Rack Heat Setup with Fail over and Thermostat

[jbodkin]

I am getting ready to setup my rack for heat (doing this just for fun with the kids not buisness) ... I have a few questions:

1. Should I run seperate heat cables on each shelf (one per shelf) or just rap one long cable through the rack. (If I have one thermostat controling the setup not sure the seperate cables have any value other than if the cable fails the whole rack is effected ... Verse seperate cables would limit it to a shelf.)

2. Is a Zoo Med 500R thermastat good enough for this small setup ... Really do not want to spend $100+ on a thermostat for a $60 setup.

3. Should I put the Thermostat on a Dimmer (Rheostat) to have a fail safe control if the thermostat would fail.

Here are a few pictures so far:

 

[hondawingsfly]

i would just solider each row of heat tape and have one plug or u can not cut the tape at all and run it through the rows, the little side heat wont affect things...as far as your thermostat i dunno bout that i have a johnson controls and i set it to shut the heat tape off if it fails. heres a pic of my wiring its pretty easy if your a handy person

 

[MSMD]

I used one long heat cable for one of my racks that is quite similar to yours (metal, wire-type), albeit a bit bigger. I ended up getting a Johnson Controls A-419 thermostat from Reptilebasics.com for like $79.00. I couldn't be happier with the setup. It is really accurate. I check it daily with my temp gun, just because I'm paranoid, and it's always within .5 degree, at the most. Plus, a thermostat like that would be able to handle quite a bit more than what you currently have setup, so if you wanted to expand a little bit, and do a bigger setup, it would still be fine. Just my opinion and what's worked really well for me.

Looks like you're getting there!

 

[Zynx_Keekeio]

Dude you gave me the cooliest idea EVER, what if i like converted my fireplace into a giant aquarium of course it'd have to be a place of my own. lol