as well. Silicon withstands high heat and is very tough.

The Bean Farm (among others) www.beanfarm.com sells completely waterproof heat cable. This is a heat element with extruded silicon around it. It is very effective.

Check out www.omega.com and look in the Electric Heaters section for flexible heaters. The only water-resistant rated heaters you will see are silicon-extruded heat tapes and other silicon-coated heat mats. I have one of those (too hot, you need to put 2 in series to make it herp-safe.)