What the???

[Pythoninfinite]

youve got me confused now jamie , youve said that people ignore the instructions saying they need air circulation and that is what makes them so dangerous , yet in your closing sentence you say that sandwiching them between a tile ( so cutting of air circulation) is the safest way , so which one ?

Tiles act as good heat diffusers, and are not flammable. With a low wattage heat mat the best they will do is get a bit warm, but they won't get hot enough to scorch anything because they dramatically increase the surface area that is radiating heat. The problem is that most people put the heat mat on a wooden table or wooden surface, with fabric (in this case a towel) or even polystyrene foam to insulate it more. I'm sure members here can report cracked glass in the bottom of all-glass enclosures from the direct application of unventilated heat mats. They should NEVER be directly in contact with anything flammable. In my opinion they should never be used. I sold quite a few as a dealer in WA in 2003-5, and I think from memory there were 4 that caused damage to the surrounding surfaces, so I stopped selling them or even recommending them.

Jf, I think that's an embossed paper towel in the tank, not foam.

Jamie

 

[Lawra]

I'm sure members here can report cracked glass in the bottom of all-glass enclosures from the direct application of unventilated heat mats. They should NEVER be directly in contact with anything flammable. In my opinion they should never be used. I sold quite a few as a dealer in WA in 2003-5, and I think from memory there were 4 that caused damage to the surrounding surfaces, so I stopped selling them or even recommending them.

Jf, I think that's an embossed paper towel in the tank, not foam.

Jamie

The bottom of my fishtank is

Glass
--------
Plastic
--------
Heatmat
--------
Masking tape
--------
Rubber feet (approx 20mm tall)
--------
Towel
--------
Timber blanket box

Jamie you are correct in saying that there is paper towel in the tank and definitely not foam.

I think what I will be taking from this is heat mat = bad. I guess little Fang will be taking over Steve's tank when he moves out