Heating tubs?

[Trollbie]

At first I had a small ZooMed UTH under eat connected to a rheostat. Everything was great and stable for 4 days and then it got too hot for some reason even though I didn't change the settings on the rheostat. The other UTH that's connected to the same rheostat is fine.

I got a bigger UTH since that one was too small anyway, and glued bottlecaps on the bottom of the tub to increase the airflow underneath. Left the rheostat on low. Everything was fine for a night and then within a couple hours the next it got hot enough to melt the plastic a little. I was checking the temps with a temp gun every couple hours and it was stable. So I'm not sure what happened.

Then someone recommended a human heating pad. So I bought a new tub and a Sunbeam heating pad. Everything was perfect until I realized that it has a auto turn off after 2 hours and has to be manually turned back on. :hmm: I looked but they don't sell them without the auto shut off anymore. I could try opening it up and disabling the timer on the circuit, but I'd rather take an easier route if there is one because if I screw it up then I can't return it.

What could I do with the UTH to not attach it to the tub, but still have it heat the tub enough? I'd get a thermostat, but at this point I don't trust the UTH on the plastic anymore because the second time the heating pad wasn't even that hot. I could touch the tub and it was warm, not hot, and it still melted a little.

The tub I'm using is a Sterlite tub

[youngster]

Rheostat= bad. That's your problem, get a real thermostat and this won't happen. And just stick with a ZooMed UTH/flexwatt.

As long as you have a thermostat you will be fine, plenty of people use UTHs on plastic, just don't set it above 90.

[Trollbie]

Rheostat= bad. That's your problem, get a real thermostat and this won't happen. And just stick with a ZooMed UTH/flexwatt.

As long as you have a thermostat you will be fine, plenty of people use UTHs on plastic, just don't set it above 90.

But it only got hot enough in the middle of the pad. And even then it wasn't THAT hot... I'd rather not put the UTH directly on the tub anymore, but I don't really know if cardboard or foil or something in between the UTH and the tub would help.

[youngster]

Well get a thermostat and raise it on bottlecaps like you did. Problem solved. :D If you place the probe properly I don't see how it could get hot enough to melt the plastic even a little.

[Trollbie]

Well get a thermostat and raise it on bottlecaps like you did. Problem solved. :D If you place the probe properly I don't see how it could get hot enough to melt the plastic even a little.

I still won't trust it. It was okay this time because I was home to keep checking on it, but that won't be the case during the week. I don't want to risk it.

[youngster]

Hmm, I'm not sure what you're hoping to hear then.

Can you make a new enclosure?

[Trollbie]

Hmm, I'm not sure what you're hoping to hear then.

Can you make a new enclosure?

Not till august

[millertime89]

Already sent these pictures to Trollbie, but I'll post them here to show others my solution. I knew I wanted as little of a gap as possible, but I couldn't find something that I really liked that would work so I spent a half hour or so wandering around Home Depot and eventually came up with this.
Here you can see there's less than a half inch of space between the UTH/flexwatt, but still a gap so its not actually touching the plastic, just the wood.
http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/qq191/KKMpunkrock2011/2012-05-20_23-23-57_235.jpg

Here's what I use as spacers, copper plated adjustable brackets, they were less than $.50 USD IIRC.
http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/qq191/KKMpunkrock2011/2012-05-20_23-36-12_573.jpg

http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/qq191/KKMpunkrock2011/2012-05-20_23-35-33_169.jpg

the extend too which is nice. I don't think I've seen any tubs much wider than 20 inches.

http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/qq191/KKMpunkrock2011/2012-05-20_23-35-33_169.jpg

I do take a hammer and flatten the ends so they lay flat. But if you do have a tub that's wider than 20 inches, it splits apart and you can use it as two pieces with a gap in between.

[Trollbie]

Thanks KyKy!!! That's exactly what I was looking for! :D

[millertime89]

No problem ZuZu, I tried finding them on Home Depot's site but couldn't, might just have to go and wander the aisles. I do that looking for tools sometimes anyways.

[Trollbie]

What temp do you have the t-stat set to?

[millertime89]

between 86 and 90 depending on species. I get hotspots ranging from 82-88 on top of the substrate. Most of em will push the substrate out of the way if they want the direct temps. The 88 hot spot was measured during the day when the heating element didn't have to work as hard to get to 90 so more heat made it through, if that makes sense.

[Trollbie]

between 86 and 90 depending on species. I get hotspots ranging from 82-88 on top of the substrate. Most of em will push the substrate out of the way if they want the direct temps. The 88 hot spot was measured during the day when the heating element didn't have to work as hard to get to 90 so more heat made it through, if that makes sense.

Yeah thanks. I just wanted to see how much heat is lost through the gap :)

[millertime89]

minimal, I think the plastic actually absorbs more. The gap is minimal. It looks like the probe touches both the tub and the heat mat, so its very small.

[Trollbie]

minimal, I think the plastic actually absorbs more. The gap is minimal. It looks like the probe touches both the tub and the heat mat, so its very small.

Okay awesome. How warm is your room? Mine stays pretty cold so I may have to set it higher, but I'll try what you said first and go from there.

[millertime89]

70ish at night 80ish during the day depending on how sunny it is outside and how warm it gets. It usually hovers around 75 when people are home despite my attempts to get it raised.

[hellosugaree]

Rheostat= bad. That's your problem, get a real thermostat and this won't happen. And just stick with a ZooMed UTH/flexwatt.

As long as you have a thermostat you will be fine, plenty of people use UTHs on plastic, just don't set it above 90.

Agreed. A rheostat doesn't account for a hot day where your ambient room is 10 degrees hotter than it was on the day you set it up... a thermostat does. A rheostat also doesn't account for the quality of your heating pad or whatever else that may not have consistent heat output, whereas a thermostat will. Get a decent thermostat and you should be fine.

[Trollbie]

Agreed. A rheostat doesn't account for a hot day where your ambient room is 10 degrees hotter than it was on the day you set it up... a thermostat does. A rheostat also doesn't account for the quality of your heating pad or whatever else that may not have consistent heat output, whereas a thermostat will. Get a decent thermostat and you should be fine.

My room heats up by maybe, MAYBE, 2 degrees during a sunny day -_-

It's always cold here. Which is good because I hate the heat, but also bad because it's harder to get the temps right for my snakes.

[hellosugaree]

My room heats up by maybe, MAYBE, 2 degrees during a sunny day -_-

It's always cold here. Which is good because I hate the heat, but also bad because it's harder to get the temps right for my snakes.

You must have 10 foot thick insulation and a very fancy room thermostat with evenly spaced vents all over the room. Most house central heat/ac systems have at least a 2+ degree swing on the set point and that doesn't include the fact that the thermostat sensor is in one room and all rooms do not heat or cool evenly.

I must say I'm impressed with the fantastic climate control system in your house.

[Trollbie]

You must have 10 foot thick insulation and a very fancy room thermostat with evenly spaced vents all over the room. Most house central heat/ac systems have at least a 2+ degree swing on the set point and that doesn't include the fact that the thermostat sensor is in one room and all rooms do not heat or cool evenly.

I must say I'm impressed with the fantastic climate control system in your house.

Don't be. My room is shaded by trees so we get no sun. The way it's facing, it wouldn't get much sun anyway actually. The house heater could be running all day but make no difference in my room because the only vent is the bathroom (I'm in the master so my roomie and I get our own bathroom) and that vent doesnt work or I don't know what's up with it, but no heat comes through.

So while our other housemates are nice an cozy during the winter, my roomie and I sleep in sweatshirts and under at least 2 blankets. I would think we have hardly any insulation.

[millertime89]

So while our other housemates are nice an cozy during the winter, my roomie and I sleep in sweatshirts and under at least 2 blankets. I would think we have hardly any insulation.

Sleep in less and get a ticker blanket (or more of em), your body heat builds off of itself and compounds the warmth under the blanket. Old camping trick. Getting out in the morning sucks, but you're cozy all night long.
A nice heating pad does WONDERS too.

[Trollbie]

Sleep in less and get a ticker blanket (or more of em), your body heat builds off of itself and compounds the warmth under the blanket. Old camping trick. Getting out in the morning sucks, but you're cozy all night long.
A nice heating pad does WONDERS too.

Trust me. I get really hot at night so I sleep in as little as possible. But it gets so cold that I can't fall asleep before the heat builds up. But now that it's not winter anymore, it's not so bad.

[exwizard]

Trust me. I get really hot at night so I sleep in as little as possible. But it gets so cold that I can't fall asleep before the heat builds up. But now that it's not winter anymore, it's not so bad.Im trying to picture this on the California central coast. Thats tough to imagine. Sometimes I wish I was there like in January when its -15F or in July when its 90 and feels like 110 because its so humid.

[Trollbie]

Im trying to picture this on the California central coast. Thats tough to imagine. Sometimes I wish I was there like in January when its -15F or in July when its 90 and feels like 110 because its so humid.

It stays pretty moderate here because we are right by the ocean. But sometimes my room was colder than the outside lol

[exwizard]

It stays pretty moderate here because we are right by the ocean. But sometimes my room was colder than the outside lol
Thats what Im talking about but I understand what you mean as far as your bedroom temps are concerned.

[Trollbie]

The humidity is high here, but I never feel like it's hotter than it is. That's weird!

[exwizard]

The humidity is high here, but I never feel like it's hotter than it is. That's weird!Thats because its cool there. Humidity only magnifies heat when its already warm. 53F w/62% humidity will not ever feel hot.

[hellosugaree]

Thats because its cool there. Humidity only magnifies heat when its already warm. 53F w/62% humidity will not ever feel hot.

Exactly. The reason humidity makes you hotter is that it prevents evaporation of moisture off your skin. When your sweat evaporates, it cools you down. If it is not hot enough for you to sweat, humidity can't make you hotter by preventing your natural cooling process.

[millertime89]

Thats because its cool there. Humidity only magnifies heat when its already warm. 53F w/62% humidity will not ever feel hot.

You ready for another glorious midwest summer? 90F and 90% humidity (or whatever it gets to but feels that hight...)

[mykee]

ANY heat source is set to warm up a room by no more than 20 degrees. So if your room is 65, and you need a 90 hot spot, you're SOL.
20 degrees is the magic number; Learn it, know it.

[Trollbie]

ANY heat source is set to warm up a room by no more than 20 degrees. So if your room is 65, and you need a 90 hot spot, you're SOL.
20 degrees is the magic number; Learn it, know it.

I'm not trying to heat up my room.

[mykee]

I meant the air. A UTH or heat tape is built to warm the air around it by 20 degrees.

[exwizard]

you ready for another glorious midwest summer? 90f and 90% humidity (or whatever it gets to but feels that hight...)
.....yuck!

[Trollbie]

I meant the air. A UTH or heat tape is built to warm the air around it by 20 degrees.

Well, even when my room was like 65, I still kept basking spots at 90 no problem.

[Lankyrob]

Well, even when my room was like 65, I still kept basking spots at 90 no problem.

A basking spot is eqasy to maintain but the ambient air temp is much harder to keep high because this heat leaches into the external atmosphere much quicker.

[Trollbie]

T-stat is here. Hopefully this will end my heating battles.

[Trollbie]

Ok, what am I doing wrong? Now there is a random hole burned through the UTH... I have a thermostat and everything. No damage to the tub at all. Just a hole through the UTH...

Why does this keep happening :no: :(

[Caylan]

Can't say I've ever seen such poor lucky trying to get a heating pad working honestly, sorry to hear. Not sure hwy your UTH burnt a hole in itself to be honest, but what are the settings you set on the thermostat? I would try to set it to proportional if it lets you, and make sure its on heating not cooling. What type of thermostat did you get? The UTH might have been faulty as well...

[Trollbie]

Can't say I've ever seen such poor lucky trying to get a heating pad working honestly, sorry to hear. Not sure hwy your UTH burnt a hole in itself to be honest, but what are the settings you set on the thermostat? I would try to set it to proportional if it lets you, and make sure its on heating not cooling. What type of thermostat did you get? The UTH might have been faulty as well...

I use hydrofarm. I use these for my other snakes too with a zoomed UTH and no problems till now. I forget what proportional means, but this one heats up to the set temp and then turns off. I have it set to 90. I kinda hope it was a faulty UTH because I really don't want to buy another one. I already emailed zoomed so we'll see. But if they give me the option to get my money back instead of sending me a new one (if it is a faulty UTH issue), I'm just gonna go with flexwatt...

This sucks. Now poor Luigi only has a tiny basking spot because the only thing I had was a small UTH :(

[Caylan]

I'm sure he'll be ok for the time being. If you have an on/off thermostat, then I think you could use the auto off heating pad, because the thermostat would power it back on after it shuts down and the temp drops. Just a thought, I'm not exactly sure how that heat pad work until I look at it really... Sounds like you have a non proportional thermostat to me. Hopefully Zoomed will let you get your money back, but it does sound to me like a faulty heating pad. Flexwatt might be easier anyway though. I've had good experiences with Ultratherm as well, if you wanted to look them up. Good luck!

[Edmond Y]

I use Ikea light dimmer for all my snakes and incubator, and a zoo meg on off thermostat shut the power off incase of the temp getting too high when **** happen.

Edmond

[Tekpc007]

Well i hope this helps , here is how I do it:

i use the same hydrofarm thermostat also and I'm using a 105qrt tub. Now I don't like the zoo med UTH's , read too many bad things about them so I used the Flukers Lab brand (11x11 ) as they say on the box they are ok for plastic and they run at 100F max without a thermostat anyway.

On my tub I used 2 inch PVC end caps like you see in in the pic , about 1$ each and i used a small 1/2 inch sheet metal screw from the inside of the tub to screw it in and I also added some silicone to the top of PVC and covered the screw head with a dab of silicone also.

I also use 2 stone tiles of 12 x 12 inch (4$ each), one on the inside of the tub which oyu cant see as it is covered by aspen and one goes under the UTH (11x11 inch UTH works great for the 12x12 inch tile . i have also in the past stuck the UTH right to the 12x12 inch tile and taped the tile to the bottom of the tub with the UTH below the tile , not sandwiched between the tile and the tub mind you!

Why do I do this ? well stone tile is much more forgiving on temp changes and radiates heat much better . I put a tile underneath just to radiate and disapate heat from the table in case the UTH does fail or get too hot. There is plenty of airspace for the UTH to function well this way.

I measure all temps with a 50$ laser temp gun from amazon plus i have a few digitals inside the tank and under the hides and i check them daily. I use analog and digital in case one fails and to check accuracy.


http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/5091/sam0038e.jpg


Boa setup has a 5 gallon screen top siliconed and tie wrapped into the lid for the spot light and airflow. 24 inch LED light bar so it doesn't add heat.

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/7172/sam0039hi.jpg


1 of my hydrofarms controls the UTH and the probe is inside the hide , the other one you can see on the branch there goes to the 35watt halogen bulb for a basking spot and that is also on a 4$ wal mart outlet timer so at night the spot shuts off for 12 hours and during the day it is on but the hydrofarm shuts off and on during the day to keep the temp at 90F . this way i have cool temps at night and slightly higher during the day including a nice basking spot.

Rainbow boa setup has a lid with a few holes to keep humidity up.
http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/1212/20120513142208.jpg

The bungies help keep the lid tight and you can see I used PVC drain plugs for airvents .

I would say this setup cost me maybe 100$ and 2 hours to setup properly.

[Trollbie]

Wow! That's a nice set up for a plastic tub! I'm inspired! What do you keep in there?

Thanks for the tips! I think I solved the problem by raising it on shelf brackets, and the last issue was just due to a faulty UTH. If ZooMed gives me the option to get my money back, I'll most likely switch to FlexWatt. I'm also going to consider that screen idea because I'm having a hard time keeping humidity down, and a light would most likely fix my problem.

Thanks again!

[Tekpc007]

Wow! That's a nice set up for a plastic tub! I'm inspired! What do you keep in there?

Thanks for the tips! I think I solved the problem by raising it on shelf brackets, and the last issue was just due to a faulty UTH. If ZooMed gives me the option to get my money back, I'll most likely switch to FlexWatt. I'm also going to consider that screen idea because I'm having a hard time keeping humidity down, and a light would most likely fix my problem.

Thanks again!


Small Hog Island Boa in the top
Small Brazilion rainbow boa in the bottom.

If you want more pics let me know.

[Trollbie]

Small Hog Island Boa in the top
Small Brazilion rainbow boa in the bottom.

If you want more pics let me know.

Yeah! I wanna see better how you have them decorated! How big are they? I have Luigi in a 110qt, and cannot for the life of me find a bigger and more appropriate size :( Luigi isn't full grown yet, but he's already around 5ish feet probably so it's not an ideal size for him...

[Tekpc007]

Yeah! I wanna see better how you have them decorated! How big are they? I have Luigi in a 110qt, and cannot for the life of me find a bigger and more appropriate size :( Luigi isn't full grown yet, but he's already around 5ish feet probably so it's not an ideal size for him...

its just a sterlite 105 qrt , about 28 x 16 x 19. I wish I could get a larger one also . I just put in 1 inch of aspen80%/cypress20% mix , 1 or 2 marine land flexi branch branches as they are easy to clean and disinfect and 2 or 3 hides like flower pots or planters or small trays and some flukers labs vines that are also easy to clean. I had a moss box hide to help control humidity also.

Nothing fancy , easy to clean and disinfect is most important to me, cheap too . I think this is ok for a 2 to 3 foot snake at most or smaller reptiles until someone comes along with larger tubs , look at the Iris VE175 tub as its about 54x20x14 inches and can handle a 6 foot snake i would think and they run about 80$ and is used for storing fake xmas trees but they are not very clear.

[Trollbie]

its just a sterlite 105 qrt , about 28 x 16 x 19. I wish I could get a larger one also . I just put in 1 inch of aspen80%/cypress20% mix , 1 or 2 marine land flexi branch branches as they are easy to clean and disinfect and 2 or 3 hides like flower pots or planters or small trays and some flukers labs vines that are also easy to clean. I had a moss box hide to help control humidity also.

Nothing fancy , easy to clean and disinfect is most important to me, cheap too . I think this is ok for a 2 to 3 foot snake at most or smaller reptiles until someone comes along with larger tubs , look at the Iris VE175 tub as its about 54x20x14 inches and can handle a 6 foot snake i would think and they run about 80$ and is used for storing fake xmas trees but they are not very clear.

Ooops I meant how big are the snakes. See I don't wanna blow $80 on a tub because it's temporary. He will get a custom build cage in a couple months so I'd rather save the money for that.