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Two quick pictures of my garge snake room

chris_harper2 Apr 17, 2005 11:10 AM

Had some space on the digital and snapped these this this AM.

The weird effect on the wall is neither my horrible drywall job nor some modern faux-finish. It's just a camera/lighting effect.

The long tan units on the upper walls are some radiant cove heaters. More about those later.

Overal I'm pretty happy. I have ten outlets on their own 20 amp circuit. Two overhead lights, a ceiling fan, and a very powerful exhaust fan are on another circuit in the garage. The two Radiant Cover heaters are 750 watts each and on their own 220V circuit. That means I can heat that room to 85* in the deal of winter with just about 6 amps. Pretty good.

My vertical temperature gradiant is only two degrees, mostly because of the reflective insulation in the floor and the ceiling fan run on reverse.

The room is only 9'x17' which should be just about right for the cages I plan to build. I would have liked it bigger but I really needed to leave enough space in the garage fora third vehicle if necessary.

Regarding the cove heat.

I originally designed my room around three 2'x4' ProProducts Radiant Heat Panels. They would have been more than enough to heat my room.

I had their location marked out on the ceiling with pencil before my electrician came over. When he got their I explained what they were and he seemed surprised I wasn't using the Radiant Cover Heaters available from our local energy supplier.

Having no idea what he was talking about, I started asking around. Turns out my neighbor works for the company and was able to get me two of these 750 watt units for very little money. The heat resistant enamel finish on these is very susceptible to staining so anytime a package is damaged they don't both selling them. What can happen is that once turned on fingerprints or other stains can show up after the heaters have burned in for a while. Employees can buy these well below cost and take the risk that these stains will show up.

To make a long story short, I got these for a freaky low price and no stains have turned up.

But I don't really like them but will keep them given the price. I'm not supposed to say what I paid for them, but it was VERY cheap.

The big issues is that their surface temperature gets up to about 300* F, meaning I can't really get any cage very close. The other issue is that they produce a very slight convection current so I have to run my ceiling fan 24 hours a day to achieve the 2* vertical temperature gradiant.

With the Propanels I would have had more effective wall space, no concerns with surface heat, and would not have needed the ceiling fan to acheive the same minimal gradiant.

The ProPanels also would have used about 300 less watts so eventually they would have paid for themselves, but given my price difference it would have taken a long time.

This post is really not meant to be about ProProducts, but I do need to give a lot of credit to Bob at Proproducts anyways. He was very helpful with designing and insulating my snake room around his heaters and I learned a lot from him.

Needless to say every RHP, misting system, or permetrin product I need from now on will come from ProProducts.

-----
Current snakes:

0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

Replies (9)

Thomas j Apr 17, 2005 11:57 AM

Looks great. I like the vision style caging. Where did you get the tubing from? Very nice set up

>>Had some space on the digital and snapped these this this AM.
>>
>>The weird effect on the wall is neither my horrible drywall job nor some modern faux-finish. It's just a camera/lighting effect.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>The long tan units on the upper walls are some radiant cove heaters. More about those later.
>>
>>Overal I'm pretty happy. I have ten outlets on their own 20 amp circuit. Two overhead lights, a ceiling fan, and a very powerful exhaust fan are on another circuit in the garage. The two Radiant Cover heaters are 750 watts each and on their own 220V circuit. That means I can heat that room to 85* in the deal of winter with just about 6 amps. Pretty good.
>>
>>My vertical temperature gradiant is only two degrees, mostly because of the reflective insulation in the floor and the ceiling fan run on reverse.
>>
>>The room is only 9'x17' which should be just about right for the cages I plan to build. I would have liked it bigger but I really needed to leave enough space in the garage fora third vehicle if necessary.
>>
>>Regarding the cove heat.
>>
>>I originally designed my room around three 2'x4' ProProducts Radiant Heat Panels. They would have been more than enough to heat my room.
>>
>>I had their location marked out on the ceiling with pencil before my electrician came over. When he got their I explained what they were and he seemed surprised I wasn't using the Radiant Cover Heaters available from our local energy supplier.
>>
>>Having no idea what he was talking about, I started asking around. Turns out my neighbor works for the company and was able to get me two of these 750 watt units for very little money. The heat resistant enamel finish on these is very susceptible to staining so anytime a package is damaged they don't both selling them. What can happen is that once turned on fingerprints or other stains can show up after the heaters have burned in for a while. Employees can buy these well below cost and take the risk that these stains will show up.
>>
>>To make a long story short, I got these for a freaky low price and no stains have turned up.
>>
>>But I don't really like them but will keep them given the price. I'm not supposed to say what I paid for them, but it was VERY cheap.
>>
>>The big issues is that their surface temperature gets up to about 300* F, meaning I can't really get any cage very close. The other issue is that they produce a very slight convection current so I have to run my ceiling fan 24 hours a day to achieve the 2* vertical temperature gradiant.
>>
>>With the Propanels I would have had more effective wall space, no concerns with surface heat, and would not have needed the ceiling fan to acheive the same minimal gradiant.
>>
>>The ProPanels also would have used about 300 less watts so eventually they would have paid for themselves, but given my price difference it would have taken a long time.
>>
>>This post is really not meant to be about ProProducts, but I do need to give a lot of credit to Bob at Proproducts anyways. He was very helpful with designing and insulating my snake room around his heaters and I learned a lot from him.
>>
>>Needless to say every RHP, misting system, or permetrin product I need from now on will come from ProProducts.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>-----
>>Current snakes:
>>
>>0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)
>>
>>1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)
>>
>>7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)
>>
>>0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)
-----
Thomas Jones
aligatorhunter@cox.net

chris_harper2 Apr 17, 2005 01:17 PM

Thomas,

I got the Vision style rack from.... Vision! LOL.

As you know I researched building my own racks from aluminum tubing and nylon connectors. To make a long story short, what I found was that building my own would not save much money percentage-wise and that I could not touch some of the design features that the Vision had.

The most impressive of those are the 4 way connectors that have an offset built into one direction. Then the aluminum extrusions have a channel built not only for the Iris boxes, but also the plastic tops for each level.

Between the offset and the channel those plastic tops end up being supported around 100% of the perimeter and don't need any additional hardware to hold them.

That probably does not make sense the way I wrote it, but I can tell you that it's very slick.

It also allows for the same lightweight plastic to be inserted into the sides/back if one wants an enclosed rack. I did not so I just got the regular rack.

Sorry for the lengthy reply, but I figured you'd be interested since we had discussed this previously.
-----
Current snakes:

0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

chris_harper2 Apr 17, 2005 01:26 PM

Thomas,

The part of DIY aluminum racks that really deterred me was the cost and amount of support needed for DIY aluminum tracks.

Since I wanted a rack that could be easily taken apart and reassembled I really didn't want to have to riven aluminum corner angle and aluminum supports to my rack.

It's all the misc. aluminum that really ended up costing a lot, at least back when I priced the components for these racks.
-----
Current snakes:

0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

Thomas j Apr 17, 2005 04:43 PM

Thanks for the info. Once I figured it all up it is not worth it to build one myself. Good looking set up. Vision might give Freedom Breeders a run for the money with them racks.

>>Thomas,
>>
>>The part of DIY aluminum racks that really deterred me was the cost and amount of support needed for DIY aluminum tracks.
>>
>>Since I wanted a rack that could be easily taken apart and reassembled I really didn't want to have to riven aluminum corner angle and aluminum supports to my rack.
>>
>>It's all the misc. aluminum that really ended up costing a lot, at least back when I priced the components for these racks.
>>-----
>>Current snakes:
>>
>>0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)
>>
>>1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)
>>
>>7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)
>>
>>0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)
-----
Thomas Jones
aligatorhunter@cox.net

Dogbert0051 Apr 18, 2005 12:31 AM

I do have to say I like the setup. Looks very nice. I was kinda suprised to find that you had even put down a laminate floor... gotta make sure you dont get any water under it from if you spray out your garage

I remember you saying you were going to create a work shop as well. Did you build this on completely seperate from the reptile room? (i'd kinda like to see a couple snapshots of that as well, lol.)

Great job, however!
-----
-Chris

0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat
1.0 Black Rat
0.1 Vietnamese Blue Beauty
1.0 Green Tree Python
0.1 Texas Bairds Rat

The educated are the few. The uneducated are the masses.

North American Rat / Corn Snake Care Sheet

chris_harper2 Apr 18, 2005 08:28 AM

I had to put down a floor of some type since I insulated the floor. With the way the room is built I wont have to worry about getting water underneath. I really won't have to spray out that side of the garage either.

The snake room is in the back 40% of the third garage stall. The front 60% of that room will be my shop.

Right now that just consists are partially finished drywall and some outlets. That's it.

I'd like to be further along but I tired of running the heater just to dry the joint compound. Waiting until we have consistently warm weather instead.
-----
Current snakes:

0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

junglehabitats Apr 18, 2005 09:32 AM

I'd like to be further along but I tired of running the heater just to dry the joint compound. Waiting until we have consistently warm weather instead.

LOL chris use the AC it pulls moisture out heat adds moisture (esp to drywall as it creats the compound to sweat AC will draw the moisture out of the air .
-----
Buisnesses come and go everyday, what keeps you here is how you treated the customer the day before....My Boa Can Kick Your Boas _ss!www.cheapcages.com

____

edited sig file 2/8/05

chris_harper2 Apr 18, 2005 09:44 AM

>>LOL chris use the AC it pulls moisture out heat adds moisture

Alan,

No AC in the garage and I was running radiant heaters, not the furnace, and those actually do dry the air out.

Just not enough
-----
Current snakes:

0.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

1.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

7.6 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

0.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

HTDesigns Apr 20, 2005 12:18 PM

very nice chris! looks great! all you need know is more cages and more snakes!!!!!!LOL

Paul
HTDesigns

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