Electricity Usage & Fire Risk

[eryx]

I was just curious, before I set up an enclosure for my future snake, do lights and heating accessories cause a noticeable increase in the electricity bill?

My fiance is concerned also about the heating accessories, which will need to be on constantly, even when we are not at home - have they ever started a fire?

-eryx

 

[Jwedd]

I was just curious, before I set up an enclosure for my future snake, do lights and heating accessories cause a noticeable increase in the electricity bill?

My fiance is concerned also about the heating accessories, which will need to be on constantly, even when we are not at home - have they ever started a fire?

-eryx

that depends on how you set up the enclosure.. Some people go all out with heat sources, matts, lamps, thermostats, etc.. the more you use, the more it'll cost you. But this is what i do:

I dont use a thermostat (i can hear everyone cringe now.. but this is what quite a few breeders do around here). Have a basking lamp at one end, and a normal lightbulb painted blue, red or green colour.. dont put the lightglobe all the way at the other end becuase you want this as a cooler end to get your thermal graident.

Now when you know the forcasted themperature for the day is going to be 30oC or higher, simply switch the lightglobe off and dont run it.. a heat mat may be used at one end still (7Watt heat matt will use hardly any power at all!)

Not having a thermostat means you dont have to worry about
a) the thermostat stuffing up and cooking your snake
b) protection on the lightglobe as the only reason you need cages around heat globes is because the thermostat turns them on and off to regulate the temperature, hence snake crawls around it once the globes off and cooled down.. thermostat kicks in and your snake is cooked.

Also if you run a thermostat the cage is kept at a constant temperature (within reason, you have your up/down fluctuation due to the temperature control loop in the thermostat) but in the wild do snakes get a constant temperature? nope..

Thats my view, but im sure plenty of people will disagree

edit: ohhh i just want to add.. so therefore running an enclosure with the above setup is just like leaving a lightbuld on in your house all day.. minimal added fire risk.

 

[hey_im_sam]

the only reason you need cages around heat globes is because the thermostat turns them on and off to regulate the temperature, hence snake crawls around it once the globes off and cooled down.. thermostat kicks in and your snake is cooked.

Where did you hear that? can you verify it? or anyone else? I just have never heard that, so would be interested in anything else pertaining to it...

Either way i just dont think i would risk having unproteced heat sources. snakes can be pretty inquisitive...

 

[Jwedd]

From a few breeders, when i purchased my snake of one of them i was already to purchase cages for the globes from him, he informed me that i could buy them if i wanted to but it wasn't worth it if you ran no thermostat.. i mean that was lost sales to him so he must mean what he said, i saw all his setups even out back (breeding stock, etc) and no wire cages.

Thats the most important part... ONLY WHEN YOUR NOT RUNNING A THERMOSTAT!

Just think, if a light globe is on it gets hot,.. would you touch a light globe when its been on for a while? no, your finger gets close you feel the heat, so you pull away.. a snake has enough sense to feel the heat and stay away from it, it may be inquisitive but it isn't going to blindly coil around a light that is on and extremely hot!

When the thermostat turns of the light, the lamp cools.. the snake then coils around the lamp to get that last bit of warmth.. when the thermostat detects the temp. has dropped enough it clicks on the lamp again.. BANG you snake is still wrapped around the lamp!

For piece of mind cages around lamps may be used, im just telling you my experience, and what i got first hand of breeders.

 

[Nicole]

Hi Eryx,

Thought I'd add my two cents, what works for me...

I have my heat mats and radiant heat sources hooked up to thermostats.
The heat mats are directly under plastic critter cages, with protective placemats under the tablecloth between them and the table they sit on.

The radiant heat sources are ceramic heat emmitters or red bulbs, these are caged where internal to the enclosure, and there is no contact with anything else. I should say also that the cage for the heat souce sits through a hole in the top of the enclosure so change globes etc can all be done from outside the enclosure without disturbing the resident, so I like the cages just for the convenience as well.

No fires at my place so far, maybe if we have some electrician memebrs of APS they could advise what the most likely electrical fire starter would be and we can all double check our set ups?

I wouldn't think one heat mat or one globe would make much difference to your power bill, we are running a couple of things and haven't noticed too much of an increase.

Nic

 

[OzDAZ]

In regard to electricity consumption I have a 14 month old QLD costal carpet python in a 1.5x2.5x1.5 foot tank and for heating I use 1x16 watt heat mat and 1x6 watt heat or basking rock and the lighting consists of a herp 36in fluro tube which is 18 watts.
All together the 3 items use 40 watts and provide a 8-9 degree C increase in tank temperature , so in terms of power usage, 40 watts is less that most light bulbs, less that half in a lot of cases.
A glass tank and a wooden enclosure will have different heat retention characteristics but my tank does have a wire screen covering the top so that should even things up between the two types of enclosures abit, thou you may well need more heavy duty heating in a different type of enclosure especially a fold out mesh style one.
As for fire safety, it as safe as you make it, I just use a power board and I couldn?t imagine it being any more dangerous as any other electrical item in the apartment.


Cheers.... :wink:

OZ

 

[jmbrimer]

They don't make much difference tho the bill at all - in fact you can work out exactly how much it costs to run each device by looking at your bill.
Your bill gives you the cost electricty per killowatt hour - if a device, say a 100w reflector is on for say 10 hours a day then it's easy to do the maths

P.S - I don't use cages on my globes (they don't have thermostats), and haven't had a problem. My next big enclosure will have a thermostat and use globes for heat as well, so I prob will.

Cheers,

John.

 

[Artie]

Hi jwedd, I don?t want to start an argument here, but I don?t follow you when you say a thermostat will keep the cage at constant temperature.
If you don?t have one and are not there all the time to switch your heat source on and off, you would just create that problem!
Ps. Forecasts are not always right. (prob. more wrong) and what are you doing when you go away for a few days?
Cheers Artie

 

[Jwedd]

In regards to you post Artie, dont worry i wont be starting any arguments but maybe i can explain a little better what i meant.

A thermostat is used to regulate temperature by switching the heat source on and off.. For example, lets say you set your thermostat temperature to 32oC.

If the temperature in the tank reaches 32oC the thermostat will detect this and say.. oh i better stop pumping heat into this tank and switch off the heater. When the temperature falls below a specified level (depends on the thermostat) it will detect this fall and will think ahh no i must heat up the tank again until its 32oC.. and the cycle continues.. therefore depending on how accurate your thermostat is you tank will always be very close to 32oC..

Now obviously this dodn't happen in nature you get 21oC days like today here in adelaide, then you get 35oC days.. hence if you just use a light globe (LOW wattage!) it will heat the tank some what above the ambient room temperature but as this room temperature rises and falls the temperature in the tank will do also, as the light bulb has limited heating capacity. On hot days, ie above 30oC you wont need to run a light bulb at all, there is enough heat in the ambient room temperature. However a small wattage heat mat may be switched on to heat a SMALL atrea on the bottom of the tank so the snake has an extra warm part it can go to if it wishes

I am aware of photo-sensitive setups some breeders have which alter heating cycles using a thermostat depending on the outside temperature, night/day, and season/climate etc.. however these are rather complicated systems! But give the snake a more realistic "mini-climate"

 

[Nicole]

Hi Jwedd ,

A thermostat doesn't keep the whole tank at a constant temp, there is still a thermal gradient, it's all bout where you put the probe. So one end of the tank will always be around 32 if that's what you set your thermostat to, but a cool end of 26 will still be there also. Add a timer, and you can drop night time temperatures just like in nature. This is what I do anyway, but maybe I'm miss-understanding you.
I wouldn't want to rely on the weather forecast, and what about when you want to go away for a weekend or a holiday?

 

[Artie]

Hi Jewdd, I know how a thermostat works !!!
That?s why you set it more to one side of the tank so it regulates the heat in one third of the cage (warm end). If the ambient temp. rises because of outside temp. It will turn off anyway
You did mention in your earlier post you also have a basking lamp, that?s what I was really referring to, more than just the light globe.
Is that on all the time???

 

[grahamh]

My 2c worth.

I built my two enclosures so that all the elctrics are contained in a hinged top hood, that's the heat emitter, the red globe, the Fluoro and the fan and a 50watt halogen downlight over the basking rock. These are all kept away from the snake by a mesh (5mm square) that completeley covers the underside of the hood. So no need for any cages. I use a thermostat with the hear emitter and Halogen light connected to it. I have a dimmer switch between the themostat and the emitter/light. This allows me to drop the voltage to them to the point where they stay on virtually all the time. If the environment does get too warm (hot day etc.) then the thermostat will cut the power until required again. The daytime heating and and lighting is managed by a timer that comes on a dawn and goes off at dusk. On my latest enclosure I want some heat over night so I have a second timer and dimmer switch controlling the red globe which gives a nice look to the environment at night and keeps the enclosure at around 25 deg C. This comes on an hour after the daytime stuff goes off and goes off an hour before the daytime stuff comes on. All I have to do is enjoy it and do a themostat check every couple of weeks.

 

[Artie]

Hi Graham, how high is your enclosure and how strong is the heat emitter?

 

[Jwedd]

Yeah sorry i never mentioned that a thermostat when positioned at one end (or its sensor) you will get a thermal gradient, im aware of that

The basking lamp is exactly that, it emits a large amount of heat energy in a small spot, a basking area, it does not emit heat energy throughout the cage in a dispersed sort of manner.. hence it wont heat up the cage a great deal, only the spot directly under, so yes its left on.

Umm i think when you say that you wouldn't rely on a weather forecast, your probably right, but i think its pretty easy to tell in a morning before you leave for work that is going to reach a rough temp of 30oC and over. But then again in in Adelaide, we hardly ever get extremely hot and extremely cold in one day, hence its easy to say its going to be over 30oC.. so i wont need to run the light.

This works for me, and other breeders, it may not be for everyone.

I understand it goes against what is deemed to be the "norm" and anticipated many questions.

 

[Magpie]

The heating does make a diference to your electricity bill. If you have an 150W ceramic bulb that runs an average of 10hrs a day (Averaged over the whole year,) a 15W heat matt that runs the same and a 20W flouro that runs an average of 12 hrs a day, that's 1.89kW/Hrs a day. At 12c a unit, this is $82 a year. It's not much, but if you have 5 or 6 setups, it adds up.
Also, the major risk of fire is if something (escaped rodent or insect) gets behind the enclosure and has a chew on any exposed cables. Pretty easy to avoid really so the fire risk is minimal if the enclosures are wired correctly.
Side note : If your enclosures are not wired by a licensed sparky, your fire insurance MAY be invalid if it can be proved that the reptile enclosure satrted the fire. Have heard a lot of debate over this point though.

 

[grahamh]

Artie

these enclosures are quite small only 900 long 600 high and 400 front to back. The emitter is 100w and this is linked with the halogen downlight so they both work as heaters as the dimmer is turned down so much that very little light is given. I probably don't need the halogen in this case. The other enclosure is a little shorter but they seem pretty good for Snap so far.

 

[Artie]

Hi Graham, the reason I asked, my enclosure is 900 long and about 500 high.
Up till now, besides my UV light I only used a 40watt normal globe (on thermostat) as basking, or warm spot.
As temp. Has gone down since the last few days, I put in 60w spotlight which brings temp. (hottest spot) up to 34 on branch, but ground on that side 27, other end 24-25.

Well today, I tried 100w infra; it went past 50 and melted the thermometer.

Of course Ruby did not know any of this, as she was snug in her hide (24dgr.)

I have to point out my infra would be a lot lower, than your emitter, as it is mounted inside the roof, (under heat protector)
No need to tell you, back to 60w again. I might even put the heat mat in again and 40w, (both on thermostat), I'll see... cheers

 

[grahamh]

Artie

you could wire int the dimmer ($8.00) and this way you just drop the power and because it's not switching on and off all the time it would also reduce the risk of it blowing (ie. would give a longer life.).

G

 

[Artie]

OK, thanks Graham, I?ll think about it.
Sounds easy enough!

 

[eryx]

Thanks for all the information! You guys are truly the nicest people I have ever seen in a forum!

-eryx