me & the crabs up in flames - WARNING

MacandHunter · Post by **MacandHunter** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 7:01 pm

This shook me up.. I don't know if anyone else is doing something stupid like this currently, but I wanted to share just as a warning to all you crabbers - be careful about your UTHeaters!!

Ok so I have a 20 gal high ISO in my room. I've had it there for about 3 months I assume. I didn't have any more stands, but needed to ISO some of the crabs. So I put it on top of a carpet in my room. My room has carpeting, and then I put it on top of a rug about the same size of the tank.

The UTH was under that tank - and plugged in for most of the time.

At the crab convention my Dad calls me saying he smells something strange in my room. I don't think much of it - and when I get home I'm not sure what it is. All the crabs were fine. (note there haven't been any crabs in the 20gal for 3 weeks now)

So since this tank has just been taking up space in my room, I lift it up today to move it downstairs. I pull it up a little and see I still had the UTH plugged in - I un plug in. When I lift it up I have to rip it off my rug because it was sticking too it!

It had burned a whole thru the rug! And that burn went thru to the main carpet.

The bottom of the tank glass was chipped and very hot, as the rug. Everything is fine and safe now - but this was a shock.

SO if you have any tanks with UTH under the tank, be sure to check them!! If I did not choose to move this tank today it could have got worse, and my room could have gone up in flames. The tank is right near my bed, and a fire could easily spread onto the bed sheets of mine. I don't want to wake up and be on fire...

I've learned my lesson my main carpet has the burnt stain on it so I won't forget this. So remember please be safe while crabbing!!

troppo · Post by **troppo** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 7:27 pm

Wow Mac!
So there wasn't any gap for air-flow at all between the tat and the rug?

MacandHunter · Post by **MacandHunter** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:00 pm

This was still in time I think Kilimanjaro. Glad it didn't get enough to start forming flames and burn the house down.

No there wasn't any gap. My other tanks don't have UTH anyway, but they do have gaps on the bottom. This tank was just placed right onto the rug. I was thinking that all the heat would go up - it was warm enough to burn it bad.

starmaiden · Post by **starmaiden** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:46 pm

Wow! That's scary...and one of the reasons why I prefer to side mount my UTHs. Even when a gap under the tank is provided for airflow and the tank is placed on a hard surface, side mounting is still safest IMO.

Glad you and the crabs are ok MacandHunter!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 2:26 am

I don't rely on those tiny tank pegs they give you, honestly I've never trusted them. My sister's tat left a burn hole in her coffee table even with the gap. I've got a bunch of one inch wooden blocks from my son's toybox and I mount the tank on those. I just try to think of it like those houses on stilts down in the biyou.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 2:32 am

I was surprised that the instructions on my UTHs said that if you have more than 2" of substrate then the heater should be mounted on one side of the tank, otherwise the glass could crack because the heat can't dissipate. By keeping it at one end it gives the tank warm zones and cooler zones. My Rugs like sitting right vagainst the heated glass; the Es hang out at the other end...

I didn't trust those little rubber feet to lift my tank enough anyway...

How scary -- glad you're all o.k.

hulk · Post by **hulk** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 8:25 am

YIKES! I had a sorta scare also with my leo tank. Actually I had my crabs there in the 30 until I moved them to the 55 and stand.

So anyways, I have the 20 long leo tank on those feet and on a wooden chest thing...and I movedit the other day to clean the tank..and the wood was like melted

rather the finish on it...so I put some newspaper under the uth so the wood wouldn't get bruned....BUT NOW I AM THINKING to raise the tank with ply wood or something just so I am sure it will be ok. I am really worried now.

megs · Post by **megs** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 9:12 am

I would definitely move the newspapers, hulk, if the UTH is scorching the wood, chances are pretty good it could ignite the papers.
My tanks are on a dresser so I put them up on wooden blocks- one just sits on pieces of 2x4 and for the other one I actually put together a wooden frame to raise it up.

hulk · Post by **hulk** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 4:08 pm

thanks goodness =)

oh I moved mine too....but I am not sure it is good enough:

I took away the newspaper and put ply wood on both sides to lift the tank up higher...but Ihave the uth (unstuck) on the bottom of the tank held up by hot plates.....but then on top of that I have some cheap hot pads which to me seems like they could melt or possibly plastic, so I might just do the hot plates and that is it. what do you think?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 6:44 pm

I have my main tank up on 2x2's. It was up on just the plastic pegs, but I figured if they were raising the tank for "airflow", it'd probably be best to actually provide some. Very cheap upgrade, and it seems to avoid getting the wooden chest underneath even mildly warm.

Yeah, you'd think that having a "just a little warm" pad wouldn't cause problems. What you're forgetting though is that once the tank is over that you'll create an insulated seal, trapping heat in. Either that heat has to dissipate up into your substrate, or it has to start warming the air trapped around it. Since substrate itself is an insulator, (sand especially, it's what silicone computer chips are made from), that heat's not going up and out very fast. So, you end up with a gradually hotter and hotter air pocket. It's only a matter of time before that trapped air becomes hot enough to do damage.

If I can recommend anything useful to the rest of you, it'd definitely be 2x2 blocks for raising up the tank. Not only does it provide airflow for your UTH, but it's also high enough that you can see underneath the thing with a flashlight and look for molters.