Enclosure Ventilation And Heating

[TigerCoastal]

Have just finished building my new 3 bank enclosure, just need to add the finishing touches, and i want to get it all right. It is built out of 16mm Melamine, each enclosure is 1200(W) x 700(H) x 600(D), and the front pannels extend 120mm top and bottom of each enclosure. (pics are missing top panel, battery was flat on drill and was waiting for it to charge when i took pics)


Now for my questions:
I am going to use ceramic heat lamps, what wattage should i use in enclosure that size, considering i live in ballarat where night time temps can be 1-2 degrees in winter and
30-35 in summer?
Also bearing that in mind, what size, shape and position should i have my ventilation? The heat lamps will be positioned at the right hand end as well as a moonlight globe for night time viewing?

[Surfcop24]

If you going to be using a thermostat, it wont matter what Wattage you have... I had 4ft wide Melamine enclosures... Under thermostat control I used a 100W Ceramic heater and never had any problems

[TigerCoastal]

yeah i was thinking 100w would be enough, but i could add more later if i need it i guess. one more little one, has anyone ever had their thermostat fair with a ceramic heater on? and if so what did the temps get up to? an how long were you away from the enclosure?(rough guess is cool). I'm just worried that eventually the thermostat will fail in this way and i am away from home for 12hrs+(arvo's and nights) a day so dont want to over do the heating. And in a multi bank enclosure does anyone use an extra thermostat set to say 40 degrees as a "safety" that will cut power to all enclosures?

[JAS101]

yeah i was thinking 100w would be enough, but i could add more later if i need it i guess. one more little one, has anyone ever had their thermostat fair with a ceramic heater on? and if so what did the temps get up to? an how long were you away from the enclosure?(rough guess is cool). I'm just worried that eventually the thermostat will fail in this way and i am away from home for 12hrs+(arvo's and nights) a day so dont want to over do the heating. And in a multi bank enclosure does anyone use an extra thermostat set to say 40 degrees as a "safety" that will cut power to all enclosures?

if your worried about the thermostat failing then use a 75wt heat emitter , it should still heat up ok it will just take longer to getup to the temp u want .
i havnt had a thermostat fail yet [ i have never had a heat emitter fail either]

[TigerCoastal]

the only thing that i am really worried about with it is that having the 3 enclosures stacked if the bottom or middle thermostat failed would it cook the enclosure above it? I have never used ceramics only the blue party globes so i have no idea what the radiant heat is like. Do they heat more like a spot light (directed heat) or party globes (radiant heat)?

[big_head]

Hi there, i would go the lower wattage bulbs, probably 75W. I am building a rack of enclosures, going to use 25W ceramics with divided hot/cool areas with no thermostat. For ventilation, i am just using sink strainers. 3 up the top of the cool section (over 700mm), 3 at the bottom. That way i am guessing the hot air will rise, leave the enclosure and cool air will be sucked in from the bottom. Hope that helps!

[TigerCoastal]

i was thinking of using 2x 6cmx4cm vents in either side of the enclosure and was going to use the same theory as you jb, high on the cool side, low on the warm side. i'm just guessin that thes will be big enough but not over kill

[big_head]

Another thing to consider. If you use a 75W bulb in each enclosure, that will heat an area above the ceramic. One of my enclosures has 2 60W ceramics, i have a click clack on top of the enclosure and it is kept at a constant 32 degrees. Could save you a bit of money depending on your snakes!

[syeph8]

I used ceramic globes only once and then took it straight out because they take so long to heat up and cool down, thats why i heard it is better to use thermostats that allow for this, (I forget the term used for this type of thermostat, perhaps someone else can shed some light). because once your thermostat reaches the desired temperature, your ceramic will still be increasing the temperature in the enclosure while it is in its cool down period. thank god i tested this out on my enclosures well in advance because my enclosure got to 12 degrees hotter than it had with IR globes! (only a small enclosure)
some people have fantastic success with them though and if you have time to muck around with your thermostat and temps for a few weeks before you fill them with snakes, they are a far more economic way of running your enclosure, also your enclosures are very large and most likely wont have nearly as severe a consequence if the thermostat doesnt accomodate for ceramic heating and cooling.
Also read on here somewhere, before I joined, that it is a bad idea to have bloth light and ceramic globes operating in the same enclosure.

have a look at existing enclosures that either you or a friend haveto gague how much ventilation, because it can get quite cold in ballarat at night in winter (below 0 ive seen on the news before) i would want closer to minimum required ventilation (about 5-8 of those 20 cent piece sized holes evenly spaced along the bottom of each enclosure should do it, and if you are not comfortable with that then one or two of the same small ones on each top-back corner) unless you are going to heat your house constantly to compensate then you can probably have larger vents.

I have got to stop writing such long posts everywhere, people will be getting sick of me very soon, if not already!
As always, if i have any gaps, please fill them in, and if you think im wrong, correct me. Ta

Sye

[Zoltag]

Dimming thermostats are what you're thinking of, Sye.

Havent heard of not running ceramics and lights in the same enclosure before and have done it successfully before in a couple of my enclosures.

[BARRAMUNDI]

Definately dont go any higher than 75w ceramics. You will need to add far more ventilation like jb said. You need the extra ventilation to create a better thermal gradient and that way if your thermostat fails (it does happen alot) it will allow excess heat to escape from the enclosures and hopefully not cook your animals.

You can also position your probe outside the enclosure and set it at 28 degrees, that way when your room temp hits 28 degrees all heat is turned off. This negates any chance of cooking your animals when running 1 thermostat for multiple cages. But you need good ventilation to run this method.

If your worried about night time temps get yourself a day/night microclimate thermostat and adjust it accordingly to the seasons.

Dont be too concerned about the outside temps of 0-5 degrees. Your herp room should be a bit warmer than outside. I allow my herp room to get down as low as 8-15 degrees on some cold nights during winter with no night time heating at all. As long as you give your pythons access to warm daytime temps and dont feed them they will handle it fine.

[TigerCoastal]

Barra i'm not really worried about night time temps as i am up untill 2-3am with the heater going so it never gets really cold inside, was more including that info for ppl to use to recommend a wattge of heater, its the failed thermostat/cooked snakes that i am worried about. This is the first enclosure bank that i have built and everyone seems to have a different idea on heating and ventiation combinations and am looking for ideas and experiences from people who live in weather conditions similar to me, as none of my friends are into herps so they not much help. Am thinking that i might set up enclosures, minus ventilation and snakes and add ventilation till i get the humidity/temp gradient right and then add my snakes once i have it right. Last one i built (smaller single, quickly built enclosure) only needed 30x 3.5mm holes (8 on the front, 2 rows of 11 across the middle at the back) to get the ventilation right but they are using party globes so thought maybe ceramics may be different, plus i want to make this one look better.

[Elapidae1]

I go for the lowest wattage possible, for instance I have a a 4x2x2 with full top ventilation (wire mesh) and the hot spot is a constant 32 with a 50w globe, room temp is about 26 degrees no thermostat just constant heat

[schizmz]

id go 75 m8..even though it gets pretty cold there..but with your house heater etc..and the size of those enclosures 75w will do fine

[TigerCoastal]

yeah i dont think i would go any lower than 75w shizmz, i'm currently running 100W (1x 50w 2x 25w) of party globes in my smaller enclosure and that is working nicely for me, was thinking "bigger enclosure=more heat", but will prob give a better temp gradient if i didnt pump quite so much heat in