Starmaid tubs and heat cord

[NSavage]

Hi All,

Got myself some 52 litre Starmaid tubs down at whoolies (On special ) and I am wanting to set them up as Juvenile enclosures but am looking to find out how people are currently heating them using Heat cord. I've got the basic idea worked out eg. get some melamine, route some grooves for the cord and set up a dummy enclosure to run the thermostat (I think the Dummy enclosure would be easiest and safest) but what I'm wanting to know is :

1. How much heat cord would i need to heat 3 tubs and how many runs of cord should i have?

2. Does it make a lot of difference in terms of temps if i have multiple shelves in the rack (eg if I want 9 tubs in a 3 x 3 rack do the bottom 2 racks get warmer as there is heat cord above and below them or is the difference negligible)?

3. I live in the Adelaide hills in SA and it can get cold here overnight in the winter (-1 to -4). Do different wattages produce more heat or are they just longer?

4. I'm also assuming that it's better to have 2 much cord than 2 little cord, is this correct?

5. Has anyone found that any particular brand of heat cord works better or more reliably than any of the others and are there any brands that should be avoided.

Any help that anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated along with anything that people have found/experienced that I may have missed.

Thanks.

 

[mistymtn]

Hi there,

You will probably need to do 2 or 3 runs under each tub, therfore will need a 6 or 9 metre cord. the cord heat to the same temp al along the heat zones.
I think most cords are ok to use.

Hope this helps. Good luck

Cheers

 

[dickyknee]

would only need a 4m cord for just 3 tubs ...
I use a 6 m cord to run 6 of the 20l satrmaid tubs and they run well .I always run to routs along the back , that way i can pull the tubs off one cord if i need to cool them , put the back on both runs to warm back up ( i can actually drop a tub by 4-5 degrees doing this )
Have not noticed a real diff from top to bottom in 3 tier racks
all brand seem fine .

 

[NSavage]

But would a 4 metre cord warm the tub enough? As I said temps here can get as low as -1 to -4 in winter (probably down to 10 degrees inside). These tubs are for hatchlings and Juvi's so I don't want a night time drop at all if i can help it.

 

[pythoness]

4 mtr will be fine, i have my entire collection in various size tubs with heat cords.