Preparing for winter.

Why not just put a thin piece of wood under the heat mat? It will help retain the heat better than open space wire shelving.

i went with wire instead of wood in order to let light through (i added more glass block windows to the winter storage area of my garage and the mats i got are pretty clear, except for the heat strips)... but if it becomes an issue, i was considering a thin piece of something in between...

hey !

i know... !

i think i heard of some kinda mats they use in labs...

mab lat ?
no...

tab tam ?
uh uh...

batman ??
no, that cant be it...

hhhmmmmm

maybe it'll come to me



sorry judy, just joshing ya...
i like the idea of wood better because i can use it for something else the rest of the year
(and john, that labmat stuff looks kinda pricey... unless i didnt read it right ?)

JudyB wrote:Why not just put a thin piece of wood under the heat mat?  It will help retain the heat better than open space wire shelving.  

I use the tools I have available. :-)

beer city snake wrote:[...]
i like the idea of wood better because i can use it for something else the rest of the year
(and john, that labmat stuff looks kinda pricey... unless i didnt read it right ?)

I get a deal on it because we use miles of it at work. It protects the heating pads.

nothing like a good "deal" from work supplies

I like the idea of the lab mat, but seems a bit spendy, and not re-usable year after year for our purposes. My shelves are sturdy enough and my heat mats are durable enough not to use a topper thankfully.
Great idea though, thanks for the info and the link.

JudyB wrote:I like the idea of the lab mat, but seems a bit spendy, and not re-usable year after year for our purposes.  My shelves are sturdy enough and my heat mats are durable enough not to use a topper thankfully.
Great idea though, thanks for the info and the link.

We get it through Fisher Scientific. We spend multi-millions of dollars with them, so we get a discount on most things. Some things are a fraction of the catalog price. Also, we end up with a lot of left-over pieces at work that are too short to use and would end-up in the trash if I didn't take them home. A two foot length of this would be trash at work, so I get it.

Colin Lewis wrote:I guess that must be me.

This is the deluxe model:
http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/ProductDisplay?catalogId=15052&storeId=10001&langId=-1&division=FarmTek&productId=60398

[...].

I just ordered two of the thermostats you recommended. One of my 35F on and 37F off failed already. It's 73F in one mini-greehouse, and the thermostat turned the heating pad on anyway.

I'll contact the maker of the bad thermostat and give him/her a chance to make a case.

Regards,

John Jones