* Darrell Greenwood > 2003-10-29:
> In the philosophy of 'keep it simple', IMHO you don't need thermostatic
> control. I used;
>
> 1 cheap styrofoam cooler or almost any container or box of suitable size
> 1 lamp dimmer switch
> 1 lamp socket with 15 watt bulb.
>
> My setup maintained any temperature it was set to. I could never see
> the thermometer vary by even 1 degree F from where I set it. (The
> temperature in almost any home is thermostatically controlled, you only
> want to have an offset from that temperature)

Yes, I used this setup successfully for a couple of years. Haven't used
it lately because my existing box is too small for my current needs.
However, the temperature in my house varys quite a bit between day and
night. I often let my sourdough ferment for 24 hours (pancakes) so the
daily fluctuation in ambient temperature becomes an issue.

>
> Nowadays I don't bother with it, when I want to speed things up I use
> an electric self-cleaning oven (lots of insulation in those) with the
> interior lamp turned on or the main element turned on for a couple of
> minutes.

This is the method I have been using lately. My experience is similar
to Samartha's on this. The 15 watt bulb in my oven generates far too
much heat for such a well insulated space. If I leave the light on my
temperature gets much too high. This requires too much supervision for
my taste.

> Most of time I don't even do that but go with the ambient
> temperature and adjust the time accordingly.

Fine in Summer. The price of natural gas dictates a temperature that
is much too low during the Winter.

Thanks for your input.

--
Steve W
s (dot) wal (at) verizon (dot) net