This is what happens when flexwatt gets too hot

[kryolla]

luckily my house did not burn down

[Ranger]

Wow! What were you controlling that with? Is that one of Jeff's cages? We need details. No I'll never sleep tonight. I'll be checking the snake room every 5 minutes.

[Linda]

That's just too scary! I never realized that the flexwatt would get that hot.

Hopefully you didn't have a boa in that cage.

[kryolla]

yes that is Jeff cage. I had a ranco thermostat that failed. I had a female stripe het albino female that died during breeding season for no reason but I dont remember if she was in this cage. hmmmm

[shik]

ouch. sorry to hear that. did you ever figure out what went wrong with the thermostat? i'm guessing the relay might have gotten stuck?

either way i'm sorry that happened to you.

[The_Boaphile]

One thing that needs to be made clear here. The Flexwatt used under this cage was the 11" Flexwatt which the user installed himself. 11" Flexwatt is not the correct Flexwatt to use with our cages. That is why we don't and have never once ever sold a cage with 11" Flexwatt used to heat that cage. We only use and recommend the lower wattage Flexwatt available with cage orders through us. Our Flexwatt is less than half the wattage per square foot of the 11" Flexwatt and still adequate to achieve the temperatures necessary to care for your animals.

Also, this is exactly why we only personally use "Double Thermostats" that we invented and sell on our web site. One thermostat runs the heater while the other guards that thermostat to make sure it does not fail in the on position. All thermostats are made by man and even the most reliable thermostat on the market, the Ranco Thermostat, will eventually fail. Nothing lasts forever. So if you value your critters, set up two thermostats the way we have our double thermostats set up. It need not be Ranco thermostats but two thermostats are always going to be better than one. Take a chance if you wish, but your temperature controller WILL NOT last forever and when it does stick in the on position, what will happen to your animals? Do not cut corners or some day you may regret it. Loosing an animal or two may be the least of the possible negative scenarios. Double up those thermostats!

Lastly, thank goodness the cage is made from self extinguishing material! No telling what something less might have done or worse, what the result would have been had that been a wooden cage or a plastic cage made from flammable plastics. Self Extinguishing PVC rocks!

[ChrisGilbert]

Personal reason I like Helix thermostats, if they fail they shut off, they don't stick wide open.

[Desert]

I have a flexwatt question. As a rough rule of thumb, how do you project watt usage for flexwatt for predicting electric bills? I can see the flexwatt doesn't go full blast 24/7. In a typoical ambient controlled snakeroom, would penciling about 1/3 wattage be accurate?

[The_Boaphile]

I have only run a handful of the most popular proportional thermostat. I have had them fail full on. I have had them fail off. I have had many many customers tell me those same proportional thermostats have failed in the full on position sometimes with catastrophic results to the critters. The common failure of thermostats is precisely why we always use the lowest wattage Flexwatt necessary to achieve the temperature needed. As I detailed, this is why we went to the additional cash expense of having special Flexwatt custom run for us. We can't force people to use a fail safe double thermostat system so we must make our cages and racks as safe as possible given the fact that thermostats can and do fail. I tossed my proportional thermostats after I found the Rancos.

Calculating electric usage is a bit complicated and depends on your electric rates. Basically it's ((total wattage x 168) divided by 1000) X (Your electric rate)= $ cost per week. This will give you your electric cost per week. This works for proportional thermostats and rheostats. This will not work for a Ranco thermostat as when it is not running, you are not paying for the additional electricity that the other types continue to waste. Just another good reason, whether purchased from us or someone else, to go with a straight thermostat.

[snkchrmr_420]

WOW!! That is scary. Happy to hear that nothing else was lost. I am happy that I decided to go with a dual Ranco system now. I can't imagine the thought of losing one or more of my kiddos.

[Linda]

I guess it could have been a lot worse. Fortuantely it wasn't.

I was wondering how long it took for it to burn that badly?

Was it a few hours or longer? Did it cause the smoke alarm to go off? Did any of the other boas have problems from the fumes, if there were any? Was the damage isolated to that one cage or was there one underneath it as well?

[Missi]

Well, that just put a little extra kick into my motivation to get a second thermostat. By the way, is there a difference in temperatures between turning a thermostat on high versus the thermostat getting stuck open after malfunctioning? Or are 'high' and 'stuck wide open' going to register the same temperatures?

[Desert]

We can't force people to use a fail safe double thermostat system so we must make our cages and racks as safe as possible given the fact that thermostats can and do fail. I tossed my proportional thermostats after I found the Rancos.

As a matter of curiosity, how long have the Rancos been lasting you? If one were going to preventively change the Rancos out, what timeframe is prudent?

[ChrisGilbert]

I'm curious to know what proportional thermostats stick full open. I use Helix and Herpstat, both of which have internal glass fuses to protect them. If the probe comes away from the heating element it is controlling obviously it can spike the temperature, but if installed properly and with the correct wattage of element I do not think there is a better option out there for the safety of the animals in question.

I still advise that EVERY SINGLE animal in your collection should have a separate thermostat. With exception of a rack for babies, or the 4 bin rack that hold some of my adult males, each snake has it's own thermostat. Which means, if one did fail, only one animal is affected, not a bank of cages that hit the maximum wattage of a thermostat.

[shik]

well helix is rated 400W. i dont know what herpstat is rated, but if they do have fuses it's not going to burn out at any less than 3.33A (400W/120V). now 3 amps can do quite a bit of damage. just because it has a fuse doesn't mean it can't start a fire. it's gonna take a pretty big current to break that fuse. triacs (or any other bidirectional or pn junction semiconductors, what most proportional thermostats use) can fail with a short too, leaving it up to the fuse to break the circuit.

i don't know what your beef is with ranco or jeff, but i see both as fine thermostats. every device has a chance of failing. if helix and the other brands were so perfect they would be able to offer more than a one year warranty. no electric device is guaranteed for life.

again, the only problem i can see with the ranco is the relay sticking. now if you think relays are dangerous, then you should be real scared when plugging in appliances, taking a sip from the faucet, eating any processed foods, or riding in your car. why? because just about all industrial controls consist of relays. relays protect and control everything from 25kV substations, power distribution, to water treatment, to automation.

a lot of your claims come out as opinions with no scientific or educated backing. simply stating that they are fused or won't stick on doesn't provide a very strong case. how do you know how that fuse is used? have you taken a look at the circuits? do some research before making a claim. until then, it's all opinions.

i, personally, have no bias. i use both ranco and helix with no problems. i have my 1500W room heater controlled using a ranco and i haven't had any issues for the 2 and half year i have had it.

[ChrisGilbert]

I don't have beef with Jeff or Rancos. I don't disagree that Ranco thermostats aren't a good product, but I do not think they are the BEST.

I had a fuse blow on one helix last year. Don't know the cause, but it shut off the heat. Popped in a new one, and was good to go.

I think Helix are the best thermostats out there, my reason on this is that they keep 100% dead accurate temps. On/Off thermostats have a point where is turns off the heat and a point where it turns on the heat, allowing for slight variance. I like to know my temps are exactly what I set them to.