• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Best kind of stat to use?

HoosierHerper said:
Right...they work but only if you can constantly, 24 hours a day make sure that the room temperature is an exact degree. A rheostat operates the UTH at a constant power level, not a constant temperature. You need something with a probe to operate it at a constant temperature.
Rheostats work, but I would never go more than a day at work without being able to come home and adjust it or check the temp. In some places they work better than others, I have just noticed that in Indiana, it's very hard to keep a constant temp in the house.
Click to expand...

It kinda sucks that your now telling me this. Haastrad uses one and he says it works great. Everyone has different experience but I have planned my money out to be able to go until the new year. I was orginally going to buy a $30-$40 thermostat but that would have held me off from getting anything. I'm sure it will work.. I'm getting my snake Saturday. I can watch how it works all weekend...:\
 
HoosierHerper said:
Right...they work but only if you can constantly, 24 hours a day make sure that the room temperature is an exact degree. A rheostat operates the UTH at a constant power level, not a constant temperature. You need something with a probe to operate it at a constant temperature.
Rheostats work, but I would never go more than a day at work without being able to come home and adjust it or check the temp. In some places they work better than others, I have just noticed that in Indiana, it's very hard to keep a constant temp in the house.
Click to expand...

You don't have to have a constant room temperature at an exact degree. A fluctuation of + or - 5 degrees is usually fine in the room. I takes time for the UTH to actually change temp.

What state your located in is meaningless. It is all dependent on you house heating and cooling system and how well you control them. There may be some seasonal variations, but not daily.
 
It will work, I didn't mean to say it wouldn't. You just have to watch your room temps and make sure they stay consistent. I'm assuming you also have some kind of Thermometer with a probe to monitor the temps? As long as you have a way of seeing what the temp is on the heatpad, and you dial in the Rheostat (dimmer)...you'll be okay for a while. HOWEVER, if you go on vacation for the holidays for longer than a weekend, I would find a trustworthy friend or neighbor to come in and check the temps to make minor adjustments for you....

Again, they do work...but to save yourself a headache...you are going to want to get a Thermostat, not a Rheostat...eventually :)
 
dickdeuel said:
You don't have to have a constant room temperature at an exact degree. A fluctuation of + or - 5 degrees is usually fine in the room. I takes time for the UTH to actually change temp.

What state your located in is meaningless. It is all dependent on you house heating and cooling system and how well you control them. There may be some seasonal variations, but not daily.
Click to expand...

Someone is SC telling someone in Indiana how easy it is to make sure your house stays a constant temp :D

We wake up here and its 32 out, then it climbs to 78, then down to 32 again...you wake up thinking it's going to be 78 again so you leave for work with the heat turned down a little, BUT WAIT....YOU LIVE IN INDIANA....and it's not going to be 78 again, today the high is 41.

Things are different up here, and it matters drastically what state you live in.
 
HoosierHerper said:
It will work, I didn't mean to say it wouldn't. You just have to watch your room temps and make sure they stay consistent. I'm assuming you also have some kind of Thermometer with a probe to monitor the temps? As long as you have a way of seeing what the temp is on the heatpad, and you dial in the Rheostat (dimmer)...you'll be okay for a while. HOWEVER, if you go on vacation for the holidays for longer than a weekend, I would find a trustworthy friend or neighbor to come in and check the temps to make minor adjustments for you....

Again, they do work...but to save yourself a headache...you are going to want to get a Thermostat, not a Rheostat...eventually :)
Click to expand...

All this is finaled with me on another thread. I am getting a thermometer with probe. And I rarely go on vacations but I will keep that in mind. For the most part I am very calm and patient so working it out shouldn't bother me ;)
 
HoosierHerper said:
Someone is SC telling someone in Indiana how easy it is to make sure your house stays a constant temp :D

We wake up here and its 32 out, then it climbs to 78, then down to 32 again...you wake up thinking it's going to be 78 again so you leave for work with the heat turned down a little, BUT WAIT....YOU LIVE IN INDIANA....and it's not going to be 78 again, today the high is 41.

Things are different up here, and it matters drastically what state you live in.
Click to expand...

My room is most likely always cold. Every morning if I don't turn the heat on..it is like 64. During the day idk but I am going to keep track with a notebook to monitor the snake daily. I will work this out ;)
 
HoosierHerper said:
Someone is SC telling someone in Indiana how easy it is to make sure your house stays a constant temp :D

We wake up here and its 32 out, then it climbs to 78, then down to 32 again...you wake up thinking it's going to be 78 again so you leave for work with the heat turned down a little, BUT WAIT....YOU LIVE IN INDIANA....and it's not going to be 78 again, today the high is 41.

Things are different up here, and it matters drastically what state you live in.
Click to expand...

I'm originally from Western New York and I know exactly what I'm talking about. If your heating or cooling system can't handle the outside temp changes then you shouldn't use a dimmer.
 
I use Alife thermostats for my two snakes. They work pretty well. The temp does fluctuate +/- 3 degrees. I have an additional UTH under each tank as well because the room they are in gets cold. I have those on a dimmer switch. It's fine for a second UTH, where I only want it to be mildly warm, but I would never use one on my primary UTH. It fluctuates waaaaay too much. Just my two cents....
 
Give Ranco tstats a try. I have about half a dozen ETC-111000 and I really like them. You can buy them either pre-wired from some suppliers, or you can get them bare and do it yourself (it's pretty easy - follow http://www.rcreptiles.com/blog/index.php/2007/05/11/how_to_wire_a_ranco_etc_111000_thermosta).

My suggestion with this is to buy from a heating/air conditioning supplier (search HVAC suppliers) rather than a pet store supplier because from what I've seen prices are lower that way. I've gotten most of mine through Climate Doctor and eBay.... set it and forget it (for the most part), which is completely unlike the rheostat you posted originally especially during transition times of the year like this.
 
I got the herpstat for my snake (the basic model). I absolutely love it. Worth every penny imo. Strong construction and keeps the temps perfect. If you have 100 bucks, i wouldn't hesitate.
 
Johan13 said:
I got the herpstat for my snake (the basic model). I absolutely love it. Worth every penny imo. Strong construction and keeps the temps perfect. If you have 100 bucks, i wouldn't hesitate.
Click to expand...

You can get one from http://www.coldbloodedcages.com/Herpstat-Digital-Propotional-Thermostat-FREE-SHIPPING-Herpstat.htm with free shipping and $10 off right now, I just got another in the mail yesterday. That brings my count up to 3 original herpstats now and I will not ever use a different thermostat.
 
dickdeuel said:
You don't have to have a constant room temperature at an exact degree. A fluctuation of + or - 5 degrees is usually fine in the room. I takes time for the UTH to actually change temp.

What state your located in is meaningless. It is all dependent on you house heating and cooling system and how well you control them. There may be some seasonal variations, but not daily.
Click to expand...

I have about a 5 degree change in the room (65-70). I just set the dimmer when the room was at 70 and i set the UTH to 86.5 degrees so that was as hot as it is going to get. The mat changes from about 83-87 and i've never adjusted it since then. Eventually i'll switch to a T-stat but for now, this works great and i might as well get my money out of it! It's the best rheostat that i've used and it was worth every penny. Maybe for Christmas i'll switch him over to a T-stat but if you want to save some money and only have about a +or- 5 degree change then a Rheostat is fine and i would recommend the Leviton Dimmer that was mentioned earlier, then it'll give you time to save up for a nice T-stat, I was thinking about getting the one that Fatman mentioned and i could give a review on it... It looks good and has a digital display and it's cheap! so i don't see anything wrong with it
 
If I were to buy the Herpstat Digital Proportional Thermostat, should I pay the extra $10 for the grounded cord? Is it necessary?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top