UTH sporadic buzzing - is this normal?

[caroline]

We just adopted our first gecko today! We bought a new Zoo Med heat pad (for 10-20 gal tanks) and plugged it in. It gets hot, but it makes an odd buzzing noise sporadically (maybe 3 minutes of buzzing out of every 15) - not super loud, but hard to miss in a quiet room.

Has anybody else experienced this? If this is normal we can live with it, but if not, we'd like to know.

Also: Could the buzzing bother/stress the gecko?

Thanks!

 

[little98dime]

never had one buz before.... and I have 5 of them.

 

[tlbowling]

I also have 5 of them....all 5 have never buzzed. It sounds defective, and it scares me. Id stop using it immediately, and return it ASAP...you wouldnt want to start a fire! Get a new one. Please.

 

[MiamiLeos]

+1 better to be safe than sorry

 

[Neill]

I actually had a zoo med UTH melt. Noticed an odd wood smoking smell lifted up the tank almost burnt my hand feeling under the tank and QUICKLY unplugged it. All i use now is heat cable for a rack system I made, and heat tape for another rack system I purchased. Just one UTH for a gecko cage that stands by itself but im always checking it now!

 

[clemsonguy1125]

Yeah I have that same one, the first one didnt heat up so i returned it and got another one, it works fine