Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I was hoping for some advice/opinions from the members here. With the cold weather coming on i need to bump up the temps in my snake room. I have an oil filled radiator heater that i had planned to use. It has a built in thermostat but i dont want to trust my snakes or home to it.
What type of thermostat would be best? I use proportional Helixs on my cages. Would they work for the heater or would an on/off one be better?

Thanks,

Scott
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Scott

4.4 BCI
1.2 Hogg Island
0.1 Longicauda
1.0 Pastel BP

Does it have a thermostat or a rheostat? I say this cause most I've seen don't have an actual thermostat all three of mine have rheostats.

Either way a simple on/off like a Johnston or a Ranco would be cheap and easy to wire. Where as the 24v units would be a bit more difficult to do so.

I plan to wire mine to a spare Ranco this winter.
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0.2 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic
0.0.3 Normal

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

I believe its a Rheo, either way its not enough. Do you just set your heater to a high temp then adjust it only on the supplemental thermostat?
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Scott

4.4 BCI
1.2 Hogg Island
0.1 Longicauda
1.0 Pastel BP

>>I believe its a Rheo, either way its not enough. Do you just set your heater to a high temp then adjust it only on the supplemental thermostat?

No I run both of mine at 750 rather than 1500 watts but it will be maxed on the rheostat once the ranco gets hooked up. You can set the rheo lower to act as a back-up in case of thermostat failure. However it is my experiance that Ranco ETC-111000's fail in the off position.

I also feel a proportional is overkill for a heat source that is providing indirect cage heat.
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0.2 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic
0.0.3 Normal

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

Yeah, ON/OFF is the best choice for this application.

If you really want to play it safe, get two (2) thermostats and wire them in series (the Normally Open contact of thermostat #1 relay gets wired to the Common contact of thermostat #2 relay).

Set one thermostat at your target temperature, and set the other just a few degrees higher as your failsafe. Do this and you will truly have peace of mind.

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Mark