• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

LIGHT DIMMERS can they control a UTH

Sure it can. It won't do as good a job as a thermostat would do for you, but if you have a temp probe and monitor the temps very often, it can work. Honestly , a thermostat would be a better way to go.
 
I've used them in a pinch too. I've noticed that with a small enough peice of flex-watt though, it doesn't seem to even start warming until it starts at a certain temp which may be warmer than you want. I don't have the technical proficiency to explain well what I mean by that.. I guess I mean to say, set it up and verify you're getting the temps you want before you put the snake in!
 
Also keeping in mind that as temps inside the house fluctuate, the temps in the viv change change dramatically. This is where the function of a thermostat is a major advantage over a dimmer.
 
Yes, they can. In fact, I think it's Zilla that makes a "rheostat" which is essentially, a dimmer. It works on the principle that it regulates the electricity into the device, therefore only powering it up a portion. The more power your device uses to operate, the more range of control you have. The tiny size undertank heaters use next to nothing, so their range is not nearly as variable as the largest one.

The advantage is that they offer is a constant temperature, rather than on/off. The disadvantages are many, such as, as other posters said, you have to have a thermometer to monitor the temperature. If you use one, remember that your tank can take 6 or more hours to come up to full temperature, so, to me, that's something you do on a day off when you can monitor it for hours on end.

Also, as other posters said, the temperature of the house does not affect them. If you, say, light a fire in the woodstove, and the house gets up to 80, then you are adding heat to 80 degrees. If your heat stops working (power failure, equipment malfunction etc.) You are only adding the same amount of heat as you were when the house was 68-72.

Keep your thermometer on at all times, and enjoy!
 
I use both w/o issues, the dimmer just has to be monitored more
closely. As long as you have a thermometer you'll be ok.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top