Will a submersible heater get my water temp up to 150 degrees or more?

  • Get the NEW AquariaCentral iOS app --> http://itunes.apple.com/app/id1227181058 // Android version will be out soon!

squale

AC Members
Mar 25, 2005
39
0
0
I have a 1-gallon bottle filled with water, I use it as a humidifier for a reptile enclosure, I want to heat the water inside this plastic bottle to say around 130-150 degrees. My room temperature is about 63-67 degrees. This hot water temperature helps makes the humidifier much more efficient. I was wondering if any submersible aquarium heater will get the water this hot in a 1-gallon plastic bottle?

Here is the setup I have right now... http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&id=53

I notice that if I fill the bottle with hot tap water (about 135 degrees water), that this home humidifier works MUCH better, because I supposed the hot water inside the bottle, heats up the incoming air from the air pump, and as we know, the warmer the air, the more mositure the air can hold, thus the air coming out of the bottle is saturated with moisture.
 

squale

AC Members
Mar 25, 2005
39
0
0
well I was thinking since my container is only 1 gallon and say I get a heater that is desinged for a 10-gallon tank, wouldn't that heater make my 1 gallon of water VERY VERY hot?
 

knotty47

U give me coin, i give u booty!
Jan 23, 2006
35
0
0
40
huddersfield uk
yeah the only problem is that the heaters gonna work on a thermostat and once it hits its highest temp its gonna cut, the less water there is the quicker it will happen, but the end temperature will be the same. the only way to do it would be to break the thermostat, its usually a melt strip that bends to make a circuit! DO NOT do this though for gods sake, you'll burn your house down when it doesn't switch off and you won't be covered by your insurance....plus you might die and stuff.

i think your gonna need another method, sorry.
 

patoloco

De seguro no sabes lo que dice aqu
Oct 20, 2005
1,221
1
0
44
Costa Rica
wetpatoloco.tripod.com
It won't. Aquarium heaters have a thermostat that will turn it off when the water temp gets an established temp. Most of the times, these will max out ay 90º.

However, you can tamper the temp regulator to make it go hotter, but this will probably result in a broken glass or burnt out coil.
 

Roan Art

AC Members
Oct 7, 2005
5,387
0
0
63
Northern VA
bowheads.org
It could very well melt the plastic, yes. You'd also need to get a heater than was not regulated as most will not go that high. You'd also need a big bottle, since anything 100w and over is at least 8" long.

IMO putting a heater in a plastic bottle like that isn't very safe at all and I'd recommend against it. I wouldn't risk my ball pythons that way.

Also, that airline tubing he has in the instructions will degrade very quickly. If you are making a humidifier, use silicone tubing. It's a better quality.

As an aside, thanks for that link. I'm going to make some -- without the heater -- for our our balls :)

Roan
 

squale

AC Members
Mar 25, 2005
39
0
0
well my problem is I need to get hot water inside the bottle because the hot water heats the incoming air which then holds more moisture and thus raises the humidity inside the snake cage much better. I thought about just connecting a bigger air pump say something that is rated for a 100-gallon aquarium (mine is rated for a 60 gallon right now), but I don't know if this will solve my issue. I think it might just pump out more air into the cage but the air will still be cool room temp air (60-65 degrees) and thus not hold the extra moisture that I need. I guess I wonder what percentage of humidity the air can hold being 63-67 degrees?

Now if I had hot water in the bottle, the incoming air would be 63-67 degrees, but once it goes through the water, it would heat the air up into the low 100 degree mark, thus the air would become MUCH more saturated with water and thus be pumped into my snakes cage and raise the humidity level inside the cage much better...

How about if I got a warm mist humidifier and somehow connected tubing to the output of the humidifier and ran that into my snakes cage? do you guys think that would work better?

the problem I see with the warm mist humidifier is trying to make some sort of tubing from the output to channel all the warm mist into my snake cage..
 

infidsg35

AC Members
Nov 21, 2005
56
0
0
The only thing I can come up with you get a small tank or bucket.. Maybe 5/10 Gallon or smaller and place the 1 Gallon Bottle in the tank/bucket and fill it with water. This way you can put a heater in the fish tank/bucket NOT in the small bottle. After that you can get a nice 300 watt heater below:

http://www.petsolutions.com/Titanium+Heaters-I-12516830-I-C-1021-C-.aspx


That will get the water temp up to 93F If thats not enough you may have to get a industrial steel heater and put that in the tank or bucket.

Or you can have 2 buckets. Fill them both with water. Put the 1 gallon bottle in one. The other run hose line to a pump then to a Tankless Heater Coil then from there to the bucket with the bottle. Then run line to a pump(or straight through if bucket/tank is below other one) and line back to the bucket with water. Kinda making a sump just to cycle water back and forth but going through the heater coil. That will get your temp up to about 130F. You may have to cover the buckets. Could be a kool little project but an expensive one tho... Or it might not work...

Or you can get a big bucket put the bottle in water then run tube from water to a pump. Then from the pump to a Tankless Heater Coil then back into the water...

***Warning*** I never did this or know of anyone who has. I made it up just now. Im not responsible if you burn your house down or flood it!!! :)
 

Galaxie

AC Members
Feb 4, 2005
571
0
16
55
VA
Don't they make special humidifiers made for reptiles?

Check this out: Reptile Mister

Used in conjunction with a heat lamp, you should be all set.
 

Roan Art

AC Members
Oct 7, 2005
5,387
0
0
63
Northern VA
bowheads.org
Galaxie said:
Don't they make special humidifiers made for reptiles?

Check this out: Reptile Mister

Used in conjunction with a heat lamp, you should be all set.
To put it bluntly: those things SUCK bananas and don't work worth beans. I'm throwing mine in the trash :) Forty bucks for a piece of junk.

I'd go with the bucket idea. It's the idea we use to warm up CO2 mixtures for higher gas-off.

Roan
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store