I'm building a small rack, just 6 three gallon tubs on two shelves, using 3in flexwatt to heat it. The bean farm website has dimmers they say work great with flexwatt. I'm wondering if I should go with that or a regular on/off thermostat? At this point I'm not going to be able to get a proportional, hopefully in a few months. Will an on/off type thermostat work, or will I be better off with the constant heat controlled by a dimmer or reostat? I've not worked with racks before so not sure how to go. Thanks.
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Darin
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Dimmer or thermostat
dmacl
Jun 16, 2004 12:44 PM
Replies (3)
markg
Jun 17, 2004 06:57 PM
IMO, ON/OFF controllers don't give you the best control in a rack. Better to use a dimmer until you get your proportional controller.
If you want, you can use a dimmer plugged into the ON/OFF thermostat for additional safety if the air temp in the rack gets too high while you're away.
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Mark 
dmacl
Jun 18, 2004 10:42 AM
So if I use a dimmer and a thermostat I would plug the dimmer into the thermostat? Then set the thermostat a bit higher than my high temp so it would shut off if it got that high? This is my first rack, and I'm finding that racks seem to work a little differently than my individual cages do. Thanks for the response Mark.
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Darin
artfan1
Jun 18, 2004 03:28 PM
Funny thing. My opinion is just the opposite.
I hate dimmer switches. Yea, they work and are a little cheaper. By far your best bet is a proportional thermostat. But in place of that, an on/off thermostat will adjust to the ambient room temps.
For example, what happens if your at work/school/whatever, and your air conditioner quits working. Well, the dimmer hasn't a clue. And doesn't really care about the temp of the tub. So it just keeps applying electricity to the heat tape and in some cases could cause an over heating. Or a fire. Since the dimmer or rheo doesn't have a probe to sample the temps, it just keeps on going. Same if it suddenly got to cold in the room. It's doesn't kick in and warm things to fix that either. So if it's winter and your dimmer is set to a medium setting and your furnace quits, it won't warm up to offset the cold temps.
At least a on/off thermostat will. I have proportionals on my main racks. But all my hatchling racks, holding racks, etc. have simple on/off thermos. And they rarely fluctuate 1/2 a degree. Even in the midwest where now, our outside temps go from one extreme to another every other day. Again, just my opinion.
Troy Dozier
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