Testing the UniHeat 40-hour heat pack

[jmhherpetology]

Hey community,

I haven't posted in a long time and am ready to start being involved again. I recently made a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYPLbRfC8Ps

In this video I test the heating efficiency of the 40-hour UniHeat heat pack. Essentially, I used two temperature loggers to track the temperature of the heat pack and an empty deli-cup inside an insulated shipping box. I also tracked the external temperatures with a third temperature logger. At the end of the video, I show what the temperatures were and provide some interpretation and suggestions. I think everyone will be interested to see this.

 

[Hilde]

I moved this to a the general herp products forum, since it's not really species specific to leopards or NC geckos.

 

[Robyn@SYR]

These are always interesting tests, but the variables can be tricky.

How did you prestart the heat pack, if at all? How hot was it when you put it into the box?

Why not tape up the box as if it was an actual shipment?

We have done similar tests putting the box in the fridge, or even the freezer for extended periods, but that doesn't really represent actual temps, or at least duration of temps, for a typical delivery, since the package spends most of its time within temperature controlled environments.

I have also done it where I have left it outside on the porch overnight, that is def a common approach as well.

We have always used min/max thermometers to record highest and lowest temps, but using the loggers is definitely more precise and granular. Where did you get those?

Thanks for the effort and info!

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Hey community,

I haven't posted in a long time and am ready to start being involved again. I recently made a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYPLbRfC8Ps

In this video I test the heating efficiency of the 40-hour UniHeat heat pack. Essentially, I used two temperature loggers to track the temperature of the heat pack and an empty deli-cup inside an insulated shipping box. I also tracked the external temperatures with a third temperature logger. At the end of the video, I show what the temperatures were and provide some interpretation and suggestions. I think everyone will be interested to see this.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Did you provide any holes in the actual box?

I place one UniHeat pack between 2 deli cups or next to 1 deli cup if I'm only shipping a single gecko. Sometimes I wrap the heat pack loosely in a paper towel.

To ventilate the box I place a single hole through the styrofoam and the cardboard along one long side. The heat pack is across from the hole, not next to the hole.

Sometimes I stagger the hole: the hole in the styrofoam is a couple inches away from the hole in the box.

 

[jmhherpetology]

Hey folks. Sorry that it took me so long to respond to this post. I didn't provide any holes in the box. The company that manufactures the temperature loggers is ThermoChron. I am a scientist who studies reproduction and nesting behavior of reptiles. We have these temperature loggers at work, and I decided to use them for this test. I would like to do some more test in the future. In particular, I would like to determine the best place to put the heat pack in the box to allow animals in shipment to thermoregulate.

I prepped the heat pack per instructions which is to activate it and let it sit for 45 minutes or so before using it. I think the data show that the heat pack operates per expectations: it reached a temperature of about 100 F. I think it is just that there isn't enough heat produced to really keep the temperature of the box at an acceptable level.

 

[Elizabeth Freer]

Hey folks. Sorry that it took me so long to respond to this post. I didn't provide any holes in the box. The company that manufactures the temperature loggers is ThermoChron. I am a scientist who studies reproduction and nesting behavior of reptiles. We have these temperature loggers at work, and I decided to use them for this test. I would like to do some more test in the future. In particular, I would like to determine the best place to put the heat pack in the box to allow animals in shipment to thermoregulate.

I prepped the heat pack per instructions which is to activate it and let it sit for 45 minutes or so before using it. I think the data show that the heat pack operates per expectations: it reached a temperature of about 100 F. I think it is just that there isn't enough heat produced to really keep the temperature of the box at an acceptable level.

Thanks for stopping by.

Ship Your Reptiles published this chart which shows peak temps of UniHeat's 20, 30, 40, 60, & 72 heat packs. I haven't seen a graph which includes UniHeat's 96 hour.

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After I saw this chart I switched from 60 to 72 hours for all my gecko shipping needs, because the 72 hours seems to peak at a lower temp and lasts longer. In case anticipated routing changes due to weather or accidentally, 72 hours provides warmth 3 days out from shipping.

I use 12 x 9 x 6 inch boxes with 1/2 or 3/4 inch styrofoam insulation even for one gecko.

For 145 click: Shipping Guidelines for Geckos......Elizabeth Freer -- May 2019 update​