Repti Heat Cable

[kholtme]

Hey guys, I havent been on here in a while, but the heat mat Im using now for my 40 gallon breeder tank is a 11 x 17, which only heats up 1/4th of the tank. I want to get some heat cable to tape to the bottom to replace my mat so I can get 1/2 the tank heated. What length would i need for a 17 x 17 size coil? I plan to "snake" the cable rather tightly to make sure the tile heats up enough through the glass bottom and tile substrate. Has anyone used this in this manner that could give me some insight on how much cable covers how much of an area? Thanks!

 

[acpart]

Remember that the stated length of the heat cable also includes 6' of unheated "lead" cable. I use the 15 or 25 foot cable for a 20 gallon long tank which is 30" long. The 40 gallon, I believe, is 36" long. The 25' or next up size should do it.
Aliza

 

[kholtme]

okay thanks! I will probably get a 25" or next size up.

 

[kholtme]

It appears they only have a 23 foot and a 39 foot heat cable that is closest to the size that i need. I think the 39 foot would be too long, and the 23 foot would be slightly too short. Since they have 6 foot cold leads the cable that is heated would be 17 foot or 33 foot. If you do the math, and i want to heat an area of 17 in in depth and X inch in length, with the cable being 1 inch apart on each "snake", the 39 foot cable would do about 23 17 inch snakes. which would get me about a 17 x 23 inch heated area with the cables 1 inch away from eachother. Which would work for my tank, just being over 1/2 of it heated, which is fine since it is a bigger sized tank and I have a few areas where Gaz likes to sit up off the ground. Im kinda just thinking out loud and using this text box to help right down my thinking process.

But I do have a question Aliza, how far apart did you snake your cables in order for them to produce enough heat to get the tile above to 92 degrees? I want to make sure i dont space them out too far to that they cant get up to the proper temps. Did you go tighter than 1 inch or did you have more space between them? My local pet stores dont have them so i have to order it online and dont want to go through the hassle of returning it if i need a different size. My goal is to cover 1/2 or a little bit more of my 36 x 18 inch tank. So i guess if you could tell me how tightly im going to have to snake the cable that would be great. Im thinking 1 inch apart, so if i wanted a 17 x 17 area heated (to make sure their is room for the edges under the tank) at 1 inch apart, I would need a cable that is 17 times 17, which is 289 divided by 12, which equals 24 foot cable. so add a 6 foot cold lead, i need a 30 foot cable. But they only have a 23 and 39 foot cable. It wouldnt hurt to heat a little more than 1/2 my tank with they way i have it set up, but if i got the 39 foot cable i could always snake it tighter than 1 inch to get it to 1/2 the tank, to where the 23 foot cable i couldnt snake it with more space between the cables, because then i would run the risk of the cables heat not getting the ground warm enough. Im thinking 39 foot cable, haha thank for your help. I think i got it figured out but im going to wait to order and see what you think. Again sorry for such a long and confusing post, it might not make any sense but i was using it to help think.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Your post helps all of us, Kyle.

 

[acpart]

The instructions on the cable state to run it in a sine curve shape about 1 1/2" apart. Get the 39'. Look on Ebay and you'll probably get a good deal.

Aliza

 

[kholtme]

So I got the 39 foot heat cable, and it gives me a lot more heated area than the 11 x 17 inch heat mat I had for my 40 gallon breeder. The cable was a little longer than needed. I didnt follow the instructions and looped them a little tighter than 1 1/4 inch apart, but with a thermostat I dont see a problem of over heating. I would not recommend going away from these instructions if you dont have a thermostat. Even with a thermostat you should probably follow the instructions. They are there for a reason. The cable covers more than 1/2 of the cage, which I dont think this is a problem with such a big cage. My cool side temps are reaching my room temps, so it isnt getting to hot on the cool side. My cage also offers many areas for my gecko to get off the tile on both the warm end and the cool end. So far im happy with this set up, but i think i could of used the 23 foot cable and it would of worked fine. The 39 foot cable covered a little more floor space than i was expecting, but i made it work. The only problem i could think of with using the 23 foot cable would have been the warm end heat would have the possibility of being distributed unevenly causing the warm end tile not to have warmth spread out evenly because of the need of looser loops to spread the 17 foot of heated cable across 1/2 of the 40 gallon breeder. The tighter loops helps ensure heat at all areas of the tile on the heated side is evenly distributed. You probably could leave part of the cable that was heated out from under the tank along with the 6 foot of cold lead, but i just thought of that now. A problem I had with my old heat mat, is even though its a 11x 17 inch mat, there wasnt a 11x17 inch area of tile reaching the temps i needed. My tiles are 8 x8 inches, so I had 2 tiles that were directly above the heat mat, and they would heat up fine, but the other 2 tiles that were only partially above the heat mat wouldnt heat up. The temps dropped right at the different row of tiles. This is because most of the tile wasnt above the heat mat, so the little bit of edge that was above the heat mat wasnt enough heat to get it heated properly. So in reality, even though my heat mat was 11 x 17, i really only had about 8 x 16 inch of tile that was reaching the 88- 92 degrees i needed. With the new heat cable, I am getting more of a gradual change in temps from the warm to cold side, instead of a huge jump in temps from one tile to the next. I am also getting about a 20 x 17 inch of heated area that is reaching 88-92 degrees. So all in all, I have more heated area which is good and i hope that i will see Gaz out of his warm hides more, now that there is heated tile in the open.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

I hope that Gaz gives this a two thumbs up and that you'll see him more often, Kyle.

It's always helpful to have the visuals you have shared.

 

[LEOPARD1]

I didnt read any post but the original.

Heat Cable is excellent as a UTH. Pattern it in a snake pattern. If it barely touches.....ok. It can be cheaper that than heat mats. I only use Flukers....using a adhesive heat pad is backwards.

My heat cable are NEVER under but on surface of the bottom of enclosure and covered with a layer of Duck Brand Shelf Liner...