• 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.

New Heating Solution?

Katie

Katie

Crazy for Corns Member
Ok, I don't know if this will make any sense or not but here it goes. Those of you who live in Canada know how hard it is to get flexwatt heat tape right? Well my bf and I think we found a solution (he's an electronics tech.).

You know those little black lines you have on the back window of your car? Well you can buy those at Canadian Tire (or any store like that I would think) and they're not that expensive. They must warm up quite a bit to melt ice and snow off a car window so I was thinking that I could take a long piece of glass and rig those line up and down across it then put it under my rubbermaids on my rack. Of course, I would have a rheostat to control the temp but my bf thinks this will work. Anyone ever heard of this/tried this before?

What do you all think about this idea? Think it would work?
 
well use a themomature and a temp controller. Put test it out with everything but the snake. She if it handles well, if you can controll the temp. Try it on plastic and glass and watch the results. If all goes according to plan then great!!! You and your man have discovered a new way to heat reptile cages! And if you want you can market the idea. GL let us know how the tests go.
 
Well I have used de-icying cables before, but then I thought that the flexwatt heat tapes are much better.
But if your way works, it'll be much much cheaper compared to the flexwatt heat tape.....if you are going to get some of those tapes, it's better to find someone who is willing to share the shipping cost.....don't do it like me......I only buy them for myself and just enough....sooner or later the tapes would run out.....and I'll have to pay customs again....and shipping again....which cost quite a bit......
 
I considered de-icing cables but I thought they might get wayyyy to hot because they're meant to be used on the eaves of houses right? My bf was really the one who thought of the car defroster lines and I thought they might not get as hot. I'm going to try it at least. Can't afford shipping on the flexwatt!
 
Heat tape is like a silver colored tape that comes in different widths that has little wires running through it that give off heat when you hook the tape to a power source. It works pretty good I guess (very hard to get in Canada) and most people use the 3 inches wide stuff. You have to have some basic electrical knowledge to hook it up I would think and you would have to have something (like a rheostat) to control the amount of heat.

It is however, very expensive to get into Canada (shipping, exchange rate, customs, etc.) so that's why I was trying to find an alternative way to heat multiple enclosures.
 
Well actually I did use the de-icying cable for a few weeks and it worked well for me. The tubs weren't THAT hot....it tends to be a bit higher than normal...but it's not THAT bad....
The temp gets around the higher 80s.....

But it's just that using the flexwatt heat tapes, it's easier to install...I am a very lazy guy..so I don't like doing too much work...LOL...

but please tell us if that car thing works...
if it does and it's cheap then I'll have something to work with when I need my 3rd rack system..LOL
 
Simon, do you mean de-icing cables that people use outdoors to melt snow and ice off their roofs? Or are you talking about another product that i know nothing about? Did you have a rheostat hooked up with the de-icing cables? I figured the ones that people used outside would get too hot but if you could control the temp with a rheostat then they may not.

Went to the Canadian Tire store last night to get those deicer lines for a car and they were all out and they weren't sure if they could get anymore in so maybe I'm a few weeks too late for my great idea. *sigh* They're going to call if they get anymore in but I'm not holding my breath. Guess I'll just have to come up with another genius idea... Lol. just kidding
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top