Ranco thermostat

[Tommy13b]

Here is a link to one i was thinking about getting http://www.reptiletubs.com/, does anyone have any experience with these, if so is this a good price, and is it a decent thermostat for runing 4+ rows of heat tape?

 

[stewy84]

I have 3 of them and all work great, going on 3 years old and all 3 read the exact same when calibrated last week. thats the cheapest I have seen then so far.

 

[Tommy13b]

Great, thanks

 

[OhioGecko]

How long are your rows and what is the wattage per foot on your heat tape. I think the Ranco will definately work for you but you can save on your electric by getting a porportional thermostat.

You will still need to wire in a surge strip with the Ranco you listed also.

 

[sammer021486]

I really like them and run two, one for each shelf in my rack. As long as the combined wattage of the mats do not exceed 1500 Watts then it is fine to use and most breakers in your panel box only support 1500 Watts so all should be good.

www.pexsupply.com sells unwired ones for around $50 each, that will save you $15 before taxes.

 

[Tommy13b]

my rows are 4 foot long each, im not sure what the wattage is though.

 

[sammer021486]

my rows are 4 foot long each, im not sure what the wattage is though.

That is easy to find, just figure out what heat tape you want to use and then multiply the wattage per foot by the number of feet you will be using.

So say you are using 4" wide heat tape and it is 8W per foot. Then your total wattage will be

# of feet x wattage/foot = total wattage
4' x 8W =32Watt

 

[janjgeckos]

You can pick them up at most HVAC supply houses for a little over 50 bucks then you also save on shipping.

 

[Tommy13b]

The problem is, i have no clue how to wire them. shiping should really be much, if anything ill drive for an hour and go pick everything up

 

[Tommy13b]

You can pick them up at most HVAC supply houses for a little over 50 bucks then you also save on shipping.

Whats HVAC?