Safe Flexwatt temps

Beanfarm says not to let the Flexwatt get to over 95 degrees. I have mine set at 93 right now and the tubs above it are only staying in the low 80's or upper 70's. I'm looking for an ambient temperature of 84 degrees, but I don't have much more to work with on the tape without it getting above 95 degrees.

On the other hand, I've heard other people say it is safe for up to 110 degrees, and there's even a video of Ralph Davis on Youtube where he shows his getting up to 100+.

Is the Beanfarm warning simply for not cooking herps, or is it actually a fire hazard to allow the Flexwatt to go (on a thermostat of course) up to 100 degrees or so?

well by having it set how are you controlling it. if your controlling by thermostat and your going by that reading, you have to put a probe therm on the tape or a heat gun reading off the tape also. thermostats even though you set to 95 on it, the tape might only be at 90. and it can be opposite too. thermostats always need to be played with to get the temps perfect. i have also seen some of ralphs videos on his rack setups and his were higher than that. its probably just bean farm tryin to not get sued for someone having a fire break out. so they stay low and keep the sweat from building up.

That's kind of what I keep thinking (legal, etc...). I have Ranco thermostats and the probe is directly on the heat tape. I do have about 1" of cypress mulch in the bins which I know will affect the temp (it's for green tree python juvies, so the humidity needs to be a little higher than what I would comfortably do with newspaper, etc.) To test something out, I pushed about 4" worth of mulch off to the side where the heat tape is, and the temperatures seem to be better. I'm getting an 84/82 gradient, but with bins this small I wasn't expecting much of a gradient anyway. I'm fine with how it is right now, but I'm wondering how the winter months will affect it. The whole reason I went to flexwatt is to save on energy costs - in the past I'd just heat the whole room, but now it looks like the flexwatt might not do the job by itself in the winter so who knows??

Here are specifications that I found...

My question would be, What way are you measuring your temps?

If your grabbing an ambient tub/tank temp, then that might be your problem. You should be measuring temps right on the bottom of the tank, where the flexwatt hits the viv. That temp, on that surface should be 85F-ish. Not the whole viv. Ambient temps aren't as important as the spot that the snake would rest on to warm up/digest.

Wayne

I am measuring the temp inside at the bottom of the tub using a digital thermometer. I'm not measuring the outside. I'm trying to dial in 85 inside the tubs. I have never used Flextape so I was not sure what the temp that it could go to is. I think I have it dialed in. I was nervous because I thought I read some place it was like 95. I have my thermostat at 97 and that gives me around 82-85 in most of the tubs.

Chet, what size of Flexwatt are you using? I think when I started this thread I was still trying to use the 4" stuff...I switched to the 20W/ft, 8" diameter stuff the problem went away and I've been able to maintain temps all winter with the tape at 87-ish.

TrpnBils said:

Chet, what size of Flexwatt are you using? I think when I started this thread I was still trying to use the 4" stuff...I switched to the 20W/ft, 8" diameter stuff the problem went away and I've been able to maintain temps all winter with the tape at 87-ish.

Click to expand...

I was answering the OP. Didn't realize the age of the thread. LOL!

Wayne