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Thermostat Concern....

M

Markey

New member
I purchased the BAH 1000 from Big Apple. It finally got plugged in today. I set it for 83 degrees. The light came on. I went back in a half hour and the light was off. The temps stayed at 70 degrees on the outside of the hide on the warm side as well as on the inside of the hide on the warm side. I bumped the temps up to around 85 degrees and the temps did not change. I went under the substrate to feel the uth mats and they were both COLD......what the heck?
I just went back down there and bumped it up to 90. The light came on....so I'll check back in another half hour.
Has anyone else had issues with this thermostat?
I'm quite annoyed as I have never had issues with the heat mats and I have NEVER used a thermostat. I was told I have been lucky so I went online and ordered a good thermostat. Now my temps are wayyyyyy too cold.
 
I just went down there to check on it and the light was off again....which means that the heat mat is at the appropriate temp...but it's not. I bumped it up to about 95. This makes no sense to me.....very frustrating!
 
If you've never had a problem with the UTH...I'm guessing you might have a faulty thermostat... :shrugs:
 
That would be my luck. I'm hoping that someone who uses this thermostat can advise me. Maybe they have to be set higher??? I went down to check on it. It was set at around 93/95 and it took my temps to 75 outside of the hide on the warm side and 76 on the inside of the hide on the warm side. The light clicked off.
I bumped the thermostat up to 100 and I'll check on it again in thirty minutes.
 
Is the probe for the thermostat located directly on the glass above your UTH? If so, than is the thermometer on top of the substrate?

Here's what I THINK might be happening...You have your thermostat probe placed on top- of the glass, and your thermometer on top of the substrate. The thermostat will be shutting off the UTH based on the heat of the glass, but the temperature on the top layer of your substrate will not be that same as the temperature of the glass. The heat will dissipate through the substrate, significantly lowering the ambient temperature at the top layer of substrate.

What I would recommend is putting the probe from both the thermostat and thermometer directly on top of the glass above the UTH, and THEN take your readings. The most important thing is to keep that glass at a reasonable temp that won';t burn your snake, should it decide to burrow down and rest atop the UTH.
 
I thought about that as well. Markey never burrows under the substrate on the warm side. She always sits on top of the substrate. So how will that work if she is supposed to have 85/87 degree temps to digest her food and the temps are at 76?
I just checked on the thermostat and the light is still on which means it's still heating the uth mats. I have it set at the max temp which is 105. I put the thermometer on top of the uth underneath the substrate. I'll check the temps later to see where they are at. It just doesn't make sense to me that I have to keep the thermostat maxed out just to get the temps on top of the uth mats at 85/87. I don't even know if this will work. I'll have to do a reading in about thirty minutes. Either way, it's not getting my temps on top of the substrate where they need to be.....
 
Your substrate is an insulator. Regardless of the temps that your thermostat is set at, you top layer of substrate will always be lower through diffusing and dissipation.

If the glass temp is around 85*F, you should be fine. If you snake needs to find heat for digestion, it will. It will feel the thermal diffusion through thje substrate and follow it to the source.

One reason your snake hasn't been burrowing *could* be due to the fact that the glass temp. was far too uncomfortable to do so. With an unregulated UTH, the glass temp can easily reach 120*F or so. This is, obviously, not a comfortable temperature range for a cornsnake. If the glass temp is at 85*, and your snake is not happy with the top-layer substrate temp, it WILL find the temp it needs...I promise :D.
 
Yes, I understand that but you aren't getting what I'm trying to convey......the thermostat should not have to be set at 105 degrees (which is the max seetting for the thermostat) in order to get the uth mat to 85 degrees. I understand that is where we want the mat, but the thermostat should be getting the mat to that setting when it's set at 85 + or - a degree or two....know what I mean? There must be something wrong with the thermostat. That's what I'm trying to say here...
I know that the temperature of the mat should be at a safe number so that the snake doesn't get burned. I also understand that the substrate temps will be different than that of the mat which is buried under the substrate. It's the fact that the thermostat has to be set at 105 to get the mat to register at 85.......
Thanks for your time.
I contacted Big Apple about it and they want the thermostat back.
 
Unless your thermometer probe (you are using a digital thermometer right?) is at the exact location as the thermostat's probe (I mean touching it) you are comparing apples to oranges.

The thermostat only knows what the temperature is it's own probe. You have to measure that same temp with the thermometer to konw what the thermostat is reading.

Anyway - Your thermometer might be bogus. Maybe try a new thermometer. Or see if ice water measures 32 F like it's supposed to.

I use a Big Apple thermostat. I do have to crank it up a little higher than the temp I read with the thermometer. Usually by 5 degrees or so. I don't really like the thermostat for that reason.

I have been using Herpstat thermostats lately, which is a digital thermostat. You can calibrate the Herpstat to match your thermometer reading and it has a readout to show what the temp is, and whether it is on or off in order to correct the temperature.
 
You DO have the heat mat plugged into the thermostat and the thermostat probe over the heat mat, right?
 
Yes. The lights were on the thermostat, too.....so I know everything was working as far as setup went.
I really think it was a faulty thermostat. As soon as I unplugged the mats from the thermostat and plugged them into the outlet, they warmed right up.
I did order a different thermostat this time.
 
Hey Markey, do you by any chance know what the minimum wattage for your thermostat is (should be in the papers that came with it)?

I ask this because I encountered a similar problem one day well I was messing around with different thermostat/heat-source combos.

One of the combinations I tried turned on for a bit, and then just shut off and wouldn't come back on its own. This was bit of a puzzle to me because I knew that both the thermostat and the UTH I was testing worked fine with other devices, just not together. I checked the "manual" for the thermostat (a piece of paper that came with it) thinking that maybe there was some sort of reset I needed to do. I discovered that well my thermostat a max of 300w, it had a min of 20w. This would make the 8w UTH I was testing outside the thermostat's wattage range.

The thermostat I was testing was also a Big Apple, but the proportional one they offer, not the BAH-1000 you have. Since yours is a 1000w max, and mine a 300w max, I would think that your minimum wattage maybe even higher than mine.

Just thought I would share my experience. If this turns out to be true for you, then it might be cheaper for you to get a new UTH that is within wattage, instead of a new thermostat (assuming you can still cancel you new thermostat).

The Big Apple proportional thermostat works like a dream by the way. It keeps my temps within 0.5F of what ever I set it at. I couldn't be happier with it.
 
Makes complete sense to me Andrew!!!!!! I'm wondering if that's it......I just got out of the shower so I'm not by the papers but I will definitely check them out. It's too late to cancel my order for the other thermostat but I can definitely check it out prior to using it once it arrives.
As for the heat mats, they are secured to a custom built piece of glass that was not cheap to make. LOL My heat mats were over $45 each. I've seen them online for much cheaper but did not realize it until after they were purchased....live and learn.
I did see the proportional thermostat yesterday when I check to see what other types of thermostats Big Apple carried. The only reason I went with the BAH is because it was recommended on this forum and another....
Thanks again for the information. It makes complete sense to me and I had the same experience you did.
 
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