Ceramic heater too hot?? Burning roof.

[Snake-Supplies]

I'll post some photo's later tonight.

I have 5ft white melamine enclosure.

A ceramic heat light, 200W on a pulse proportional thermostat and a UVB light.
Been on for around 1.5 years.

I noticed last night the there are stains on the roof, on closer inspection, they are burns.
On even closer expection (with my head in the tank) I noticed the power cable is also discolured and looking old and worn, I'll be fixing it on the weekend. Though it can only be temporary as the same thing will eventually happen.

The cable comes thru the back wall and runs along the roof, not thru the roof.
The light fitting is fitted directly on the roof.

Like I said, I'll take some photo's and post tonight... though it wont be till later.
I can't be the only one with this problem or that's had this problem...

 

[Snowman]

Those cables arent made for that kind of heat. This is why DIY is dangerous. Just because it works does not make it right... I always use a v100 rated cable with fibreglass sleaving. The amount of people who use normal extension cord (usually v50) for wiring up heat light fittings is just scary.

Also bit of thin fibre cement sheeting works well as a heat buffer between the ceramic holder and the melamine. Scraps everywhere on building sites.

 

[Snake-Supplies]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Well I asked the people at the electrical shop, and they said it'll work fine.
I had a technitian look at it and he said that it was good.
I explained what it's used for and how I propose to set it up, and they recomended this cable.
Unsure what it is... it's just a 2 core cable.

The cement sheeting, wont that burn anyway?

 

[Snowman]

The people at the electrical shop probably arent sparkies. Why would you work retail if you can make $150k in a trade? Selling products has nothing to do with installing them.
What would a technician know about cable selection and installation?
OMG!
Why would you use a licensed electrician? It sounds as stupid as buying reptiles under license...... :shock:

Cement sheet doesnt burn.

"Under the Building Code of Australia BGC Compressed​

Fibre Cement sheeting is deemed to be non-combustible.
When tested in accordance with Australian Standard AS1530.3 the Early Fire Hazard Indices are as follows:
Ignitability Index 0
Spread of Flame Index 0
Heat Evolved Index 0​

Smoke Developed Index 0 – 1"

 

[Ramsayi]

For all wiring inside enclosures I use high temp glass cable that is rated up to 450c,its the stuff they use in ovens etc.At the back of each enclosure I have junction boxes where the high temp wire is then connected to 3 core flex,above each heat/light fitting is a sheet of 4.5mm fibre cement.

 

[Snowman]

Running a 200w lamp I'd consider using some fire rated flex like pyrolex (changed to alsecure now).

Nice work Ram's that is what I like to hear

 

[Snake-Supplies]

Ahhh, okie dokie...

I wouldn't have thought that it should go crappy...
It's only at say 40C at most not what I would call hot.

I'll get it all done by the weekend. Cheers guys.

 

[Snowman]

Come on Josh! A 200w ceramic is not 40 degrees. There is no way you could touch it when it is on. It may give a surrounding temp of 40C, but the lamp holder and lamp would be way hotter...

 

[MR_IAN_DAVO]

Hi Josh,
Mate why do you need a 200w ceramic heater for anyway. The surface temp on these things is enormous.
I did some temp checks on some of mine last winter, my temp gun only went to 3oo degrees c, The 100w ceramics surface temp got to more than that as the thermo gun ran out of range. So i can only imagine what a 200w one would get to.
Just be very carefull what temps get to at the hottest piont. If you need more heat you should ask if your set up is right, even though you are running a thermostat, the surface temp will get extremly hot when operating to the piont where you could cook a chook on it.

I hope this helps.
Cheers
Ian

 

[Skeptic]

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire......

 

[Snake-Supplies]

Hi Josh,
Mate why do you need a 200w ceramic heater for anyway. The surface temp on these things is enormous.
I did some temp checks on some of mine last winter, my temp gun only went to 3oo degrees c, The 100w ceramics surface temp got to more than that as the thermo gun ran out of range. So i can only imagine what a 200w one would get to.
Just be very carefull what temps get to at the hottest piont. If you need more heat you should ask if your set up is right, even though you are running a thermostat, the surface temp will get extremly hot when operating to the piont where you could cook a chook on it.

I hope this helps.
Cheers
Ian

I figured if I got the bigger one, it wouldn't need to work as hard, therefore last longer.

 

[MR_IAN_DAVO]

[h=2]Heat source temperature findings[/h]

Here are my temperature findings on the heat sources in my snake enclosures.
Unfortunatly the thermal imaging camera maxed out at 130 degrees c. this is due to that it is used mainly for bearing or motor overtemp findings which normally do not get that high.

But it did confirm the readings on my infrared thermometer which maxs out at 300 degrees c. I have no reason to doubt Carpet pythons previous findings of 150 watt emitters surface temp getting to 600 degrees c. For my findings I will refer to as 300 degrees c +

These temps are also taken on a cold day with ambient temperature of only 16 degrees c & a normal day of 30 to 40 degrees would see these temps raised somewhat.

75 watt heat lamp - surface temp of bulb 170 degrees c
- dome cage top mounted surround 48 degrees c

100 watt heat lamp - surface temp of bulb 220 degrees c
- aluminium surround 37 degrees c

100 watt ceramic heat emitter - surface temp 300+ degrees c
- aluminium surround temp 40 degrees c

100 watt ceramic heat emitter - large steel surround 35 degrees c

150 watt ceramic heat emmitter - surface temp 300+ degrees c
- aluminium surround temp 50 degrees c
- small steel surround temps 55 degrees c

These temps are the maximum temps found on the day of test.

As you can see by covering heat sources, you are much less likely to cause accidental burning to snakes or ourselves & much less likly to cause melting or fire due to combustable items comming into contact with extreme hot surfaces.

Hope this is of good information to you all.
If I can get a better infrared thermometer I will get better surface temps & let you know.

This info has already enlightened myself to the extreme heat that these sources can give off.

Cheers
Ian​

 

[thomasssss]

Cement sheet doesnt burn.

"Under the Building Code of Australia BGC Compressed​

Fibre Cement sheeting is deemed to be non-combustible.
When tested in accordance with Australian Standard AS1530.3 the Early Fire Hazard Indices are as follows:
Ignitability Index 0
Spread of Flame Index 0
Heat Evolved Index 0​

Smoke Developed Index 0 – 1"

so where can i buy some of this cement sheet ? im in the process of making an enclosure and although ill be using a much lower wattage globe it will be inside the enclosure hidden in one of those fake roof sorta set ups people on here make so i think i should use some of this stuff for a bit of heat protection around the holder , im using one of those urs ceramic holders that screw together and come all prewired

sorry to hijack your thread josh but just didn't want to start another one about the exact same thing , hope you don't mind

if anyone could post a pic of how they've used this stuff in an enclosure that'd be great and how you fix it around the holder safely

 

[MR_IAN_DAVO]

Hey josh I am sorry about the dust on my post, but i pulled it from a thread on another forum that i had purpose to participate in.
I can't remember if i posted it here or not, i was too lazy to look & even too lazy to edit the post properly.

Cheers
Ian

 

[Batanga]

Bunnings sells Cement sheeting.

 

[Snake-Supplies]

so where can i buy some of this cement sheet ? im in the process of making an enclosure and although ill be using a much lower wattage globe it will be inside the enclosure hidden in one of those fake roof sorta set ups people on here make so i think i should use some of this stuff for a bit of heat protection around the holder , im using one of those urs ceramic holders that screw together and come all prewired

sorry to hijack your thread josh but just didn't want to start another one about the exact same thing , hope you don't mind

if anyone could post a pic of how they've used this stuff in an enclosure that'd be great and how you fix it around the holder safely

All good

Hey josh I am sorry about the dust on my post, but i pulled it from a thread on another forum that i had purpose to participate in.
I can't remember if i posted it here or not, i was too lazy to look & even too lazy to edit the post properly.

Cheers
Ian

No that's handy to know.
Still hard to believe the air around it is getting so hot. I know the surface tmep would be very hot, but I couldn't see it being hot enough to slowly burn the melamine. I would of thought it would be far enough from the globe.

Ahhh well.

 

[MR_IAN_DAVO]

All good



No that's handy to know.
Still hard to believe the air around it is getting so hot. I know the surface tmep would be very hot, but I couldn't see it being hot enough to slowly burn the melamine. I would of thought it would be far enough from the globe.

Ahhh well.

Mate as you know heat rises.
Cheers

 

[Snake-Supplies]

Mate as you know heat rises.
Cheers

I would of thought the size of the tank would of easily of had the heat dissapate along it.
Because I can touch the roof no worries.

It'll all be fixed shortly.
I'll also drop the ceramic heaters down to 100W

 

[pharskie]

Personally I'd be investing into one of the urs floating fitting that is built into a cage. That way the heat is dispersed into the air not the wood it's attached to

 

[Red-Ink]

Meanwhile

Here's some I prepared earlier.....

Works beautifully in this thing