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Just how reliable are thermostats?

habistatman

habistatman

New member
Just how reliable are thermostats and has anyone ever had a failure whereby the thermostat has 'stuck' causing the appliance connected to pump out uncontroled heat.

Kindest regards

Habistatman
 
Any electric appliance designed to emit heat has this risk, controlled or not. We bring down the temps of the heaters because they get far too hot for the animals even when properly functioning. It doesn't eliminate the risk of something shorting out and causing it to overheat.
 
the on/off thermostats are more of a risk than a proportional thermostat. the proportional ones give the heat element just enough electricity to keep the temps perfect all the time. on/off thermos will let the temp drop to a set temp below set standard, then kick on to just above the set temp. the risk is more with these because if the unit "sticks" and doesnt shut off the heat element it will cook the herp. i lost a fifteen hundred dollar chondro because of this once, and it will never happen to me again. lesson learned but i cant help feeling horrible for the little guy as he pretty much was cooked alive. i now only use proportional type thermos(or dial/dimmer types-called rheostats) and i use spyder robotics herpstats. i also like helix units. that is the only ones i will trust. i also use dimmer type units that i make myself. also one way to be double safe is have a heating element that is the right size(not too big) so if you do have a malfunction, hopefully you will catch it before its too late. the better herpstats have built in safety features to ensure safety. im not sure about helix, i have not used them for years. i hope this helps.
 
I've been using on/off stats for 20 years and I've had two fail on me in that time. One was in an incubator - cooked eggs.

TBH that's not bad for what's essentially a domestic electrical appliance in use 24x7. I've got through three washing machines in the same period of time.

If any stat fails, the effect will be uncontrolled heat. Essentially you lose the temp control, but not the temp. The stat doesn't "stick" - it just ceases to work, thus removing any control over the heat source, which just continues to get hotter until reaching its maximum. I don't think this effect would be limited to on/off stats, but I'm no electrician.
 
You can use an on-off relay-type thermostat to power a proportional heater...just set the temperature of the on-off to be a little higher than the proportional setting. If the proportional fails on (as many will due to their use of a TRIAC for temperature control), the on-off will regulate by cutting the power to the failed heater.

It isn't cheap, but it is pretty failure-proof.
 
Sean++Z said:
You can use an on-off relay-type thermostat to power a proportional heater...just set the temperature of the on-off to be a little higher than the proportional setting. If the proportional fails on (as many will due to their use of a TRIAC for temperature control), the on-off will regulate by cutting the power to the failed heater.

It isn't cheap, but it is pretty failure-proof.
Click to expand...

very good point sean! any back up is well advised.
 
"If any stat fails, the effect will be uncontrolled heat. Essentially you lose the temp control, but not the temp. The stat doesn't "stick" - it just ceases to work, thus removing any control over the heat source, which just continues to get hotter until reaching its maximum. I don't think this effect would be limited to on/off stats, but I'm no electrician."
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i also agree with you bitsy, i have just personally had better luck with proportional. my best friend breeds balls and boas, and all he uses is on/off.
 
Bitsy, I'm surprised that your on-off stats have all failed on. I would expect a normally open relay inside the on-off, which should fail off (it won't close when you tell it to). Failing closed would require the relay to weld itself shut, which is not the normal failure mode. I wonder what's up? Maybe I'll crack my on-off stat and see what's inside...

A proportional heater would fail open (necessitating a backup I think).
 
i agree about the proportional failing open, but the current should still be regulated, it shouldnt open up more....right? or am i missing something here?
 
one other safe bet is to use a heat element small enough that if something does happen, the element wont heat to fatal temps.
 
Proportional heaters often use a TRIAC device to control the amount of time the mains electricity is applied to the heater. When the device fails, it is as if it were replaced with a wire. At that point, there would be no difference between the broken thermostat and plugging the heater directly into the wall.

And yes, I agree completely that you should try to use a heater that is small enough that it won't burn your animals even if it is plugged directly into the wall. Unfortunately, I think that's easier said than done, especially if the room temperature varies a lot throughout the year.

I used the term "open," which is really not right. I was thinking in terms of "full on" (open it if was a valve) and I really should have said that or at least said "as a closed circuit."
 
i see, thanks for the explanation. i have a few herpstats still in use, so hopefully i wont have any issues with them....not to jinx myself, but i havent had any issues with them yet. i do keep my snake room temps controlled with a thermostatically controlled room heater, and some rheostat controlled racks...so hopefully my herpstats will hold up, but i have used them for years with no problems...so i have faith in them. but thanks again for the explanation.
 
It also helps to use something like Ultratherm UTH's, which stay a lot cooler than other brands. I use thermostats with mine, but if they ever did fail, I doubt my snakes would be able to burn themselves too badly on them anyway, let alone be cooked. I am told that sometimes Ultratherms screw up and get a lot hotter than they usually are, but I would think the risk would be substantially less than with a heater the default state of which is insanely hot.
 
wretchedprocess said:
It also helps to use something like Ultratherm UTH's, which stay a lot cooler than other brands. I use thermostats with mine, but if they ever did fail, I doubt my snakes would be able to burn themselves too badly on them anyway, let alone be cooked. I am told that sometimes Ultratherms screw up and get a lot hotter than they usually are, but I would think the risk would be substantially less than with a heater the default state of which is insanely hot.
Click to expand...

i use flexwatt, with as many snakes as i have had, and even what i currently have, not to mention my setups...anything else would not be practical. i have my setups pretty much perfected and have not had an issue with my heating in over 17 years. i use the pro products heat panels in my display cages ran off of spyder robotics herpstat pro 2 thermostats...they work very well. plus i keep my animals in way larger racks than most people do, so my animals could get far enough away that they would be safe....i lost a $1500 chondro when i was younger, and since then i have taken every precaution possible. i cant afford to replace a $15,000 dollar collection. it has pretty much taken me my whole life to aquire the animals i have, im playing it very safe...just in case.
 
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