Question on heat tape

[Adinar]

I've been doing a little bit of research and thinking about switching to heat tape rather than the heat lamp we've been using. I think it would be way better for out little ones in the long run. But there was one thing I was wondering but didn't see an answer on any of the sites that I've been on.

Say you have 3 tanks. You want to use heat tape on all three. Is there a way to wire them all to one main cord or is this a potential hazard. We've been a little iffy and would like to cut down on all cords if possible. Don't want to overload anything and possibly start a fire.

 

[robin]

if you wire them right and have them on a thermostat they should be fine. i don't know how to wire them, my husband does that hehe

i am sure someone knows how to do it

 

[Adinar]

Ick, hope it's not too hard. I haven't a clue about electrical stuff. lol.

 

[robin]

no i know its not hard. my husband does three and four rows across in no time.

 

[puckett26]

Could you possibly ask your husband to to tell you how or post directions because this interests me too.

 

[T-ReXx]

Heat tape can be wired as a single strip or in parallel. To heat 3 tanks, you'd want to either line them up side by side and run the strip under all three, or stack them on some sort of shelf/stand and wire in parallel. Wiring in parallel is basically connecting the strips with lamp cord and then connecting the final strip to a power cord and that goes into your thermostat. The Bean Farm website has basic instructions for wiring heat tape.

 

[puckett26]

O ok dumb me I should have know that that makes sense it is not a difficult task either

 

[Adinar]

Just so I'm making sure I got this right, one roughly foot long strip on a 10 gallon tank should heat the tank well enough. Correct?


Just trying get get this all straight so I can pick up all the supplies at the next reptile show.

 

[T-ReXx]

1 foot of 3in or 4in flexwatt should be fine for a 10 gal.