rack design (heat cable, tanks, bins, thermostat)

[reptile4me]

So, I have narrowed down my leo rack design.
Had a few questions left.......

1. When using heat cable do people usually just plug that straight into the thermostat which is then plugged into the wall, or should a power strip/surge protector be used?

2. Would there be any kind of safety outlet/plug other than the thermostat where it would simply shut the heat cable off if it got to dangerously high temps?
I was thinking that maybe this could be used as a backup to the thermostat?

3. I am either going to do a rack design with multiple 20 gallon tanks where I would build the shelving and basically have the tanks resting on wood strips built on the front and back of the rack that would raise the tanks about 1/2 inch so that heat cable could simply be placed on top of either foil tape or even slate tiles to prevent fire hazards. This way it would not have to be routered and neither the tanks nor the tubs would ever touch the heat source directly. I worry about the stories people have mentioned on here where the tubs get melted because of malfunctioning heat sources.
Has anyone successfully built a rack setup with tanks not bins?
Has anyone used the method I have discussed where they simply elevate the bins/tanks on the rack system above the heat source?

 

[jermh1]

I use 20 gal tanks on 11in heat tape, the glass diffuses alot of the heat so full bore barely gets my hot spot to 90 if its 70 in my room some times when its cold and drafty it drops to 85. With your cable idea you would need at least 3 strips so you could slide the tank out.
A GFI or GFCI will cut power if there is a short, but not for heat.

 

[Tony C]

2. Would there be any kind of safety outlet/plug other than the thermostat where it would simply shut the heat cable off if it got to dangerously high temps?
I was thinking that maybe this could be used as a backup to the thermostat?

The best safety is running two thermostats, a primary and a backup.

Take your backup thermostat (must be on/off type, NOT proportional), set it to a higher than desired, but not immediately dangerous temperature, say 115 degrees, and place the probe appropriately. Now take your primary thermostat (may be on/off or proportional type as you prefer), plug it into the backup thermostat, and plug your heat source into the primary thermostat. Place the probe appropriately and set your desired hot spot temp.

Set up this way the backup thermostat will be on all the time, allowing the primary unit to function normally, unless the primary malfunctions and allows the heat source to overheat. If that happens the backup unit will cut the power to the primary unit before it reaches a dangerous temperature.