CHE Safety

[Ryu]

Hello!
Just wondering if any of you would know if there would be a safety issue to placing a CHE in a wooden enclosure instead of on top of it? We have a built a wooden enclosure (similar to the Crossfire enclosures), with a wood top, about the size of a 40 gallon tank. Because it's always so cold in our house, I want to limit heat escape as much as possible (which is why we didn't go for a mesh top). I'm just concerned that the CHE is going to get too hot and do damage to the wood or be a fire hazard. Any advice?

 

[Jess]

I don't see a problem with it. I'm going to use my CHE inside of my wooden viv. I'm guessing you have built-in fixtures to use with it, so as long as it isn't actually touching the wood I think you'll be find. You can get a lamp dimmer for it too if you are worried.

 

[BadCon]

Just use a nice quality ceramic fixture and insulate it from the wood with a wiring box, and you'll be perfectly safe.

 

[RedInkAus]

I have all my enclosure running with CHEs inside them, their controlled by wall mounted thermostats though....

 

[Ryu]

Fantastic! Thanks everyone!

 

[GAIJINIJI]

Im in the middle of a wood viv build as well. Ive got a ceramic fitting for the CHE and made a bracket using 1mm copper. Ive then mounted this to another sheet of copper so it acts as a heat sink and dissipates the heat. The top of the wood feels warm to the touch but nowhere near the upper heat limits of the wood im using...