Circulation questions

[krypticrhacs]

So I made a "mini-room" for my animals which are not cooled. It is made of an old wooden tv stand (32" X 19" X 19") and is heated by a radiant heat panel screwed into the top, controled by a thermostat. The front door is a roll up window quilt, basically a double insulated thick cloth that is sealed on all sides by velcro, and held up by screws with hooks so that it can "roll-up". now the whole thing is sealed with silicone and there are venting holes drilled into the top. Now I was wondering if I should install a small fan to circulate the heat, or will that be too much for the animals?

thanks for any input,

Dan

 

[daggekko]

Can we get some pictures? I am confused based on your "mini-room" and "32"x19"x19". Did you build an enclosure for some animals or are you trying to heat a small room in your house to keep them warmer?

 

[krypticrhacs]

I will post some pics tomorrow and 32" X 19" X19" are the dimesions. It is pretty much a heated box that I put my baby cages in during the colder months, I had an excess of babies left over this year so I designed this box to house the baby cages while the rest of the room is cooling. So no animal is jus loose in this thing. I hope that clarifies it a little otherwise I will post pics tomorrow night.

 

[daggekko]

Yes that makes a lot more sense. I probably would add some sort of a small fan to come on for a few minutes a few times a day. I don't know that it would be good to run it all day long

 

[krypticrhacs]

Ok how long do you think it should run for and how many times a day should it run, also would you happen to know where I could get a fan small enough?

 

[daggekko]

Probably just a couple minutes 3 or 4 times a day. I just was thinking, the longer you have it running the warmer the rest of your room is going to end up being.

You could get a computer fan. I know newegg.com sells computer stuff at a decent price. Timers can be bought from home depot or other places. I would get a digital timer though so you have greater control of the on/off time. The ones with the little plastic clips that you pull out or push in usually have 15 minute windows and mine every now and then don't turn off when the time comes.

 

[krypticrhacs]

Ok, here are the pics finally, I have been stuck at work for like 2 weeks now!! Also how would I hook up a computer fan to this? Let me know what you think and if you see anything I could improve.

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[daggekko]

I would jump on dendroboard.com or frogforum.net to learn a good way to hook up a computer fan. I know you could cut an extention cord-take off the outlet end(sorry for the bad terms) and switch it with the fan. I just don't know how much power a computer fan can handle and what will happen to the fan if you just plug it in.

Is that a rheostat? Keep an eye on the temperatures because (I've expereienced)the zoomed rheostats don't keep the temperature exactly where you want it.

 

[krypticrhacs]

Ok thanks I will look into that. And that is actually the zoomed thermostat. So far I have not had a problem with it, other than I wish it had a better way to change the temp. Im just not wild about using a dial.

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

Is that a rheostat? Keep an eye on the temperatures because (I've expereienced)the zoomed rheostats don't keep the temperature exactly where you want it.

No brand of rheostat will keep it exactly at the temp you want. That's the huge downside to them. As the temps in the room fluctuate up or down throughout the day, the rheostat can't change itself to compensate. A thermostat on the other hand can. That's the big difference between the two. That also means that if something over heats, the rheostat won't kick off, where as a thermostat will. That can mean the difference between life or death for your geckos if something malfunctions. It can also mean the difference between your house burning down or not. That's why I always suggest thermostats as opposed to rheostats.

 

[daggekko]

It sounds like a darn good idea the way you put it Ethan! Care to go into detail about how you work yours? I've always just adjusted the wattage of the bulbs according to the time of year. The temperatures luckily haven't fluctuated crazy here.