Reptile heat mats don't warm the air, and they are not waterproof. You are better off getting something already designed for the task you require

Spider Farmer® Germination Heat Mat for Greenhouse or Home Grow Tent

The seedling heat mat comes with the most advanced design, quickly heat the root area by 50-77°F (10-25°C) above the ambient air temperature.

spiderfarmer.co.uk

Is juts one example. Alternatively look at home brewing heat mats / panels

 

Hi Malc, I don't think they heat the air any less than seedling mats, or are any more suited to humidity. People put heat mats in indoor greenhouses. As I say, I just don't know how people know they are safe at night, even with the reptile ones catching fire. Thanks for the suggestion of brewing mats, will take a look into them.

 

I misread the post, saw greenhouse and thought you wanted an alternative to traditional paraffin heaters to also warm up the air as well as the pots / or seed trays. An alternative might be the sort of thing used in electric underfloor heating. Something like this which for 1m2 with a digital thermostat (with probe) comes to £89. Or this which looks more like a ready made mat. Never tried it, and have no idea if it could be adapted for your needs.

 

There are lovely electric tubular heaters for small greenhouses, they come with embedded thermostats and are designed for high humidity and water. I would reconsider choosing the RUDSTA cabinet for heavy pots. Most of the structure is glass, so I wonder how much weight its shelves can actually support.

 

Thanks. But it's like this (there are many putting bigger pots in the cabinet). Perhaps it's my description, by heavy pots I mean not all small ones, one or two at 30cm width pot.
Thanks for the suggestions however I don't like the silver mat not being black (I need a flat black mat to not stand out) and the tubular one won't fit. Its the safety I'm concerned about with a heat mat, it's not knowing how to deal with it being on in the humidity when I can't watch it. I'm not sure it gives out enough heat either.

 

⬆ an example

 

The mats designed for use in vivarium's for reptiles give out long wave IR radiation, which induces heat in the reptiles body, much the same way as we still feel the warmth from the sun on a winters day. However most people ignore the instructions and place them on the floor of the enclosure with a thin layer of substrate over the top. This caused the mat to warm up and in turn warm the substrate and then the reptile that sits on it. This warming has to be controlled so a thermostat is used, ideally with its probe placed on the mat to monitor its temperature. Whilst it may warm the air just above the mat, it doesn't warm the air in the same way as a lamp or ceramic heater will.

Using them as per the above example would warm just the base of the root and not the top section of soil. But the biggest problem is with watering, as the mats shown are NOT waterproof. You can get splash proof propagator mats such as these but if they can withstand water run out then all well and good, but IMO there is still a risk. You would be better off using something that is designed for use with plants such as this

From the description these are waterproof, and come with their own thermostat with built in timer and cost around £25

EDIT:
Reading the reviews it seems the controller is somewhat limited. If you want just a heat mat similar to it, but without a controller so you just need a basic "mat stat" thermostat to regulate its temperature look at this one

 

Hello Malc
Thanks for your help! Already thought of that though, but still unsure. Here's a summary of where I am at (sorry it's long!)


1. Seedling Heat mats and reptile heat mats - seedling heat mats presumably heats up the surrounding air as much as a reptile mat. Established that reptile mats can catch fire and should not be in an enclosed space. So this isn't suitable. Also I heard reptile mats only heat what is sitting on it, not the surrounding air in a cabinet, especially the whole Rudsta cabinet. I went to buy a reptile heat mat from Amazon and reviews in this product say it caught fire and their reptiles died sadly. I looked on a well known pet store thinking they have safety checks, and a review said the glass smashed due to the heat (this wasn't for a heat mat but for a glass piece designed for a heat mat to go on). Some people have said online that thermostats prevent fires, but others have disagreed as it depends how the product is made as it can be a fault (most products come from China, and I don't know how many are safety checked, when anyone can sell on places like Amazon and eBay).
I have since learned reptile heat mats shouldn't go in the enclosed space, so I don't know if that makes seedling mats safer as pots sit on the already and they can go in enclosed spaces. But in any case it doesn't seem to be enough heat and they have writing on them when I want a 60-70cm black one for the bottom of the cabinet. Doesn't seem the way to go.

2. A heat lamp, even ceramic, inside a humid environment may not be safe? I don't know. But it occurs to me it may heat up a spot in a cabinet, giving cold spots elsewhere? And no space to put a lamp eventually. At least a flat black mat wouldn't look out of place on the floor of the cabinet and wouldn't take up space.

3. Reptile Heat cord - again not familiar on safety in humid environments for 24/7 use verses heat mats, and assume it won't heat up the cabinet enough?

4. Next I read about putting reptile "heat tape" (again it's like a flat mat in strips of heat, basically it looks like a heat mat) on the outside of the glass. Then taping it flat to the glass with electrical tape. This is safer as it's not getting humid.
But I don't know how well it would heat the cabinet (pictured below) when say the room is say 4 -10 degrees at night (at a guess in winter) and the cabinet needs to be a min of 20 degrees.
I also don't know if this is safe on glass and can crack it. I cannot move it away from the glass, as it is it will look ugly fixed to the side of the cabinet and not having a mat inside the cabinet!

5. Underfloor heating mat taped to the outside of the glass? If that's such a thing. But it doesn't look nice, it doesn't blend being white from what I've seen. I don't even know how I would get the right size, but it isn't as flat as heat tape and the bulk stuck on the outside of the glass would annoy me too.

6. Brewers mat. I only see round ones and have no idea on safety, whether they have thermostats attached or whether they can heat a whole cabinet.

7. Deep heat projectors and radiant heat panels. I have not looked into these yet.

Noise is an issue for me, I don't want to hear a heat fan like noise, even subtly. I have no room outside my cabinet either, a heating item can only fit flatly in the humid cabinet or flat on the outside. Aesthetics are important, so I don't like a product to have writing on it (as seedling mats so) and it needs to be black to blend into the cabinet.

....And breathe!

 

On point one on the reptile mat, those thoughts are what I got from you so thank you! Its just a summary of where I'm at.

 

My options
2. Ceramic lamp,
3. Reptile heat cord,
4. Tape reptile heat tape (like a flat mat) to the side of the glass on the outside (safe?),
5. Deep heat projector (lamp)
6. radiant panel flat to outside of the glass?
7. Is an Infrared Heater the same as 6? (Flat to outside of glass)

 

I've just realised that I don't want too much heat emitted on the outside of the glass because it will make my lounge too hot! I've had an electric clothes airer on this winter most of the day inside and it makes my room too hot, I can imagine in summer this would be too much in the lounge on the outside of the glass (but I need it in the cabinet). So I can't have the heat not going mostly through the glass into the cabinet instead of going into the lounge. Argh this is more complex.

you can see me thinking out loud here

 

Here is someone who used reptile heat tape for their cabinet taped on the outside of the glass. But maybe that isn't safe. They are saying it's kept the cabinet hot, but they probably don't have UK cold temperatures inside the room already. I can't contact that person.

 

Well ignore my suggestion of using a seed warmer. I ordered one off Amazon just to play with and its less efficient than the reptile mats I currently use. After 20 minutes plugged straight into the mains the surface temperature averages 28c. They are basically a heat cable inside a plastic bag. The cable is laid in loops zig-zag fashion about an inch apart. Parts of the plastic mat where the cable is below is around 31c whilst the area between the cable is a good 5 or 6c lower. They definitely don't warm the air.

After 45min average temp was 32c, with the hot spots reaching 38c

As mentioned - reptile mats don't heat the air, but will induce warmth in anything placed in front of it. It could be that it warms the glass in that example, which then takes the chill off the internal air.

Also, using a power meter this particular mat is drawing 20.2w which is close to the 17.5w stated. After an hour it seemed to stabilise around the 30-36c depending if the IR gun thermometer passed over a cable or not.

 

Many thanks for coming back.
Yea I wasn't thinking it would be any better at heating the air. They come with thermostats to adjust.
I was with you until the last paragraph! I'm not technically understanding what you are saying. Wasn't sure if the last para was about the heat tape or the seedling map. But I guess you are saying give the heat tape with thermostat a go to heat up whole cabinet. If it doesn't work it's buggered up the whole purchase and buying weather stripping for it, etc. Or could maybe crack the glass after a few months or in winter when the glass gets cold, I don't know.

 

I don't know technical stuff like watts etc. I just see the idea and want an indoor greenhouse myself in this cabinet. I guess I can only try the heat tape and if it's not enough use a reptile heat cord around edges inside of cabinet. But still don't know if that's enough heat in this country. There's no advice out there. I've spent hours looking and posting on group page for "IKEA greenhouse" which is where this pic/idea of heat tape is from. You'd think many other people have run into the same issue, there must be people in the UK who don't heat their homes and have this set up.

 

Which plants do you intend to put in there?

 

A variety of tropical ones including philodendrons and calathas

 

The one I purchased was the version without a thermostat. I plugged it straight into the mains to see how warm it actually got, and thus if it would require a thermostat. I wasn't expecting it to get extremely hot, after all it's a plastic mat, but from a reptile keepers point of view if it ran at 50c then it would need a thermostat (assuming it was to be used under substrate where a snake might then come into contact with it).

One other possibility would be to look at aquarium heaters. If the plants you wish to keep also like a humidity then placing one in a small "tank" within the main display enclosure might be a better option