safety for polystyrofoam and ceramic heater

SO I have some polystyrofoam, a ceramic heater, and a temper controller. Any fire issues with this or melting issues? I am guessing this is not safe.

depends on the heater temp...

I just read on wikipedia saying its highly flammable. I would imagine the heater would get pretty hot to get up to 68-70. It is a ceramic heater for reptile cages. I spelled it wrong too. Polystyrene

Can I wrap it with something to protect it?

I have a ferm box that I use a light bulb in to heat (my house is 55* where I ferm). The bulb is only about 1.5" away from the polystyrene (pink foam insulation). The bulb gets over 400*, but the poly only gets to about 150* and when I feel it, it's not even soft.

I did change out a white bulb for a painted black bulb and set the old bulb on top of the box. It melted right into it, but never even started smoking or anything. Now I have a nice bulb shaped indent in the foam.

I think you'd need an open flame or sustained high temp before you had a problem.

*Edit* However, after thinking about it, I decided to staple a piece of aluminum foil to the foam as a reflector and heat shield. Nothing wrong with a little safety.

Do Johnson controllers work for heating, or is it just for cooling, its the standard analog one.

Julohan said:

I just read on wikipedia saying its highly flammable. I would imagine the heater would get pretty hot to get up to 68-70. It is a ceramic heater for reptile cages. I spelled it wrong too. Polystyrene

Click to expand...

Polystyrene burns with the ferosity of Gasoline. As a matter of fact Modern napalm is composed primarily of benzene and polystyrene.

T-Bo said:

I have a ferm box that I use a light bulb in to heat (my house is 55* where I ferm). The bulb is only about 1.5" away from the polystyrene (pink foam insulation). The bulb gets over 400*, but the poly only gets to about 150* and when I feel it, it's not even soft.

I did change out a white bulb for a painted black bulb and set the old bulb on top of the box. It melted right into it, but never even started smoking or anything. Now I have a nice bulb shaped indent in the foam.

I think you'd need an open flame or sustained high temp before you had a problem.

Click to expand...

You may have come very close to having a fire. Polystrene will autoignite at 427*c which is roughly the temperature on the outside of a 200 watt light bulb. I don't know what size light bulb you were using but you may not have been to far from the autoignite temperature.

So I think I may just go a different route. By using a closet to ferment it. Will a ceramic heater work? how can I adjust the controls to stop at 70? I have a johnson analog controller. I just looked and it said it just cools. Can someone point me in the right direction?

I use a wall thermostat for a line voltage heater (base board, wall heater), that is wired to the light bulb. Problem is the regular dial thermostat goes on at X temp, then off at X+15 degrees. Not perfect by any means.

Next projext: I do have a digital unit that uses low voltage for the trigger (typical furnace t-stat). I'll be eventually wiring that up using a 12v transformer. The transformer will supply 12v to the thermostat and when the heat circuit is engaged, will turn on a 120mm PC fan, and activate a 120v relay to turn on the light bulb. The bulb will be in a back chamber to keep the ferm area dark and the fan will exchange air from the heat chamber. In the summer, I'll switch it so the back chamber has ice in it and cool the ferm area.

Just a modified "Son of Fermentation" box.

your reptile heater will be fine in styrofoam (polystyrene). If it's safe enough for a toad to bask on, it's safe enough to heat a brew chamber. RDWHAHB.