Equipment Review and Discussion :: Worried that Zoomed basking spot lights are fire hazard....

[DanielRES1180]

Recently in the news here in the Treasure Coast, there was a bad house fire caused by a heat lamp in a lizard habitat. It ended up burning the house itself, parts of the neighboring houses, and killing a cat. This was an old house but I'm still worried that this bulb will heat up to the point where it's a fire hazard. I was just testing the heat the bulb gives off, and within seconds the bulb was very hot.

[jenaero]

That was probably a special case of the bulb breaking/falling into an enclosure.

I know of a girl who had 20something turts and torts and lost all but one in a fire caused by one of the bulbs falling into a tort enclosure. The fire destroyed most of the house. The turtle that did survive did so by sitting in his water dish as everything burned around him. As long as you've got some kind of barrier between the tank and the lamp, you should be fine.

For my box turtles, I use an oven rack to set the lamp on so there's no danger of it falling in. I don't use anything for my res tank, but now that this refreshed my memory of what can happen, I'd better think of something.

[DanielRES1180]

Oh, that's a relief, I thought the bulbs just smoked up and burst into flames. I think I'll use a grill rack thing set on top of the 55 gal tank.

Oh, I have a Whisper filter that leaks out of the gap where the intake goes. There's a rut in the filter there where the intake interlocks, and I suppose this too is supposed to keep the water in the filter. But it leaks. Is this a problem?

[jenaero]

Whatever you use, make sure the bulb doesnt touch it. I had to buy a larger clamp lamp so the bulb wouldn't touch the rack (I assumed it would burst if it touched) but I could be wrong. Either way, I wasn't gonna risk it.

I'm not familiar at all with the Whisper filters so someone else'll have to grab that one...

[marisa]

I read of someone who had a major fire from a ceramic heat emitter.

There are also fixtures you can buy that have a wire covering over them to prevent the bulb from being touched by the animal. I would think this would also give some protection from the bulb touching anything as well if it did come in contact with something.

Don't know if you're doing this already, but if you're using a high wattage bulb for heat (or if you think the bulb gets really hot), it's good to screw the bulb into a fixture that has a porcelain/ceramic socket for protection as well.

[DanielRES1180]

Thanks for the advice.

Do you guys cover the water heaters with something? Sorry for raining questions on you guys .

[jenaero]

The heater I have is supposed to be indestructible so I don't have a cover on it. I've never seen them sitting on it either. Some turts will tho, so if you see yours resting on it, a cover would be a good idea.

[missibsu]

While my heater is supposed to be indestructible, I don't always trust that. I still don't have mine covered. I have my heater mounted at an angle, halfway between horizontal and vertical, and my turtles leave it alone.

[marisa]

If you're really concerned, you can buy a heater guard for your turtle. I use them on the heaters in stock tanks (don't know if they'll melt the poly/plastic, and don't want to find out) and all my heaters are positioned diagonally. If you're using a glass/breakable heater and have any moveable rocks, I would use a guard more to protect the heater than anything---I don't think your turtle will be injured by one. The heat from them quickly disperses into the water.

[steve]

This is one of the reasons why I like the VisiTherm Stealth heater. It's plastic casing feels safer to use in a glass aquarium, especially with very active RES. It's also good to check all light fixtures regularly. I have a ceramic heater, which is safer from accidental splashes but is much heavier than basking lights. For what it's worth, plugging in your devices in a GFCI outlet would a very good idea.

[DanielRES1180]

Yeah, I'm concerned ever since I heard that heat rocks can burn a turtle's insides, took that into view with the water heater. It's a horizontal filter, and it's sitting on the bottom of my tank. I wonder if you can bend a rust-proof piece of a wire rack into a shape that more or less covers the heater. Cheap solutions.

[steve]

What do you mean by "heat rocks"? Most home made heater guards consist of PCV pipe with holes drilled into the sides. When I eventually try to build a filter, it will have a large compartment to hold it's own heaters, though you can buy those too.

[marisa]

Heat rocks wouldn't be of use in an aquatic set up (they plug into an outlet and would be dangerous around all the water). They're more for lizards, etc. And you're right, strong heat coming from underneath can be damaging to internal organs if a turtle were to sit right on top of one. But a heater in the water is a different story---I really don't think you have to worry; like I said, the heat disperses into the water.

Just my opinion, but I wouldn't use wire in water, even if it's coated. You can either make a heater guard or buy one (Tronic makes them and they fit a number of different brands, just make sure the length is compatible with yours (they come in different sizes).

[daredevilgirl013]

Ok for your whisper filter (I have one) where the water is coming out at, that means that your filter media needs to be changed and the whole filter needs to be cleaned (the sponges inside as well) So that's all it means. When it starts to leak like that, it just means you need to change cartridges aka filter media in it to a clean cartridge.

[DanielRES1180]

Does that go into effect even when the filter started leaking from the beginning?