150 W ceramic bulb in shop lamp please help!

**earwig** · 03-24-2010, 10:31 PM

I have what is probably a dumb question. I have a shop lamp with a hook on the top and a cage around the bulb area. On the handle it says: 660W 250V. Would it be safe to put a infrared ceramic reptile heater type bulb in this light fixture? I want to use it to warm my fermenter cabinet. Thank you very much.

wildwest450 · 03-24-2010, 10:49 PM

Should be fine. Are you using a thermostat of some kind? Those ceramic elements throw a lot of heat.

**earwig** · 03-24-2010, 11:08 PM

Yes I bought this Freezer Conversion Thermostat. This is my fixture/ceramic bulb, thanks again:

wildwest450 · 03-24-2010, 11:13 PM

I would try to hang it upside down, so the bulb is facing down.

Also eventually, I would recommend a fixture similar to this, it would be safer and more efficient.

http://www.bigappleherp.com/Zoo-Med-Brooder-Fixtures

jason.mundy · 03-24-2010, 11:31 PM

I had problems keeping my fridge warm in the garage this winter. And I did not have a two stage controller.

I put a 40W bulb in my shoplight and mounted it in the fridge. It ran 24/7. The fridge kicked on every once in a while to cool things back down.

If your fermentation chamber is insulated well, 150W may be over kill.

**earwig** · 03-25-2010, 04:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jason.mundy

If your fermentation chamber is insulated well, 150W may be over kill.

Yeah, it probably is overkill now that I am thinking about it. Since I already bought it, do you think it will still work if I keep the heat dialed down low enough? I'm fine with it being overkill as long as it works. Below is a pic of it so far. I'm going to have a computer fan in there to circulate the heat as well as another thermometer so I can make sure the heating is doing it job properly. If the ceramic heater heats up real hot to get it up to 70 in there, do you think it will go too far above 70 before it has a chance to cool? Ugh... I already tossed the box on this one so I can't return it. Oh, and I did pick up the right type of enclosure for the ceramic heat emitter tonight.

jason.mundy · 03-25-2010, 02:43 PM

Sounds like you have all the equipment you need to keep things warm. I would go ahead and run with it.

I assume that you have some kind of temperature controller to turn the lamp off when the temperature gets too high.