What's hotter ??

[Mark L]

What do you think gives off more ambient heat ?
A 100w black heat bulb or a 100w CHE ??

 

[wellington]

My guess only would be a CHE.

 

[tortdad]

My 60 watt CHE gives of more heat than my 75 watt black light

 

[Momof4]

That title is so misleading

 

[Tom]

Any incandescent bulb gives off about 80% heat and 20% light. A CHE gives off 100% heat.

 

[Mark L]

Thanks all

 

[Yvonne G]

Well, I guess I have a different opinion. When I first moved to this house 15 or so years ago I set up all my tort houses with 100 watt CHEs. My power bill was way higher than I could afford, and in looking at ways to get it lower, I got rid of all the CHEs and set up the black lights instead. I buy the lights wherever I can find them on sale, so sometimes they are 60 watt, sometimes 75. I was able to keep the night time temperatures in my tortoise houses as warm as I wanted them and I didn't use as much electricity. I have never had a problem using the black lights. The tortoises sleep at night and the little bit of light the black lights emit would be similar to what light they would see from the moon.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I prefer the black lights because I can tell......at a distance if they are working or not. I have them in my out doors dog house and I can see the dim light letting me know that all is well.

 

[tortdad]

I use both for different things and I'm sure the black light uses less electricity. All I was saying is when I put my infrared gun on my 60 watt CHE it was hotter than my 75watt black light.

I would assume (you know what happens when you do that) that a black light is able to hold a lower temp as compared to a CHE and that you would need to have it on all night long on a timer to hold that temp where a CHE may use more power when it's physically on but it would be on less overall power consumption if it were on a thermostat. So the real question is what will be more beneficial in your set up. CHE and tstat cost more up front than a black light and timer. So I guess the real questions are:

Is this for an indoor or outdoor enclosure? What size? Insulated? Closed chamber?? What temps are you trying to hold? Will this be the only heat source?

 

[Tom]

I prefer the black lights because I can tell......at a distance if they are working or not. I have them in my out doors dog house and I can see the dim light letting me know that all is well.

Sure you can when you take a look last thing before you go to bed, but what if it burns out 5 minutes later? Incandescent bulbs burn out frequently and seemingly at the most inconvenient times.

I prefer CHEs because they keep it dark, and they almost never burn out. I can also tell that mine are working with a glance at the base unit of my remote temperature probe that stays inside my house. I have found the CHEs to be a much more reliable heat source.

Not saying black lights can't work too, I just think CHEs are a better choice.

 

[Tom]

I use both for different things and I'm sure the black light uses less electricity.

I bring this up because we've had this discussion many times...

A watt is a watt. A 100 watt CHE is using the SAME amount of electricity as a 100 watt incandescent bulb when on. In fact a case could be made that over time, with the use of a thermostat, a CHE will use less electricity since 20% of its heating power is not wasted on light. Meaning that because a CHE generates more heat than an equivalent wattage incandescent bulb, it will need to be "on" less of the time to maintain the same temperature. Another factor is the type of heat produced. CHEs produce longer wave radiation that penetrates deeper into tortoises and tank furniture, according to the manufacturers anyway.

This is plain physics guys. Its not my opinion or how it "feels".

I'm not a CHE salesman. I get no commission for how many get sold. I just think its a better product to use for tortoises than colored light bulbs for a variety of reasons, reliability being first and foremost.