Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm thinking of using heat tape, the kind sold by the foot, in my reptile room, now that I have all-metal shelves set up for housing reptile enclosures. Does anyone have a good link or article on how to use this stuff? It sounds econimical, or at least will take up less outlets in a room, if I can connect three layers of shelving to one outlet, or this this a pipe dream? I know there's some way to attach a thermostate to it. I'm a dunce when it comes to electricity (damn good with dry wall repair, though), so the more detailed the information, the better.

Katrina

Well, you gotta get a thermostat, which will determine the amount of heat tape which you can plug into one outlet. Heat tape carries a certain number of watts per foot, I think mine is 11 per foot, but yours may be different so ask the person you got it from. Your thermostat or rheostat will state on the package the number of watts it can hold. Just multiply the watts per foot times how many feet you have and make sure it's less than that number. That's what I did and nothing has burst into flames yet. Which is really good for me considering my track record.

(If you decide to put a dimmer switch on your outlet instead of buying a thermostat I don't know how that works as far as wattage goes)
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Eryx - All the fun of a boa in a convenient pocket size!

>>If you decide to put a dimmer switch on your outlet instead of buying a thermostat I don't know how that works as far as wattage goes)""

Most dimmers can handle around 300 watts. It would take alot of flex-watt to blow it. Most also have a fusible link so they just stop working instead of bursting into flames.

I do have a friend that has a piece of melted flex-watt tacked to his wall. No idea how it overheated. It wasn't routed through a thermostat or a dimmer though. Scary, but I still use it. Any other stories of flex-watt malfunction?
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Martin Whalin
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>>I'm thinking of using heat tape, the kind sold by the foot, in my reptile room, now that I have all-metal shelves set up for housing reptile enclosures. Does anyone have a good link or article on how to use this stuff? It sounds econimical, or at least will take up less outlets in a room, if I can connect three layers of shelving to one outlet, or this this a pipe dream? I know there's some way to attach a thermostate to it. I'm a dunce when it comes to electricity (damn good with dry wall repair, though), so the more detailed the information, the better.
>>
>>Katrina

What you are looking for is very doable. I know if you order from BeanFarm that they send a handy info sheet with the flexwatt. There is some info here too...
http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/flexwire.shtml

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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

Thanks for the great website. Now, what if I want to connect three shelves worth of Flexwatt into each other before plugging into the wall? Can I just strip the male and female ends of an extension cord and attach that some how to the Flexwatt?

Katrina

another possibility would be to heat the entire room to the desired temperature.i don't want to throw a monkey wrench into your plans,but it's something to think about.a oil filled radiator type heater (available from the large retailers,wal mart etc.) would raise room temps and could be controlled by a thermostat.of coarse the room would need to be sealed off.if you go the flexwatt route the bean farm and big apple folks are great to work with.

Well, I'd like to have at least one shelving unit with heat tape on all shelves - for box turtles and breeder roaches. Still one cord per shelf is better than multiple heat lamps.

Katrina

>>Thanks for the great website. Now, what if I want to connect three shelves worth of Flexwatt into each other before plugging into the wall? Can I just strip the male and female ends of an extension cord and attach that some how to the Flexwatt?
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>>Katrina

Okay, if they all need the same settings....I do this. I take the flexwatt in the lengths I need. I wire the plug cord to them. Then I take a three outlet extension cord and wire a dimmer switch into it. (same would work with a thermostat) then plug the tapes into the extension. Plug it into the wall and off you go.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

OK, which leads to the question, how do you wire up a thermostat? Like I said, I have NO clue about electrical work. But, I'm definately going to get a few feet of flexwatt, even if I only have it on one or two shelves.

Katrin