 BeefExtreme
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Registered: 11/02/11
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 Easy, safe, efficient, reliable, silent, accurate, consistent heater build (beef heater)   4
#25861119 - 03/08/19 02:12 PM (7 years, 5 months ago) |
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EDIT 5/4/24
I wrote this tek before INKBIRD thermo-controllers were widely available. If you skip to the comments, theres a guy that posted one. You can essentially use the other components listed here and plug & play them with an INKbird and voila. you're off to the races. heat a closet. heat a defunct refrigerator. heat whatever.
I thin i'll leave the original tek alone because I feel that understanding how a manual dayton thermo is still a useful skill for when the world ends. Besides, some folks might find themselves in possession of one for free, and when it comes down to reliability and durability, ill put the dayton against the inkbird all day.
I’ve been asked more than a few times for this heater design I use. I come from the nursery industry and we have used this design since before I was born, so I can’t take much credit for it, although the ones I’ve used just had regular incandescent lightbulbs. I used something beefier that’s safer and doesn’t emit any light for this design.
I use this design to heat a small closet or cabinet but it could be used in many other applications. The system operates at 50 watts nominally, compared to 1000w space heaters which are costly to operate and can be dangerous. For me, I have a 15amp service in my growing area which is already maxed out with the current load of electronics and computers etc, so a space heater throws the breaker. I would run the furnace more but it’s killing my energy bill.
If this sounds familiar, read on.
Let me dispel some potential apprehensions in an attempt to answer some questions that are bound to come up:
Yes the stat design is bulletproof. I have seen Dayton’s that were literally older than I am covered in rust that still worked fine plus or minus 5 degrees of accuracy. They used to be all metal, and you can still get them that way, but the plastic version is cheaper and is exactly the same internal components. I.e the case won’t rust. My old boss used the design inside a refrigerator to heat warm weather grass and delphinium seed. He humidified it to the maximum extent and used news paper to protect the cells from drips. Moral of that story, it can handle humidity just fine.
The stat runs $50. It will last longer than you will. It is rated for 240 line voltage. You won’t be scratching the surface of what the contacts are rated for. I’ve ran 5 horse power motors through them. (That’s close to 4000 watts.) the moral of that story, it won’t short, it won’t start a fire. It won’t. Trust me.
The terrarium heaters I use are very efficient. They are ceramic and 25w each for a total of 50w. They do get very hot and you don’t want them sitting in a pile of clothes soaked in kerosene, so you’ll install them using a clamp light fixture. Of course that’s optional and you can get as creative as you want with the mounting, just make sure it’s safe. People use these specifically for terrariums so don’t worry about the humidity.
Installation is real easy if you have screwdrivers and a way to cut and strip wire. Preferably strippers.
here’s a wiring diagram I drew.....sorry in advance I am not a great artist.
Edit: here’s a wiring diagram Juniperus drew that is beautiful and perfect in every way. Thanks again my dude.
There are three contacts. Yellow, red, and blue. Simple enough.
Materials:
Dayton thermostat. Not the residential stat, the one I have pictured below.
Clamp lights. As many as you think will be necessary.
1/2” romex clamp. Might have to buy a bag of them unless you have one laying around.
Ceramic terrarium heating bulbs. Pet store. Right next to the coir.
Wire nuts. The large ones. The tan ones—the ones that look like they’re made from recycled Barbie dolls.
Recommend install.
1. Install the romex clamp into the stat. You don’t need the ring unless you bought the steel case model. Just screw it in. Hand tight is fine.
2. Take the cover off the stat and mount it to something using the screws provided.
3. Cut the plug end off of each clamp light, but don’t cut it too short on either end. You’ll need the end with the plug to plug your stat into an outlet. Easier done than said—use common sense.
4. Strip the ends of the clamp light wires as well as your plug that hopefully you didn’t cut too short.
5. Look closely at the wire. You will see that one side has little ridges.
6. Study the wiring diagram.
7. Wire the ridged side of each of the clamp-light wires to the red contact. Wrap the wires around the screw in a clockwise fashion as to pull the wire in as it tightens. If you are installing more than one lamp, I recommend “pig tailing” the wires together with a third 2 inch piece of wire, so that you are only wiring one wire to the contact instead of two, though it is optional. Just makes installing easier.
8. Wire nut all ridged wires together
9. Wire the non-ridged wire of the plug to the yellow contact.
10. Set your fixtures up. I have them clamped to a rail. I then wire each jaw of the clamps together with bailing wire to make DAMN SURE they can’t fall into my collection of lacquer soaked rags. Don’t set them directly facing any subs. Direct heat is always bad. Let the heat rise and circulate if possible.
11. Screw the bulbs in.
12. Put the cover back on and close the romex clamps. Not too damn tight, just enough that the wire doesn’t slip out.
13. Plug it in.
14. Draw me a prettier diagram for this tek. Juniperus took care of this step for you.
15. Give Juniperus a nice rating.
Realize that it’s only measuring where you set the stat. Heat rises. Calibrate your temperature with a thermometer, don’t look at the numbers on the dial, look at the thermometer measuring at the substrate temperature and make small adjustments over time.
I use a little usb fan to move the air around. It’s plugged into a cellphone charger.
That’s it’s.
Easy, safe, efficient, reliable, silent, accurate, consistent heat.
Dayton stat
Ceramic terrarium heating bulb
Clamp lights.
1/2” romex clamps.
Barbie doll colored wire nuts. My favorite.
Noteworthy, the blue terminal is the cooling circuit. Use your imagination.
Edited by BeefExtreme (05/04/24 12:35 PM)
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