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heating melamine enclosures

waldo

waldo

Crazy Tarantula Lady
Is there a way to heat a melamine enclosure beside a light or CHE? I may sell my bearded dragon later this year and that will give me a nice big viv for a corn.
 
Lennycorn said:
I'm thinking flexwatt heat tape. Sold here.
http://www.beanfarm.com/cgi-bin/store/agora.cgi
Click to expand...
I second Lennycorn's recommendation for flexwatt, as well as purchasing from The Bean Farm. Although I live in Canada, because I bought my heat tape there and not here in Calgary saved me at LEAST a good $50 (and that's even after calculating the American $$$ to Canadian dollars and shipping!). It's definately the way to go.

Lisa
 
flex watt is safe to mount directly to the melamine? I figured it would get too hot. I'll look into it.
 
Hey waldo, let us know what you find out. I'm interested in knowing if the tape is safe to mount to melamine and wood too.
 
I have used heat tape in my custom vivs; they all had a melamine floor. Just make sure that you seal up all of the connections with silicone to prevent possible electric shock if water were to spill. I also recommend tacking it to the floor using silicone so the snake doesn't get underneath.

As far as it being too hot; not a problem so long as you us a thermostat. It shouldn't be more than 80-85 degrees; which is just a warm day. And you don't see melamine melting away or blowing up in 85 degree weather.
 
I'm using 11" flex watt on about two feet of the melamine enclosure I built (every time I mention it, I have to thank blue apple paste for the viv plans! I love it!). You will definately need to use a thermostat with it though, that stuff gets hot! I don't mean hot like a uth, I mean burn your house down hot. I didn't know how to attach the wiring on it myself- probably could have figured it out but I don't like to mess with electricity. I bought it here:
http://www.reptilebasics.com/store/home.php?cat=248
and they will attach the wiring for free. You need to buy the wiring seperate for it though, and ask them to do that for you in your notes when you purchase. I got the Helix Thermostat- very easy to set, very accurate and it doesn't switch your heat off and on to adjust like some therms do. I think it's even got more capability in it than I know how to use, as it has a standard rj11 phone jack built in.. Interesting.. anybody know what that's for?
You'll also need that aluminum looking tape they sell there (fairly cheap if I recall) to tape the flex watt down with.
One other thing! tape the sensor for your thermostat directly to your flex watt tape, that way your snake won't bump it away from the heat- which would resort in super high temps.
(I also bought the cheaper "ray gun" style thermometer there as well, pretty handy..)
 
I just built a melamine floor, wooden cage for my new ball python and am using a UTH. The floor is 3/4" thick and I routed out all but 1/4 inch where the heater is. It has no problem heating the substrate to 100, need thermostat to control it. I just didn't feel like running cords and electricity into the cage. I was concerned that enough heat would not pass through, but no problems.
 
What about putting a piece of plexi-glass at the bottom of the cage (or even a large tile) and attach a normal UTH?? Would that work? I am just not very familiar or comfortable with FlexWatt. Also where do you have the wires come out of those vivs? They look pretty sealed up.

Thanks, Kenny
 
DogStar5988 said:
What about putting a piece of plexi-glass at the bottom of the cage (or even a large tile) and attach a normal UTH?? Would that work? I am just not very familiar or comfortable with FlexWatt. Also where do you have the wires come out of those vivs? They look pretty sealed up.

Thanks, Kenny
Click to expand...

This won't work because most UTH are not designed for inside cage use.

As for the wires: for the flexwatt, I drilled a hole, ran the wire through and then attatched it to the flexwatt. I also made the hole big enough to run the probe for the thermostat through. Then I plugged the hole up with silicone, let it dry, and covered it with bedding. You don't see any of the heating element or wiring with it all set up.

Also, flexwatt is great stuff. If you're smart with it and use it correctly there is nothing to worry about. It's easy, safe, cheap, and does a great job!
 
Yeah, I used a hole saw (attachment for drill) and cut about a two inch hole so the plug would pass through. The hole saw cuts out a little circle that I then popped right back into the hole and taped up the that Aluminum tape (same as I bought to tape down the flex watt) on both sides of it. Probably not the best way to do it, but it sure worked..
 
blueapplepaste said:
.

As for the wires: for the flexwatt, I drilled a hole, ran the wire through and then attatched it to the flexwatt. I also made the hole big enough to run the probe for the thermostat through. Then I plugged the hole up with silicone, let it dry, and covered it with bedding. You don't see any of the heating element or wiring with it all set up.
Click to expand...

I'm quite sure this is a better way and much cleaner, but as I said before, I was pretty nervous about wiring the flex watt myself so I had to fit the already attached cord through a bigger hole.
 
blueapplepaste said:
This won't work because most UTH are not designed for inside cage use.

As for the wires: for the flexwatt, I drilled a hole, ran the wire through and then attatched it to the flexwatt. I also made the hole big enough to run the probe for the thermostat through. Then I plugged the hole up with silicone, let it dry, and covered it with bedding. You don't see any of the heating element or wiring with it all set up.

Also, flexwatt is great stuff. If you're smart with it and use it correctly there is nothing to worry about. It's easy, safe, cheap, and does a great job!
Click to expand...
I'm sorry but I don't know why a normal UTH wouldn't work, if it were attached to a tile and placed inside the viv and then substrate on top. Wouldn't this, in effect, be the same as having the UTH on the outside of a glass tank? Of course I thermostat would have to be used just as in every other case. Sorry if I am very wrong :p
 
DogStar5988 said:
I'm sorry but I don't know why a normal UTH wouldn't work, if it were attached to a tile and placed inside the viv and then substrate on top. Wouldn't this, in effect, be the same as having the UTH on the outside of a glass tank? Of course I thermostat would have to be used just as in every other case. Sorry if I am very wrong :p
Click to expand...

It's because UTH are not designed for in tank use. They require some ventilation that may not be adequately provided inside a cage and they are not water proof. What if your snake tipped over its water bowl and the water spilled on the heater and electrocuted your snake? It's a long shot for sure, but is quite frankly a risk I just wouldn't want to take.
 
I use UTHs underneath and outside my melamine vivs and they work just fine.

You need to raise the viv above the UTH by a millimetre or two, to:

a) avoid the weight of it resting on the mat (would damage the mat)
b) allow airflow over the mat (would cause overheating & be a fire risk)

In order the raise the viv, I cut cork floor tiles the same size as the viv floor, cut a hole in it to fit the uth, slide the viv into the hole and rest the viv on top of the cork tiles. Works nicely with a stack of vivs as well as for single ones. You can slide the UTH in and out for maintenance checks without having to move the viv.

The probe for the stat goes inside the viv, in the substrate directly above where the UTH is placed. I can get a very comfortable upper 80s warm end at floor level.

The stat is the critical part of the kit. Even running it outside a melamine viv, you can still get an overheated patch inside if the UTH is unregulated. Not to mention the fire risk.
 
tom e said:
I'm quite sure this is a better way and much cleaner, but as I said before, I was pretty nervous about wiring the flex watt myself so I had to fit the already attached cord through a bigger hole.
Click to expand...

Hey Tom...

Just wanted to let you know that I was pretty nervous about wiring flexwatt too. However, it's super easy - there are detailed instructions posted at the sites you purchase it from or simply do a search.

I wound up soldering it and don't have a lick of trouble. Now if this lil old girl can do it... wellllllll - you just might surprise yourself.

Good Luck!

-Tonya
 
bitsy said:
I use UTHs underneath and outside my melamine vivs and they work just fine.

You need to raise the viv above the UTH by a millimetre or two, to:

a) avoid the weight of it resting on the mat (would damage the mat)
b) allow airflow over the mat (would cause overheating & be a fire risk)

In order the raise the viv, I cut cork floor tiles the same size as the viv floor, cut a hole in it to fit the uth, slide the viv into the hole and rest the viv on top of the cork tiles. Works nicely with a stack of vivs as well as for single ones. You can slide the UTH in and out for maintenance checks without having to move the viv.

The probe for the stat goes inside the viv, in the substrate directly above where the UTH is placed. I can get a very comfortable upper 80s warm end at floor level.

The stat is the critical part of the kit. Even running it outside a melamine viv, you can still get an overheated patch inside if the UTH is unregulated. Not to mention the fire risk.
Click to expand...

With this method though, you are heating up a surface 3/4" thick that doesn't conduct heat very well. I would imagine that the UTH itself is running near its max! But if it's working for you OK, then I guess go for it.

I just personally think that flexwatt is more economical and way easier to even deal with when it comes to heating wood/melamine enclosures. But like I said, if this works for you then great!
 
I would imagine that the UTH itself is running near its max!
Click to expand...

I check the surface temp of the mats while testing the under-viv setups before their inhabitants take up residence. They usually run about 10 degrees higher than the inside temp at the stat position, but nowhere near the 115-120+ degrees that UTHs can hit when unregulated.

It 22:15 here at the moment and three of my stats have the UTH off, so they don't run constantly either.
 
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