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Our founder, chief engineer and designer Jeff Ronne / The Boaphile began using Flexwatt products in around 1992. The first Flexwatt used was obtained from a local large Hardware chain called Menards. The material they sold was 11" wide and only 10 watts per lineal foot. This material is roughly the same wattage per square inch as the material now used by Boaphile Plastics for use in cage heat applications. Our racks are built using the 11" - 20 Watt per lineal foot material. Because of this higher wattage a ½" air gap is allowed for this Flexwatt allowing the heat to disperse properly as is recommended. We have done extensive testing of these materials to ensure their safe use in our products.

The question regarding what can be done in the event of a Flexwatt failure comes up from time to time and inspired the writing of this particular page.

1. The most important thing that needs to be discussed is using the appropriate product for the application required. As discussed elsewhere on the site Boaphile Plastics always uses the lowest wattage possible Flexwatt to create the thermogradient needed for your herps. This means at no time will Boaphile Plastics install the 20 watt per lineal foot 11" wide material in the sub floor of a cage as this is overkill. No pun intended. The lower wattage material used by Boaphile Plastics is 21.5" wide and less than half the wattage per square inch of the 11" - 20 watt per foot material. This will give you the nice safe warm area required for your herps.

2. Many of you may have heard of Flexwatt failures in the past. In no case do I believe this to have been a failure of the product itself but of a misuse or abuse of the product. This misuse is normally not deliberate but a mistake made by a "do-it-yourself" kind of person who cut some corner somewhere along the line whether deliberately or wholly by mistake. Several mistakes that have been made that we will not make at Boaphile Plastics.

A. Failure to use the authorized Flexwatt crimping tool. This tool is expensive. It is priced at around $100. However, without it you will not be able to achieve that same perfect every time connection that we achieve using the real crimping tool.

B. Secondly, using too high wattage or potentially too high wattage material for the application. Since Flexwatt can be easily worked with by many "do-it-yourself" type people, it is sometimes used in a way that allows excessive heat accumulation and lack of adequate airflow when required. Overkill or using too high wattage material is dangerously dependent on the reliability of your heating control device.

C. Thirdly, thermostat or rheostat failure. This failure can allow Flexwatt to run too hot endangering you and your Herps. Note: if a lower wattage Flexwatt is used that will achieve what is required and a thermostat fails, you are in far less danger of having any issue come up. This is just common sense.

D. Some have actually built and use racks whose drawers slide directly over the Flexwatt itself. Common sense would tell you that constant dragging over that Flexwatt just isn't a good idea and can potentially lead to problems down the road.

3. Let's discuss our own track record with Flexwatt. Jeff has approximately 700 feet of Flexwatt heaters currently in use at his own facility. This includes no fewer than 200 separate connections. Some of the Flexwatt used has been reused and uninstalled from old cages and reinstalled in updated cages or racks. (It goes without saying that all Flexwatt installed in Boaphile Plastics products is brand new.) After removing Flexwatt that has been functioning faithfully for ten years and sometimes more, Jeff has not once ever noted any discoloration, wrinkling or any distortion whatsoever in the lower wattage Flexwatt Jeff has used exclusively since about 1991. Jeff has not experienced one Flexwatt Failure. Not one time. The "Herp Industry Standard" thermostats Jeff used to run, have failed on him a number of occasions. (This is exactly the reason that Boaphile Plastics now assembles and offers for sale an industrial grade thermostat that is the best available. Details can be found on the Thermostat Page.) Rheostats have failed several times as well. But that Flexwatt just keeps on running and running.

We have installed literally thousands of individual Flexwatt connections in Boaphile Plastics products. We have not had one failure in all of those installations. It seems that nothing is perfect but we have not had a single failure yet. The precautions we have taken are detailed on our Fire Safety Page to help safeguard you and your Herps. We have actually guaranteed our heaters for a period of two years. This is detailed on our Warrantee Page. In the very unlikely event of a failure the Flexwatt can be replaced with a small amount of instruction from Jeff or can be shipped back and replaced by the professionals at Boaphile Plastics.