# Caution!! exoterra heat mats !!!READ!!!



## Gill (Oct 8, 2008)

ive just got home from mf gfs house to find my heat mat has poped and melted my tank and burnt a hole in my viv the tank was on .. but some how lestat (my baby corn) has survived :notworthy:

i have no idea how this has happend and i use a thermostat with my mat.. but it still managed to burn the tank in half and burn the viv the tank was on.. any ideas on what the hell whent on and what to do?? and how lucky am i that the viv didnt catch fire and just burned other wise i dont think id have a snake now or a house :devil:


just a word of warnign to ppl using them... so upset got lestat in a shoe box now cuz hes got no home till prob totmorrow night and he has no heat ither ... :devil: stupid :censor: exo terra pile of :censor:


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## emma18x (Apr 15, 2008)

Had the exact same thing happen to me. I've not used them since. I just stick with the habistat heatmats now and never had any problems with them.


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## georgieabc123 (Jul 17, 2008)

omg your so luky if u were using it properly and everything i would complain:devil:


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## kaimarion (Dec 31, 2007)

Mines ****** up aswell, a bloody hole burned into the damn thing and it stopped working!


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## georgieabc123 (Jul 17, 2008)

after reading all these it seem theres a real fault with them maybe they give out more heat than they can handle


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## Gill (Oct 8, 2008)

maybe some guy at exo terra.. can give me £200 in damages that there shitty product has cost me... any one got the details email phone what ever ,,, this product obviusly isnt safe... and b4 u ask my thermostat is fine!!!!! it auto cut the powere off when the thing set fire... i think .. it must off other wise i wouldnt have a home!.. GOd I NEED A CIGGY NOW !!! SO ANGRY


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## georgieabc123 (Jul 17, 2008)

go on the exo terra website that would be the 1st place id go


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## Gill (Oct 8, 2008)

looked on thre cant find nothing... and nothing on packaging ither..... :censor::censor::censor::censor::censor::censor::censor: im so angry not just my baby could of died i could of lost my house.. thats whats made me MAD!


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## georgieabc123 (Jul 17, 2008)

ok ..........er try trading standeds maybe


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## Ben.M (Mar 2, 2008)

That happened to me aswell with Exo terra


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## LFBP-NEIL (Apr 23, 2005)

Weve seen this before...http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/lizards/170024-heatmat-fire-very-lucky.html

and we no longer sell them.


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## wohic (Jun 19, 2006)

did you have the mat between two tanks then, on top of one tank with glass tank on top of the mat (just trying to get a picture of what happened)


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## Steve L (Jun 14, 2008)

have you taken any pics of this damage ?


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## Lotus Nut (Jan 7, 2008)

Looks like these are the people you need to contact....

UK Office: Rolf C. Hagen (UK) Ltd.
California Drive, Whitwood Ind. Est., Castleford, West Yorkshire, WF10 5QH
e-mail: [email protected]
Registered in England No. 1670484
Registered Office: 82 St. John Street, London EC1M 4JN
VAT No: 372075360


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## midnightworrior (Jul 25, 2005)

I had the same problem too ...big blister spot that was burned around the edges and yes it was on a stat....If safety standards checked them out the would stop them selling the things there a death trap...Thanks yourself Lucky the fire did not set your home on fire


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## irish_vampire (Sep 15, 2008)

Might be kinda silly question... but shouldnt the stat turn the mat off when it got hot? if yes then surely the problem is with the stat 

Im new so its just my thinking


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## MarshallDavies (Sep 24, 2008)

irish_vampire said:


> Might be kinda silly question... but shouldnt the stat turn the mat off when it got hot? if yes then surely the problem is with the stat
> 
> Im new so its just my thinking


stat measures the temperature of a predetermined spot, where the probe is, and not the actual temperature of the heat mat.

never really trusted them.


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## Bobbie (Jun 25, 2008)

arent the Exo Terror heat matts designed for glass?


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## SisterMoonbeam (Jan 28, 2008)

This is what happened to mine


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## beege_3 (May 20, 2005)

I've used them and the stats for years and bever had a problem, sorry that people have though..  I'm glad Lestat was ok, after all thats the main thing! I've used other heatmats and not had the same efficiency as the exo terra ones.


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## chamman (Nov 14, 2007)

i was in scales and tails Leicester the other day when a lady came in and asked dave could she have her corn snake back, dave went out back and got it for her and off she went. so i said to dave "another holiday rep then" and i was shocked by his response "you could say that! i have had the corn for six months! her heat mat set on fire and burnt down part of the house". some how the corn survived (how i dont know) but it had taken 6 months to rebuild part of her house all because of a heatmat! (i dont know what brand it was as i never asked?

:crazy:


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## Plutino (Aug 5, 2007)

was this with an exo-terra tank with a proper air gap in between the viv and the mat, with the mat stuck to the bottom of the exo-terra tank? Any heatmat will overheat and fail if there is no air gap, it would appear from these reports that the exo-terra ones just fail in a particularly bad way. If there wasn't, you could perhaps claim that there was no warning to put an air gap in, but they may just come back and say they're only suitable for exo-terra glass terrariums and shouldn't be used under fishtanks. Good luck, glad to hear no serious damage was done to your home.


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## Gill (Oct 8, 2008)

was a gap inbatween tank and mat as always... like i said its caught fire in one part and welted everything.. no over heating just a production folt im guessing


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## fixitsan (Apr 15, 2008)

Gill said:


> was a gap inbatween tank and mat as always... like i said its caught fire in one part and welted everything.. no over heating just a production folt im guessing


I'm sorry to hear about your trouble. I'm an engineer and it is interesting to note what sort of failures things suffer from. Making things is usually the easy part of engineering, the hard part ios making something last a long time and operate reliably.

I've had my reservations about putting mats outside tanks and probes inside, with any mat, not just the Exo-terra brand, simply because there is very little heat control.

If you compare the heating of air in a tank with a kettle of water and look at the differences it's easy to see where you might get a problem.

With a kettle the heating element is in direct contact with the water and heats it directly with no intermediate materials being involved at all. The switch in the kettle turns off when the steam vapour is at the correct temperature, and on top of that the heating element itself should have a safety cutout trip (often called 'boil dry protection')

With a vivarium we are only relying on one temperature detector. The heat mat itself has no inbuilt protection from overheating ( a design failure as far as I'm concerned, all heat sources need protection ) and we often put it on the other side of material/s which conduct heat through to the vivarium. Only one safety device is used, unlike the kettle, which often has two.

The reason the probe didn't respond to the rise in temperature in time was because the probe isn't measuring the temperature of the mat. The probe is inside the vivarium, measuring the temperature of the air. The mat might glow bright red and the probe wouldn't register it for a couple of minutes in the case of a wooden vivarium.

What sounds to have happened in your case is that the mat has suffered an internal short, which caused a hotspot. This created a small chain reaction which caused the plastic to ignite which then heated the mat further. As mats get hotter they tend to draw less current, and become self regulating but only to a degree, once a fault has started the situation usually worsens quickly. The fuse for the mat probably blew long before the temperature in the vivarium reached a high level, but by this time the mat was already uncontrollable.

WHat mats should be fitted with, IMHO, is a thermal fusing system, something like this *| Electrical Installation | Fuses and Circuit Breakers | PCB Wire Ended Thermal Fuses | PCB Wire Ended 
*
It's a cheap part which can save a lot of trouble, because if the temperature reaches 73 degrees C in this case, the electrical control circuit is disconnected from the mat. Different temperatures are readily available too*.
*
In almost all domestic and industrial heating system that I've encountered, there is always two levels of heat control. One is the main thermostat control and the other is the safety control, provided by often inexpensive but reliable parts, to protect against unforseen problems. The use of a mat and one probe always makes me feel cautious, having seen lots of examples of failed heating systems which had no form of secondary safety switching*.

*This problem sounds to be limited to only one manufacturer, but the principle of failure applies to all unregulated heating elements. 

Perhaps there is a need for an inexpenisve device which slips above heat mats and provides the sort of protection that is required.


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## Heim (Aug 3, 2008)

Interesting post fixitsan, so how would one add these fuses successfully to exisiting heat mat systems? Or what extra precautions have you taken with your heat mats?


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## fixitsan (Apr 15, 2008)

Heim said:


> Interesting post fixitsan, so how would one add these fuses successfully to exisiting heat mat systems? Or what extra precautions have you taken with your heat mats?


Fuses like these only need to be wired in series with the mains supply, juyst like an ordinary current limit fuse.

One thing I would like to know is wehat is the rating of the heat mats which are failing (in Watts) and what rating of fuse is fitted to the plug. Standard sized plug held fuses (6.3mm x 25mm) are readily available down to 1Amp rating, and even 1 Amp woudl be too much for most heat mats because a 1A fuse allows about 250W of poower to flow before it trips. 

If a heat mat rated for below 200W then a maximum of a 1A fuse should be fitted. I suspect that just prior to burning the heat mats which failed drew significantly more than the usual amount of power required, and a low rating fuse may have stopped this sort of thing from happening in the simplest way possible, by cutting the power off.

As for our setup, we don't have a heat mat installed into our chameleon's vivarium. We got the setup instaled this year when the air temperature was a bit wamrer than it is now and just a single 20W 12V spotlight is enoguht o give 32C at the top and 25C at the bottom. But I think noight temps might drop below the acceptable range for this soecies soon so I am trying to choose which heat mat to use.

I have two to choose from, an 18W common mains powered type, and a low voltage 18W 24V type. With the low voltage type I can limit the maximum safe heat by attaching it to a power supply wich can only provide a maxiumum of 18W of power to it, so if there is an internal short the power supply protection will stop any thermal runaway. The low voltage mat also has one of these thermal fuses attached in the centre of the mat, rated for 68Ceksius

If I choose the mains type, I'll most likely fit two, or four of similar thermal fuses in a square configuration, rated for 45degrees Celsius , either just above or just below the mat, held on by some adhesive aluminium tape, all sealed over with some Silcoset 158 (completely inert once set) to prevent contact. Connecting wires to the fuses will be covered with thick wall heat shrink tubing.

It may seem a lot of fuss, but then the mat is safe enough to put inside the vivarium, and not outside where it is probably at least twice as costly to run (rough estimate based on thermal conductivity of plastic or wooden bases)

Alternatively, because I only need a night time backup control, I could use a standard thermostat system from any of the major suppliers and fit the probe directly on top of the mat, and set it for whatever temperature is required to provide a night air temperature of, say 20 celsius. During the day the lamp would then provide all the heat, but at night when the lamp switched off the background heat would be safely controlled by the thermostat/mat combination. If the mat decides to overheat the probe would detect it quickly.

Without going to such lengths, a couple of precautions which anyone can make are to firstly ensure you are using the lowest rating of fuse which it is possible to use without the fuse blowing under normal use, and secondly always use the most reliable equipment which you can afford. If the difference between a £15 mat and a £13 mat is just £2, is it worth buying the cheaper mat if it costs the animal's life and a new vivarium afterwards ?


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## avfc19 (Aug 11, 2008)

gill bring it back to the shop wit ure reciept and we should sort it out for ya and we will ring exo terra and tell them


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## Heim (Aug 3, 2008)

Thanks for the reply fixitsan, just found it again lol. I will check what fuse is currently used in my heat mat and try and get the lowest possible fuse I can.

On a side note, you my friend seem to know your stuff pretty well. Have you ever considered possibly building a small device (possibly similar in design to one of these extensions, except obviously without the extra sockets), that could incorporate one of these fuses on a circuit for extra protection? Im not sure of the work involved, or the cost of production, but Im guessing a number of people on this forum alone would quite happily fork out a couple of extra quid, if it guarantued your heat mat wouldnt burst into flames!. This kind of design would be easy enough to install then, simply plug in the heat mat, then plug it into the stat!.

If its not practical, then ignore me lol.


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## fixitsan (Apr 15, 2008)

Heim said:


> Thanks for the reply fixitsan, just found it again lol. I will check what fuse is currently used in my heat mat and try and get the lowest possible fuse I can.
> 
> On a side note, you my friend seem to know your stuff pretty well. Have you ever considered possibly building a small device (possibly similar in design to one of these extensions, except obviously without the extra sockets), that could incorporate one of these fuses on a circuit for extra protection? Im not sure of the work involved, or the cost of production, but Im guessing a number of people on this forum alone would quite happily fork out a couple of extra quid, if it guarantued your heat mat wouldnt burst into flames!. This kind of design would be easy enough to install then, simply plug in the heat mat, then plug it into the stat!.
> 
> If its not practical, then ignore me lol.


It's a neat idea but the real problem is that unless you cover the whole mat with heat detecting devices a hot spot can soon develop and even catch fire before the thermal fuse would blow. I suggested four fuses arranged as a square only because it would give a better statistical result than if just one fuse were used.

I have looked about for some thin heat sensing tape but it doesn't seem to exist. Another alternative would be to make a very thin chamber either underneath or above the heat mat and fit a small pyro sensor in there which would detect hot spots shortly before they catch fire, but it's far from cheap.

Until then I think that just checking and downrating all fuses as much as possible is a good safety measure. Perhaps the thermostat makers will eventually include a fuse socket in the side of their units which feed the heat mats which accepts the little 20mm fuses. 

20mm fuses can be found in every possible rating. So, if for example you had an 18W mat you need a 70mA fuse. A commonly rated fuse which is widely available in the 20mm size whcih would allow for just a little bit of surge is a 100mA, or 125mA fuse (0.1A, 0.125A), and that would offer very good overload protection on a mat which is about to draw significantly more power in the moments before it overheats.


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## athy59 (Jan 30, 2008)

*Re Mats*



Gill said:


> ive just got home from mf gfs house to find my heat mat has poped and melted my tank and burnt a hole in my viv the tank was on .. but some how lestat (my baby corn) has survived :notworthy:
> 
> i have no idea how this has happend and i use a thermostat with my mat.. but it still managed to burn the tank in half and burn the viv the tank was on.. any ideas on what the hell whent on and what to do?? and how lucky am i that the viv didnt catch fire and just burned other wise i dont think id have a snake now or a house :devil:
> 
> ...


*Hi*
*1st like to say so sorry re your viv, but glad your snake survived.*
*I was up my Big pet store today , to get some live foods.(Jollyes of Bristol.) was browsing through the rep section items and saw they were selling those Exo Terra heat mats. I mentioned to the Manager re problems of these heat mats made by this company.*
*I finally found our thread (couldnt find it.) So then i rang the Manager at Jollyes and gave him the Stats on how many people from this forum have had problems with these mats. He was shocked and is going to get straight onto Exo terra to find out why (if there is probs.) they have not been re-called. It may be a bad batch that as gone out, but either way it should be checked out. *
*Seeing as this place is on the Par of the likes of Tescos etc, he will have more clout in finding out from the horses mouth as it were to find out what the hell is going on. So hope you dont mind me taking the liberty on mentioning this place and what you and other members went through with these heats mats. After all we dont want another fire , and the worse happens a family could be wiped out. *
*I let you know soon as i know what he found out. *
*Regards*
*Athy.*


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## peterf (Jul 27, 2007)

Interesting post and most concerning.
All of the "new" manufacturers of heat mats employ a printed conductive ink process. The conductive element is printed onto a plastic substrate. 
This is a much cheaper method of manufacture than the way that Habistat manufacture their heat mats.
I use to be the distributor of Ultratherm heat mats and around 10 Years ago they decided that that the old style carbon impregnated glass cloth methods of manufacture were just too expensive and they wanted us to move over to the printed elements.
We didn't like the new way of manufacture and opted to keep with the existing "old fashioned" glass cloth mats.
We had already sold them for over 10 Years at that time and had never had a failure that caused any risk of fire.
Ultimately, we ended up having to manufacture our own and continue with the glass fibre elements to this day. They remain market leaders and remain with an unblemished record for reliablility and durability.
It is most concerning that the printed style of element has had so many similar problems. It has only been for sale in recent years.
I would urge that anyone with any concerns contact the manufacturer.
Such failures are nothing to do with the thermostat function and can only be a manufacturing or style of manufacture fault. 
This isn't a sales pitch, but I would conclude by saying that, where heaters and potential dangerous hazards are concerned, the consumer should buy the best and not necessarily the cheapest.
Having said that, I think the Habistat mats are now cheaper than the others on the market, that have seen several price hikes this Year.
I would estimate that there are around 1 Million, glass fibre, Habistat heat mats we have produced.
We have never had a failure that could have resulted in a fire and have never had any insurance claim levelled against us.
If you are looking for glass fibre style mats Habistat and the T Rex Cobra mats and the new Komodo range all employ this technology.


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## George itjusthappened (Aug 26, 2008)

*...*

This happened to my friend. we found out it was the stat wasnt working :censor:


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## peterf (Jul 27, 2007)

A properly manufactured and set up heat mat will not catch fire or fail by itself if the thermostat fails. 
They should be designed to run at full power all the time.
The watt density of the Habistat heat mats are 200w/ sq mtr. This power, over the last 20 years has been the standard on all glass cloth heaters as being the safest power.
We can make them at 800w/ sq mtr, but this high power would not be safe.
Any heat mat should be able to run flat out, 24 hours a day, without any problems.
A properly manufactured mat will not overheat and fail, even if running flat out all the time. 
It could fail if:
It is poorly designed.
It is poorly manufactured.
It is creased severely, causing a change in the resistance.
It is thermally blocked. If you put a heat mat under a cage and then place 10 cm of insulative substrate on top it will overheat.


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## luminova (Dec 16, 2009)

*Heat mat*

Just bought one of these my self going to have to take it back as further investigation has revealed that these mats are only suitable for glass vivariums. This is stated on the box the mat and the instructions. Not gonna risk setting fire to my new Viv Exotic stack.


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## STReptiles (Feb 6, 2009)

Just DONT use exo electrical products they are total crap, i had 5 ceramics that didnt even work in the beggining let alone break
Since ive been using this forum the amount of threads of seen regarding exo-terra heat mats overheating dangerously is unbelievable and for me thats a good enough reason not to use them also i had one of the exo canopys that you can get, i put an EXO-TERRA incandescent bulb in it and it melted and changed shape.
CHEAP(cheaply made that is) and CRAP= EXO-TERRA


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## DaveM (Oct 18, 2006)

Try going through Hagen, they distribute Exo Terra things


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## maranne (Jan 13, 2010)

*heat mat*

Hi the exo terra heat mats are designed to be used with glass terrariums placed on the outside. We at the rescue centre don't use heat mats for any viv, glass or wooden because of these problems. We have seen so many burns on reptiles from heat mats it's just not worth the risk.


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