DIY water water

[Dexter13]

I know there is a great thread on DIY water heaters on the forums and I've read through them and am planning on making my own. I just had a question for anyone who has made one. Is it better to have the reservoir bucket, then the water heater, then the pump, and then the nozzles? or have the reservoir bucket, then the pump, then the water heater, then the nozzles. Basically, should I heat the water before it goes through the water pump, or after? Also I never saw an answer on the thread as to whether or not it was ok to use copper tubing for the misting water to pass through, or if that was unsafe for the chams.

Thanks

 

[Carlton]

I know there is a great thread on DIY water heaters on the forums and I've read through them and am planning on making my own. I just had a question for anyone who has made one. Is it better to have the reservoir bucket, then the water heater, then the pump, and then the nozzles? or have the reservoir bucket, then the pump, then the water heater, then the nozzles. Basically, should I heat the water before it goes through the water pump, or after? Also I never saw an answer on the thread as to whether or not it was ok to use copper tubing for the misting water to pass through, or if that was unsafe for the chams.

Thanks

I haven't heated my misting system water much at all. It can encourage algae growth. During a cold spell in winter if the room is pretty cool I have warmed the reservoir itself using a simple aquarium heater on a thermostat. But, once the water starts moving through the tubing and nozzles it cools off, so not sure how much benefit it has.

 

[MSMorgan]

Very true. Never though of it that way, but yes; by the time the water hits the nozzle, it would be substantially cooler than when in the bucket. I maybe heating my water for s#@$'s and giggles. It's 75* +/- in the house and 83* in the bucket. No way to check the temp as it comes out of the nozzle.

 

[Dexter13]

I was going to use an aquarium thermometer probe to test the water coming out of the tube before plugging it in the nozzle to get some idea but still don't know if it would be better to heat the water before or after it runs through the pump or if copper tubing would be OK to use.

 

[FlChamMom]

I tested this theory one by filling my mister resivoir with 103° water. By the time it came out of the mister nozzle it was bearly lukewarm. I feel that the threat of bacteria or algea would outweigh the nominal temperature increase. I also do not know of any ancrease in drinking activity.

 

[Dexter13]

I was thinking of it more so the Cham wasn't getting sprayed with room temp (65 degree F) water and I'm not concerned with algae because the the warm mist water will be heated by passing through the tubing that runs through a bucket of hot water which I'll heat up with the aquarium heater. I can put a little bleach in the water heater to deal with algae because the mist water will never come in contact with it since it will be passing through the hot water in tubes and be heated by the transfer of heat. I plan on putting the heater on a timer to heat up the water just before my automatic mister kicks on so the mist water won't be continuously warm, and again I won't have to worry about algae. I was just unsure as to whether using copper tubing for better heat transfer would be safe to use with the Cham.

 

[Carlton]

I was thinking of it more so the Cham wasn't getting sprayed with room temp (65 degree F) water and I'm not concerned with algae because the the warm mist water will be heated by passing through the tubing that runs through a bucket of hot water which I'll heat up with the aquarium heater. I can put a little bleach in the water heater to deal with algae because the mist water will never come in contact with it since it will be passing through the hot water in tubes and be heated by the transfer of heat. I plan on putting the heater on a timer to heat up the water just before my automatic mister kicks on so the mist water won't be continuously warm, and again I won't have to worry about algae. I was just unsure as to whether using copper tubing for better heat transfer would be safe to use with the Cham.

If its copper plumbing pipe for household use probably fine, considering how little of the misting water the cham would actually drink. I don't know much about copper content in plumbing or what the issues would be. Maybe another way to keep the water warmer would be to use some sort of insulated flexible tubing?

 

[Carlton]

I was thinking of it more so the Cham wasn't getting sprayed with room temp (65 degree F) water

Consider that a cham in the wild would be exposed to rain and even in tropical areas it wouldn't be all that warm. If the cham has a sheltered spot it can retreat to during spray cycles that may work the best.

 

[Vanjan]

I really have no experience if pre-heating the water is important or not. My water resevoire will also cool to 18°C (65F) in winter and my guy hates being misted. (He just closes the eyes and runs... Or starts to shake his head) Could be because of the cold water?

But the technical part:
So you would like to have the heater close to the mister heads as possible in order to start spraying with warm water, right?
Why not apply a couple of coils around your heat lamp? Not touching the lamp of course (the metal reflector gets way too hot on my lamp) but a few cm above it would be good.
Water is only heated at daytime so no need for separate timer.
Dont have to worry about algae since it only heats a small amount that is replaced by every misting.
No additional reservoire and heater needed.

If you say the copper tube is ok i would give it a try.