Tube heater

[Twostage]

After years of using 40 watt light bulbs as the heat source for my brew fridge I decided to 'upgrade' to a 60 watt heat tube, primarily because they are splash proof. Did the install this morning, set my controller for 19c and set it away as a test. Over two hours later it has crawled up to 18c having started at 10c. Looking at the graph of the temperature rise it looks like 19c is a stretch for it so doing a Kviek at 30 odd is not going to be possible.

Is this in line with other people's experience with them ? My light bulbs would have got there in a few minutes. I'm thinking I might have to change tack and construct splash proof housings for the bulbs.

 

[Rwilts]

I am not surprised , i have on in my keezer - Have never considered it a fast option, but neither have i used one for fermentation temp control..

 

[Caramel Ox]

Have you checked to see if the heater has a built in thermostat? It may be set low and limiting the heating. I have one but it’s not seen much duty.

 

[MashBag]

Stop being so splashy

 

[Buffers brewery]

As @Caramel Ox says, make sure the tubes inbuilt thermostat is turned to maximum. (I removed the thermostat altogether in mine. Works fine.)

 

[Twostage]

@Caramel Ox and @Buffers brewery - I got the one without a thermostat but it will cut out at 90.

It did eventually reach 19. I left it running for a bit and then set the controller to 21 which it got to in just over half an hour which is OK.

I've now given it the challenge of 24.

I think the 90c cutout is a clue. Obviously a light bulb gets hot, too hot to touch, and hot enough to melt the inside of the fridge wall (it fell over once ). So the tube is not reaching the same temp so it will be less aggressive.

 

[Twostage]

Stop being so splashy

I'm not that bad , the main problem is when I've been using it to cold crash and a lot of ice builds up in the icebox at the top of the fridge. When I defrost it, despite putting a towel in icebox to soak it up as it melts there is always a lot of dripping and water collecting at the bottom where the bulb is.

One thing I like about it is that because it is bulky it stores enough heat to hold the air temp at the target temp for a lot longer than the bulb did. Down side is that it takes longer to get to target.

Going to keep testing it for a bit and then either go for a hybrid solution or live with it.

 

[Buffers brewery]

I got the one without a thermostat but it will cut out at 90.

Care to share the details? I've not seen one without it's own stat

 

[MashBag]

Get a fridge without an icebox?

Seriously if you get a plug in energy meter you can see what is going on. They are handy for diagnosis and setting power controllers.

 

[allotment_fox]

I would think once you start brewing with it, there will be less space to warm up if the fermenter is at say 20c going into the fridge & once it gets fermenting it should give it a bit of a boost.
Loads of people use 1ft tube heaters for fermenting so can't see you running into any big problems good luck with it