heat mat says glass only?

[dwmgalloway]

Hi everyone. Quick question if anyone has some advice. Im picking up a hatchy carpet and was looking at setting up a click clack. I bought a exo terra heat mat to go under 1 side but i realised it says its an adhesive mat for glass terrariums only. So is that no good for me to use?
Its come with spacers also for ventilation. I was just going to sit it on a melamine board with the spacers between the heat mat and plastic click clack is that right? Any suggestions much appreciated.

 

[mcloughlin2]

If ran with a thermostat then it doesn't matter what's it's used on (wood/glass or plastic). Without one there's a tiny chance that the heat matt will malfunction and by doing so melt plastic or set the wood on fire. This chance is fairly remote though and I've personally never heard of it occurring but for peace of mind if I don't have a thermostat I've just sat the mat between two tiles so even if it went hay wire it will never get hot enough to do damage.

 

[dwmgalloway]

Yeah i do have a thermostat that i will connect it to. Thanks. I was confused as to wether it would still work if not stuck to the click clack itself. Would it be better to put the spacers between the click clack and melamine base. Or the heat mat against the click clack and spacers then on the melamine? Iv always thought it was bad to put the heat mat against the enclosure itself

 

[wokka]

A ceramic tile on top of the heat mat will act as a heat sink, providing thermal mass. It is also non combustible.

 

[ronhalling]

I have both my spotties in seperate "click clacks" on the 1 heat mat with no seperation between "click clack" and heat mat, i just have the thermostat probe sitting on the heat mat between the 2 "click clacks" and a digital thermo probe sitting on the hot end of each, works like a dream, i would not worry about the glass only tag it is just a safety tag to cover their bums in case you don't use a thermostat ..................................Ron

 

[andynic07]

I always use a tile (about $1 at hardware store) on any heat mat or cord because as Wokka said it provides thermal mass so there is no rapid fluctuation in your hot spot temperature. I usually sit it between a piece of timber and the tile, the lowest auto ignition point of timber that I can find is 200 degrees (auto ignition is the point at which the timber will catch on fire without spark) and the auto ignition point of plastic is lower than this. I figure that if the heat mat gets to 200 degrees to ignite the timber that the plastic heat mat or cord will already be burning and my reptile will already be dead.

 

[thomasssss]

. I figure that if the heat mat gets to 200 degrees to ignite the timber that the plastic heat mat or cord will already be burning and my reptile will already be dead.

whilst this does sound very logical , it doesnt seem to be the case mate , there have been threads and posts where these matts have been used incorrectly and caused it to either melt of burn

i remember one member who placed astro turf over the heat matt , this caused it to start melting and would of burned eventually imo , from what i can remember the animal was ok though but very lucky to be

now im no scientist and will be gladly told im wrong but i believe that even if the matt only gets to 45c it is the heat build up over time ( when they are used incorrectly) that causes fires and things to melt

 

[andynic07]

whilst this does sound very logical , it doesnt seem to be the case mate , there have been threads and posts where these matts have been used incorrectly and caused it to either melt of burn

i remember one member who placed astro turf over the heat matt , this caused it to start melting and would of burned eventually imo , from what i can remember the animal was ok though but very lucky to be

now im no scientist and will be gladly told im wrong but i believe that even if the matt only gets to 45c it is the heat build up over time ( when they are used incorrectly) that causes fires and things to melt

Possibly the melting of the plastic mat may cause a short circuit and sparking. The increased heat and addition of spark may lead to fire , that is not auto ignition. My main point was that the plastic would catch fire before the timber.