Heating

Heating

Postby Sgt.Corn » Thu May 15, 2014 10:08 am

Hi all,

Just wanted to find out i was fixing a thermostat in a fridge the other day and i thought why can i not use the heating wire from the fridge to heat my tanks..???

I spoke to the guy whom i got the fridge parts from and told him what i wanna do with it and he said it should be fine, but im just assuming he knows nothing about reptile keeping so i thought i would come ask here.

For those who dont know the element is inside the PVC insulation and the PVC gets warm.
And with the thermostat its range is from 0 - 40 degrees.
The guy at the store said i could get it for R40 a kg of the stuff and i was like wow bargain......

Its really easy to wire up and draws almost no power, so i could easily put 30 of these things on 1 circuit.

So i would like to know has anyone tried to use this wire before??
Any concerns?

Let me know
Sgt.Corn

Snakes in my care: 6
1 Ball Python Male
1 Amelystic Male Corn
1 Oketee het Anery Female Corn
1 Snow Corn
1 Ghost Corn
1 Jaguar Carpet Python Male
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Re: Heating

Postby Bushviper » Thu May 15, 2014 10:41 am

That is the same stuff as what we sue in the heating cables. Just make sure you understand how it works. The longer the length the lower the heat will be. Short pieces can get very hot and burn the place down. Very long ones will not heat up sufficiently.
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Re: Heating

Postby froot » Mon May 19, 2014 12:24 pm

If the wire was connected directly to the mains without the thermostat how hot would it get? Then fit it into a groove in a piece of wood or place a piece of carpet over it and then see how hot it gets without a thermostat. This will give you an indication of what you can expect if your thermostat failed.

Together with the thermostat it will work fine but the more heat it produces per given time the more risk you run of losing your animals if the thermostat fails. In this case your best bet would be to ensure that the temperature of your setup would not rise above say 35 deg C if the heating device was permanently connected to the supply. If this heating cable comes in predetermined lengths with terminals on the ends then you need to make sure they were prepared for 220VAC. If it's a roll and still needs to be cut you will need to length it for the best case scenario as above. Just make sure you terminate the ends correctly with the right crimp lugs and crimp tool.
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