# Quick question regarding vents and heating



## compliKate (Sep 7, 2015)

Building a melamine stacked enclosure at the moment and stuck on placement of the vents. I have 2 x 76mm vents for each level, one to go on the hot end and one on the cool end. Now, my question is, where do they go? I remember one being near the top and the other near the bottom, but I just want to double check before I go about with the hole saw. Is it the heated side having the vent lower (to preserve heat) and the cooler side higher (for heat to escape)?

Secondary to this, is heat tape sufficient for the heating needs of snakes? And if so, is it inside the enclosure or tacked along the outside of the wood?

Thanks in advance!


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## arevenant (Sep 7, 2015)

16mm melamine is too thick for heat tape to penetrate without having it cranked to a significant heat when placed on the outer.
When I build my melamines I place two vents on the front below the glass and one vent in the top rear corner on the OPPOSITE side to which the heat source is located. This creates a very good flow of air for ventilation while maintaining a nice 'heat pocket' in the heated end.
Also a simple heat globe or CHE will be quite an efficient(though not the most of course) way to heat a melamine enclosure when set up this way - I have 4x2x2's set up this way with 100w heat globes running at about 30-40% output achieving 32-35c ambient in the hot end.


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## compliKate (Sep 8, 2015)

The way I have it (kind of like a cabinet) means there isn't space on the front to put vents, unless I added a wider trim to it, which would then take away the hinging system for my plexiglass. The only place I can have the vents is either on the side, or on the back. Mind the crude drawing but I don't know how to explain this well enough!


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## Wokka (Sep 8, 2015)

If you are using plexiglass you can just drill that to provide ventilation. No vents required! As for losing heat, plexiglass is a poor insulator so heat should move through the plexiglass.


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## arevenant (Sep 8, 2015)

Place your vents on the side then, down low on the hot side and up high on the cool side. Creates a good air flow without losing your ambient temps.
Also, ditch the plexiglass - its awful stuff, scratches easy, has too much flex to it and will cloud up and discolour when exposed to uv light.
Spending the extra couple of bucks on some 5mm glass will give you 1000x better results.


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## compliKate (Sep 8, 2015)

Actually, I just found a few images on this forum to support what I was after. All good. Thank you for your help


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## compliKate (Sep 8, 2015)

Replied before seeing you did- the only thing I'm worried about is the weight of glass. I'm putting brackets/braces on today so it should make it sturdy enough. Thank you so much for your help!


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