Heat cord advice (making a heat tile)

[Snapped]

Hi,

Converting an entertainment unit into two separate enclosures, and found an old thread from pythonmum where she made a frame, threaded a heat cord through, used heavy duty flywire on the bottom and put a tile secured on the top, so the snake could bask underneath and get the heat, or lay on top of the tile for belly heat.

Seeing as my enclosure is similar size, I want to know what wattage heat cord to use that would be appropriate, and what kind of thermostat should it be on, a dimming? ALso, I plan on having the main vent like in the picture, but where would I put the other smaller vent?

Here's the pics of Pythonmums set up, I hope its okay to post them.

So, This is my enclosure so far, but also, if I get a slightly longer heat cord and the end goes through a small hole drilled into the back of the enclosure, is that dangerous, to have heat cord hanging against the back of the enclosure?
It's my first attempt at using heat cord so I have no idea how it works, hence the many questions , I currently have my two pythons temporarily in tubs on heat mats while I'm converting the enclosure.
The right hand side is for my RSP, I'll make a slightly smaller heat tile for him.

 

[Prof_Moreliarty]

Looking good, Wattage is determined by the length of the cord so just go with the length that suits.

 

[Wokka]

My concern with that setup would be that the stress points where the cord passes through the hook will fail over time. Heat cord is not made to have sharp bends which may bruise the wire and cause failure. A less abrupt change in direction would be better such as around a pipe, or coiling the cord between two tiles. The wattage will depend upon the ambient temperature and the ultimate temperature required. If you use high wattage you will require a thermostat and hope it doesn't fail. Its best to use a wattage that, even without a thermostat, wont overheat the cage, which can be assisted by proper ventilation. If you are making a heat tile so the animal can touch the surface the heat will be transferred by conduction and so is more efficient that travelling through the air from globes etc, and so wattages can be reduced.

 

[Newhere]

Just because you're doing a diy enclosure doesn't mean you need to do a diy heat source. You could put a shelf in and mount a heat panel underneath it and achieve the same result. Might even be able to get away with a 40w and not need a thermostat at all.

 

[ronhalling]

Here is a pic of the heat panel i built using 10w heat cord, currently it sits on the bottom of the enclosure with artificial grass over it but could basically be put anywhere as long as the other side is also enclosed, as you can see there is no sharp bends in the cord done this way, hope this helps. ....................Ron

 

[Rob]

Here is a pic of the heat panel i built using 10w heat cord, currently it sits on the bottom of the enclosure with artificial grass over it but could basically be put anywhere as long as the other side is also enclosed, as you can see there is no sharp bends in the cord done this way, hope this helps. ....................Ron

What sort of temps do you get with that, Ron ?

 

[Snapped]

Looking good, Wattage is determined by the length of the cord so just go with the length that suits.

Ah, that makes sense, thanks Prof

My concern with that setup would be that the stress points where the cord passes through the hook will fail over time. Heat cord is not made to have sharp bends which may bruise the wire and cause failure. A less abrupt change in direction would be better such as around a pipe, or coiling the cord between two tiles. The wattage will depend upon the ambient temperature and the ultimate temperature required. If you use high wattage you will require a thermostat and hope it doesn't fail. Its best to use a wattage that, even without a thermostat, wont overheat the cage, which can be assisted by proper ventilation. If you are making a heat tile so the animal can touch the surface the heat will be transferred by conduction and so is more efficient that travelling through the air from globes etc, and so wattages can be reduced.

I hadn't thought of that Wokka, but good point. I was thinking of between two tiles, but how would I keep the cord coiled in place? I've never used it before, so not sure what you can/can't use/do with it.

Just because you're doing a diy enclosure doesn't mean you need to do a diy heat source. You could put a shelf in and mount a heat panel underneath it and achieve the same result. Might even be able to get away with a 40w and not need a thermostat at all.

Yep, I know that. I had originally planned to use radiant heat panels for both, but doing that x 2 plus dimming thermostats put the cost out of my reach (for the moment anyway) so for now I'm looking at a cheaper solution, but also, I really want to make something myself. )

Here is a pic of the heat panel i built using 10w heat cord, currently it sits on the bottom of the enclosure with artificial grass over it but could basically be put anywhere as long as the other side is also enclosed, as you can see there is no sharp bends in the cord done this way, hope this helps. ....................Ron

Brilliiant, thanks for that Ron, it's giving me a good visual. So I could do something similar, and still use a tile on top. What temps do you get with that one?

 

[Wokka]

I don't use heat cord, I use heat mats under a tile. I use a 13 watt matt under a 450 x 450mm ceramic tile which achieves about 35C on top of the matt grading out to say 30C on the edge of the tile. A lot of people don't like mats but i have had 100 odd running over 5 years without a problem. You can hold cord with anything, probably selastic is easiest. Cord was originally made for in floor slab heating where it is in the concrete slab surrounded by concrete .

 

[ronhalling]

What sort of temps do you get with that, Ron ?

As it sits upside down with timber facing up and no grass i got a max of 38 deg C after running for 8 hrs, with fake grass with nylon backing (not hypalon) i got 34 deg C after 10 hrs, but in saying that i ran a good quality on/off thermostat for safety sake.
As an experiment i attached a 5 mm thick aluminium plate on the open side and placed a 20 mm thick piece of styrofoam sheeting on the timber side and was able to get 36 deg C refracted heat at 75 mm after 10 hours, lol i forgot to put the infra red thermo gun on the Aluminium plate to see how hot it was. So it can be used for multiple operations i.e. on the bottom of enclosure like i did or up on a platform for belly heat or above a platform for refracted heat, i don't think it would be much good for a heat spot for basking species i.e. Beardies and the like as it does not produce enough heat, even if it did there would be a danger of melting the heat cord and not being able to see it happen. Hope this helps Rob. ................Ron

 

[pythonmum]

That was the second heat panel I have made and I have been very happy with them. I don't pull the cord tight, so it is looped, but not stressed any more than it would be by another bend. I have been running these for several years (5?) with no issues. I just checked the one in the photo and it says it is 60W Reptile One 7.5m. I know I used a lower wattage for my other enclosure. The current temp is 34, spread nicely across the tile. My Darwin girl usually basks on top, but sometimes likes the branch underneath.

I hook all heat sources up to top quality thermostats. I use Habistat pulse proportional day/night thermostats, as these make cycling much easier and more precise. I used to use CHEs, but they are very expensive to run and do not spread the heat as evenly as the heat cord. I now only have one CHE left and may get rid of it this summer in favour of heat cord and tile.

I hope that helps.

I have had a heat panel give out after only a year and was not happy with its performance in general. I am much happier with the cord.

 

[Snapped]

Thanks so much Pythonmum for your advice.
i think I'll try heat cord with the tile as you did, I'll just go with a lower wattage and add a decent thermostat.

And thanks Ron, your info was very helpful too