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Rack heating question

Khaman

Khaman

Headed for rehab.
Ok this is the first time I have used a thermostat for my racks and I think I am missing something. I have a five shelf two row rack from PVC cages it has a hole in the back in the center of the third shelf to run a probe through. I have a Ranco ETC-111000 set for 77F and several thermometers in the tubs to get readings. They are all over the place, the top shelf hit 92F while the tubs on the third shelf where at 80F. I tested all of the thermometers before hand and all are within a couple tenths of a degree of each other so I know it is not faulty readings. Am I missing some trick to hit a sweet spot that everyone in the rack can live and digest with?

Before I moved I just heated the snake room and added supplemental heat only when needed but that is not possible right now.
 
well i have a ranco like you and it works well. what are you using for heating? and whatever your using are they all on one outlet as in everything is one. so you only have one wire to plug in?
 
I don't have anything helpful to add, but an observation. I have a couple double 20Ls on stands and the top one is always 3-5 degrees higher on the same thermostat. I think in my racks the difference between the top bin and the next one down is about 5 degrees, too. I put the probe in the middle bin slot, and monitor the top two shelves, and since I have heat cable which barely touches the bins, I think I am set at 96 or something to get 85 in the top bin.

I'm curious to hear how others handle this.
 
darkmorning1 said:
well i have a ranco like you and it works well. what are you using for heating? and whatever your using are they all on one outlet as in everything is one. so you only have one wire to plug in?
Click to expand...

It has two rows of flexwatt running down the back with two plugs. Both are plugged into the powerstrip that the ranco controls.
 
i use heat cable. and it stays all the same. i mean my rack is 6 levels. it can hold a lot of snakes. i heat it from the back stays nice and warm. i never had anything go over or under the set temp. just made sure you have it on 1 then "H1" if not and you set it to the other one. it will not shut its self off.
 
i don't use flex watt since of the burns it can make. and it doesn't warm up all at once kinda flows down and then heats up. try putting the temp down try having it set on 1 "H1"
 
darkmorning1 said:
just made sure you have it on 1 then "H1" if not and you set it to the other one. it will not shut its self off.
Click to expand...
Set, I have been listning to it kick off and on.

Nanci said:
How are the two strips of Flexwatt divided? Top and bottom, or side to side?
Click to expand...
Right side left side.

The probe is in the exact center of the rack there is hole pre-made in the rack that it goes through. Do you keep your probe in a bin or in the open.
 
I keep my probe in the slot. I have AP Economy Plastic racks. I keep the temp probe in the bins. I figure the thermostat is hopefully measuring its set temp accurately.
 
Oh, and I put the bigger snakes in the top bins, thinking that if anything happens, they can survive heat better than small snakes.
 
I will have to try to put the probe into a bin and see if that works. Right now it is in the open at 78 and temps in the top two bins are at 86.
 
well maybe set it a lot lower, if you have it set the way you do. it will not go over your set temp. it will shut its self off. and only turn back on when it goes down One. and shut off when it gets to the temp.
 
Another good method to try if you have the space to do it in is take a piece of a tub that you are not using and tape that directly to the flexwatt then tape the probe on top of that (with aluminum foil tape) with maybe a piece of newspaper or something to represent substrate between the probe and the plastic. That way all you have to do is set the thermostat to the required temp and you can know that your temps in the tubs are going to be the same. That's how I do the probe on my RBI ball rack (I've got a Helix on there though) and I just set it to 92 and all the tubs are right at 92 +/- 1 or 2 degrees.
 
The way we have it nailed is simple, though expensive.
We don't use cable but UTH. (they can be changed individually if they fail. One failure, is not the end of all heat) then each one has a stat. So you can keep different species at their own idea temp...If you so wish...We find this an effective way to get peace of mind.
 
I'm going to start from the beginning since there's so much back and forth... :)

What size tubs are you using with the back heat? I wouldn't recommend larger then 15qts have back heat.

What is your average room temperature?

Where exactly is the probe placed? I ask this because AP includes a probe slot in their racks as well and I've always had difficulty using them and getting accurate temperatures. My alternative has always been to use aluminum foil tape and tape it down directly to a tub (for both thermostat and thermometer).

Up to a 5 degree difference between top and bottom is not unusual and will happen. You have to keep in mind that heat rises, so top will generally be warmer then bottom. It really shouldn't hurt anything (never has with any of mine).
 
What size tubs are you using with the back heat? I wouldn't recommend larger then 15qts have back heat.
6qt rubbermaids


What is your average room temperature?
74.8F

Where exactly is the probe placed?

I tried putting it in an empty tub on the 4th shelf at the far back of the tub and the Ranco set at 82, the tubs on the top level hit 93.3. Then I tried running the probe into the hole in the back which is dead center of the rack between the two strips of flexwatt and set the temp to 78 the top shelf is at 86.5 the bottom shelf is at room temp plus a few tenths of a degree.

 
Try putting the thermostat probe, taped down to the floor of the tub, at the top. Set the thermostat for 85 degrees. Put a digital thermometer in with the thermostat probe and on a bottom empty tub put another digital thermometer. If you have a min/max, I would recommend resetting the stored temps. Leave the rack alone for about an hour to warm up and adjust and then check the temps. If you're getting more then a 5 degree difference between top and bottom, I have a feeling your problem is probably that it is back heat. My newest 6qt rack is belly heat using 3" FlexWatt and I don't have nearly this amount of trouble. Have you tried contacting the rack manufacturer about the problem and possible solutions?
 
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