Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 10'x8' shed where I house my Savannah Monitor, Salmon Boa and Hisser Roaches. The roaches and Boa have UTHs on their enclosures. The monitor has 3 halogens on a timer from 7 am to 7 pm. I live in So Cal but the night time drops are starting to get down in the 50's. I have insulated the shed with Reflectix and only get a low of 65 right now. I don't want to get that much lower. I am not worried abotu the snake or roaches as the UTH should keep the nighttime temps ideal. I bought a 60W Ceramic Heat Element for the monitor cage, but its a 8x3x2 cage and I am wondering if it would be more efficient, safe and logical to heat the whole shed to keep it around 70. ARe space heaters safe and effective? What is the cheapest, safest, and most effective option?

Thanks for your help

What is the cheapest, safest, and most effective option?

The oil filled radiator style heaters are still the best option given your three criteria.

I highly doubt you will need to run the heater at full power but I would still get a thermostat designed to handle the max wattage of the heater you pick out. Ranco and Johnson Controls seem to be the most popular.

One other option would be to search for a 4x2 RHP online. I have seen scratch and dent sales once in a blue moon. I suspect that will still cost quite a bit more than a space heater, however. But it's certainly the ideal way to do it and a 4x2 RHP should be more than enough for a shed in San Diego.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

How reliable are the built in thermostats for the oil filled radiators?

>>How reliable are the built in thermostats for the oil filled radiators?

Perfect timing for me with this thread.

I am about to purchase a space heater for my herp room(bedroom) and was wondering whether to get the one with built in digital thermostat or the simple dial adjustment.

I was wondering why so many recommend the external t-stat in front of the heater.

Thanks for starting this thread.

Trust me, put one of the mentioned thermostats on the heater as a failsafe. The built-in thermostats are not nearly as reliable as a Ranco or Johnson. This setup is very effective at heating rooms the size of which you are dealing with.

I really like the RHP idea. Those are your safest bet but more expensive. I will guess that with 2 of the 11x17 sized panels, and with the shed insulated as you said it is, you can maintain an ambient temp comfortable for the animals. I think each panel would be around $90 new, and that comes with a nice housing for mounting to the ceiling. Very simple, safe and low profile.

And you know, worst case, if the panels didn't work out so well, you can use one in your boa cage (and you wouldn't need the heat pad anymore) and one in your monitor cage.
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Mark

>>Trust me, put one of the mentioned thermostats on the heater as a failsafe. The built-in thermostats are not nearly as reliable as a Ranco or Johnson. This setup is very effective at heating rooms the size of which you are dealing with.
>>

OK, your saying to put the Johnson/Ranco ahead of the heater as a fail to on safety by setting it a few degrees higher than the heater t-stat?

Or do you mean to use it as the main temp control by setting the heater t-stat wide open and letting the Johnson/Ranco control the output?

Neither. I use the accessory Tstat as the primary heat control and have the wattage and built-in Tstat set just a bit higher than desired temps -- not wide open.

I have used three or four different oil-filled heaters and all had separate wattage and thermostatic control. Most are like 700, 1000 & 1500 watts. I have not used any with the digital temperature readout.

I have only rarely needed to set these heaters at 1500 watts and have used them during winters in Cleveland, Nebraska, Colorado & South Dakota.

BTW, I have also ran a multi-strip off of my primary Tstat and then plugged both the heater and a box fan into it so the fan would turn on only when the heater was running.

These heaters do not produce any significant convection current so the fan does little to disperse the heat. But it is nice to have some air movement and an audible indicator of how often the heater is having to run to achieve your desired temps. If it gets really cold and you hear the fan running all the time it might mean you have to turn up the wattage on the heater.

A friend of mine in South Dakota walled off the front of his two car garage and heated it to the low 70's during the winter with two of these heaters. This was without doing anything to the slab. The heaters had to run full open all the time but it was comfortable in the garage.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

I agree with Chris. Set the wattage control on the lowest setting (I think it is 700 watts on most).

The Ranco/Johnson can be what you use as your control thermostat. The wall power goes through this thermostat (Normally Open contact) to the heater. The onboard thermostat can be set for 2-3 deg higher than the Ranco.

Some folks use the onboard thermostat as the primary controller, then set the Ranco about 2 deg higher as a failsafe. Either way is OK really. The important thing here is that you have a failsafe thermostat that prevents overheating, because the thermostats used on the inexpensive home-use heaters are not the best in terms of life-cycle.
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Mark

I have only used them when I just needed a bit of supplemental room heat in very large rooms during the winter. Otherwise I always run them with an accessory Tstat.

A Ranco or JC thermostat will be something you can always use if you're keeping herps. And they seem to hold their value from the few I have seen on the used market. Buy one and sleep better at night.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback