Brooding indoors/ceramic heat emitter?

[Sakmeht]

I'm going to try a ceramic heat emitter for my indoor brooder this year. Our house stays around 66-68 degrees... trying to figure out which wattage would be best. I use a big (long) plastic tote. I have a 60 watt CHE that seems pretty weak. I can feel heat only about 4 inches away from the 'bulb'.

What do you think? I've used 250 watt red bulbs in the past which were a bit hot. I'm thinking maybe a 175 or 200 watt CHE? I'm figuring that the heat emitted is going to be comparable to what a bulb would produce.

Anyone use these che's while brooding chicks in a house with similar temps as mine? Even if not, I'd appreciate thoughts.
Guess I could always set up the brooder well in advance, purchase a che and see if it works well for me. If not, return it.

Thanks!
Sarita

 

[subhanalah]

I am using a CHE of 100 watts. I had it for my snakes who like it around 85 degrees. I had to add a heating pad on the side of the aquarium brooder in order to get the temperature high enough. Depending on how far away your lamp is from the floor of the brooder, it may or may not be enough heat even with a 200 watt CHE. I do like them better than lights though. You can also buy a plug in lamp dimmer to use to decrease the temperature weekly as suggested for brooding chicks.
My house stays about 65-70 degrees, and the fixture is about a foot away from where the babies rest.

 

[Sakmeht]

I ended up ordering a Brinsea Ecoglow... I had completely forgotten that option and I'll love not having to worry about temps and height of the light/che, etc... I'll be hatching lots of chicks over time, so I think it'll be cheaper in the long run, too.