Heat mat not not increasing temp

[Jim36]

I bought a heat mat today. My wife and I installed it and it's not increasing the temp at all. The mat itself is only mildly warm. Is there a certain type of heat mat that is recommended?

Thanks!

 

[TranceZ]

What brand is it?
How big is your tank?
How big is your heat pad?
What are you using for substrate?

 

[Jim36]

Hi,

It's a Exo Terra desert small
20 gallon tank
the matt is 8x8
8 watts
the substrate is gecko carpeting

 

[TranceZ]

Hmm...

Do you have it hooked up to any sort of dimmer switch?
8x8 might be a little small for a 20g but it should still be warm. What are you temps looking like?

Try tile or paper towel to see if the heat comes through better. Also using a digital thermometer or temp gun so you can monitor the temps. You wanna shoot for 89-95* for the hot spot.

 

[acpart]

I have found that the heat mats I use (Zoo Med) can take several *days* to get up to speed. I discovered this last summer when I bought a new 4-level enclosure and did a major tank and UTH swap. Also be sure you're measuring floor temps,not air temps. They often don't feel that warm because our skin is pretty warm.
If you wait a few days and then check floor temps and they're still not hot enough, see if you can get hold of a watt-meter and find out if your heat mat is really putting out 8 watts or so. I've had a few that are defective and are producing lower wattage than they should.

Aliza

 

[martinez2828]

i have all exo terra heat mats i recommend switching to the medium for a 20 gallon. i put small on the 10 gallons and medium on the 20's. but both of mine heat up just fine. i would say return it but now that you sticked it on theres no getting it off without breaking it. you probaly just got a bad one

 

[Jim36]

So a medium sized mat will produce higher temps than the small sized mat? Or does it just heat a larger area? The mat we have is already on the tank. I would hate to have to break/take it off and buy a new medium sized mat.

 

[kaws]

The trick is to put a piece of wood underneath the uth so it "sandwiches" the uth between the wood and glass. That worked for me.

 

[Jim36]

Hi Kaws,

The tank is sitting on my daughters dresser. We had some left over kitchen tile so we put tile on the dresser then put the tank on the tile. Tile doesn't hold heat at all. Could that be the problem?

 

[TranceZ]

I think it might be a defective heat pad. I know zoo med is another brand. Maybe try returning it as said above. Another thing you could do is get flex watt and use a dimmer switch. Flex watt heats up very well and it's super cheap. The price of flex watt + dimmer switch would still be cheaper then a heat mat IMO.

 

[Jim36]

I took the thermometer and laid it flat on the substrate that is over the heat mat. Low and behold the temp is in the low 90's. It wasn't the heat mat. It was me not placing the thermometer in the proper place (aka human error). Thanks to everyone for the responses!

Jim

 

[TranceZ]

Awesome glad things seem to be working fine!