Ceramic Bulb Holder

[wadey]

I am going to heat my vivarium using a 100w spot bulb (see below), do I need to buy a ceramic bulb holder or will a normal plastic holder suffice?

[lee young]

most plastic ones say 100W Max, so you'd probably be alright, but it would go brittle and possible break over time. If it was me id go for ceramic, zero fire risk, you can get ceramic holder and a couple of metres of heat proof cable for about £4 on ebay.

[chewy86]

as above

[wadey]

cheers

[Athravan]

It costs about the same these days for a ceramic holder as a plastic one if you get it direct from an electrical place or an unbranded one from your local reptile shop, and the ceramic really will last a lot longer.

[jimmythetramp]

dont risk the plastic, when i first got my beardie, i got a second hand 3' x 2' x 2' viv that was already wired up just as a temp thing untill he was a little bigger, to cut a long story short it had a 100watt basking buklb in their and it worked fine for abour 3/4 months and on the day when we were going to move our beardie into his new viv, which had a ceramin installed in it, the lamp blew and the plastic has meted to the bulb and the bulb was physically fused to the fixture, i nudged it a little and it snapped off and if it had falled on my beardie it would of caused some serious harm

always go for the ceramic fixture, its for your reps safety

[reptiles-ink]

I can supply a ceramic holder with 2m of heat resistant cable for £4.80 delivered.

[anthony reilly]

when you buy a bulb holder an it has a little sticker on it sayin 100watt, the only reason it has that sticker on it is for safety reasons. basically 100watt bulb is what tha holder will take b4 the skirt will start to melt. so you are best getting a ceramic bulb holder because there isnt a chance of it melting.


Hope this helps

[Gomjaba]

Originally Posted by anthony reilly

when you buy a bulb holder an it has a little sticker on it sayin 100watt, the only reason it has that sticker on it is for safety reasons. basically 100watt bulb is what tha holder will take b4 the skirt will start to melt. so you are best getting a ceramic bulb holder because there isnt a chance of it melting.


Hope this helps

Plus that is just the absolut maximum. Also it just means that it can take 100W over a specific period of time. Like a speaker .. If a speaker is made for 100W it can normally only take bursts of 100W but cannot take it constantly.

So if you buy a plastic holder which is made for "up to 100W" it will most likely still melt especially when you run it 24 hours / day.

I remember reading an article about the classifications as to how long a bulb holder has to be able to sustain a certain wattage in order to be certified for it .. I cannot find it anymore nor do I remember the exact figures, but it wasn't 24/7/365

[wadey]

Originally Posted by reptiles-ink

I can supply a ceramic holder with 2m of heat resistant cable for £4.80 delivered.

I have already ordered one from ebay @ £5.70

Thanks anyway.