Ceramic Heater.... melting!?!?!

[monix]

yes.. you read right.. melting. I bought Ceramic heat emitter not so long ago.
Worked perfectly well then and only used it for some months before taking it out.
Put it away as I was cooling my coastals over winter, and popped it back in last night and straight away I could smell a burning stench.
There is no fake plants or anything else near (has a cover) that was melting onto it.
Tested it out this morning again, left off the cover etc, and the smelll returned immediately.
I also noticed on the side (underneath) it was melting i think??? well only just starting too.
Took out immediately and writing to the manufacturers right now.
So glad i noticed, would hate to think what would have happened if I popped it in before nicking straight off to work. :|

Has anyone else experienced this before? Or was mine just a freak occurance?
I just found it really odd that ceramic would melt... esp when it hardly had a chance to heat up.

 

[Kirby]

probably your fitting, even ceramic fittings hard plastic parts.

 

[bundybear]

isnit the ceramic heat emitter or the fitting that is melting, never heard of ceramic melting before considering the high temps they bake ceramic at.
if its your fitting, replace it with an all ceramic fitting.

 

[monix]

nope. i put my globe i had in there before, and its fine now. no smell
DEFINATELY the ceramic heater


and i know.. i find that VERY odd too. i am an artist and fired lots of things before so has me perplexed.

found this tho... http://www.beardeddragon.org/bjive/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=88538&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

 

[Ned_fisch]

I wasn't using one of mine for a good 2-3 months. I put it back in and it smelt like burnt Vegemite on toast. After 2-3 hours the smell goes away. I use ceramics for all of my snakes. Never had a problem

 

[monix]

no this smelt toxic. similar to plastic, but not quite.
i would welcome vegemite on toast smell! hehehe


hmmm maybe i am just unlucky!!
back to the safety of under my doona i fink. *dreams* stupid work :|

 

[James_Scott]

ceramics don't melt. The temps it takes to create these are much greater than the globe can create on its own. Make sure there is no dust on it. The smell of burning dust can be pretty rank.

 

[monix]

if they dont melt.. then what happened here? (not mine.. just photo confused me and blew me away)
for the record i cleaned it when i took it out. def no dust.

 

[Lukey47]

i had a look on that beardie site, the 2 people who posted pictures both had Exo-Terra ceramics, maybe it had something to do with a bad batch? to much of something put somewhere
who knows, might have to keep eye on my ceramics now.

 

[James_Scott]

it may have a plastic coating on it. Are you using a thermostat?

 

[bundybear]

i had a look on that beardie site, the 2 people who posted pictures both had Exo-Terra ceramics, maybe it had something to do with a bad batch? to much of something put somewhere
who knows, might have to keep eye on my ceramics now.

was thinking along the same lines.

anyways, just spoke to a mate who is a sparky.
apparently these heat emitters have two metal probes in the shaft connecting the screw in part the base, these transmitt the heat through the ceramic.
he reckons what may have occured is an air buble or crack has occured during the production and allowed a short circuit to occur accros these two metal probes.
he suggested a low amperage safety switch be installed in the power cord or at the plug, you could use the safety switches you plug extension leads into.

 

[pete12]

mabey not sure but it could be the ceramic expanding

 

[Chris1]

wow, scary, lucky u noticed!!

 

[SlothHead]

What brand is the ceramic??

 

[Colin]

I seem to remember some drama on a forum with heat mats last year and think they were exoterra as well.

I've use the old Pearlco ceramic heaters and the black nite ceramic heaters from Herpshop and have never had any problems with them whatsoever.

I run them with thermostats as well so they never get too overheated. they get extremely hot if you dont use a thermostat and have them just plugged in.

whats inside these ceramic heaters anyway? Has anyone ever had a broken one and looked inside?
going on the looks of them they seem like those electric stove type elements encased in a ceramic cover. I've seen those electric stove elements fry out.

 

[Crazy_Snake08]

unusual, never had that issue with any of my heaters. almost looks like plastic??? How it got there I'm stuffed if I know???/

 

[Ned_fisch]

This has just happened to me, overnight. I woke up and my mum was going on about the smell, I couldn't smell a thing, so I wen't outside for a while as I would have been a custom to the smell. I could smell a burning type thing. Checked the enclosures, turns out the Ceramic was melting, now my mum is going to go down the the local pet shop and grad a 60W infared, they are more reliable in this case..

 

[TheBoga]

This is a worry, they can't be ceramic if they are melting or they are some sort of cheap imitation. Ceramic does not melt.