Heating Cable Warmth

[AntsIkhlef]

Hi!

I wondered how warm a heating cable or heating pad should be for Formica and Lasius queens to feel good? Help would be much appreciated!

Celsius would be best but fehrenheit works too.

[TheRealAntMan]

A 15 watt cable will do just fine.

[AntsIkhlef]

A 15 watt cable will do just fine.

that i knew but itwas the degrees thati was more on after!

[colo3000]

A 15 watt cable will do just fine.

that i knew but itwas the degrees thati was more on after!

A 15 watt cable has a standard temperature, there’s 15 watts running through the cable hence the cable is a constant temperature equivalent to 15 watts.

[CampoKing]

It's hard to put an exact temperature on these cables. In a cold room, they're slightly warm to the touch. In a 25C room, they can feel hot. If they are surrounded by insulating materials (plastic, wood, foam, etc) they can get very hot (above 31C). These cables just emit a fixed wattage of heat along their length, and that's it. Unlike a heater or air conditioner, they have no control circuitry to regulate their heat output.
The surrounding environment determines how warm the cable ends up being.

PS: Formica and Lasius species usually live in temperate forested areas. They should be content with room temperature, up to 25C or so.