Heating a plastic tank?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
They are all basically the same and use the same technology.

I worked at a pet store in college for 3 years and saw probably around 10-15 failed heat mats of various brands.
 
they will mostly work fine, habistat or whatever, but you would be wise to use a thermostat, in fact in my opinion, you need one.
 
I see. Hmm, are there no safer options for heating a plastic tank? I mean, a thermostat would definitely be something I'd buy within a few months of having the setup, but my setup budget only took into account the mat, not the thermostat =/

Surely with such a low wattage mat, I'd have no issues with it for a few months at least?

Also, can someone explain to me just how a thermostat works? It measures the cage temperature right? Is the mat plugged into it aswell, so that if the temp gets too high, it cuts the power to the mat? Or does it require a separate plug?

Thanks,
Paul
 
Same principle as the thermostat in your house.

A thermostat works by sensing the temperature of an area via a probe of some sort. When you set the temperature, it turns the heat source on or off at appropriate intervals to maintain that set temperature. In this case, it prevents the heat source from running at full power constantly, which increases the likelihood for failure many times over.

The thermostat gets plugged into the wall, then the heat source gets plugged into the thermostat. Pretty easy stuff...
 
Ah that's what I thought :) Thanks for the explanation. I've only got one spare electrical socket in my room for the snake tank, so I was worried for a second there. I have a few options on what to do I suppose.

Thanks a bunch,
Paul
 
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