In article , David Hill david@abacus
nurseries.freeserve.co.uk writes
"...... Is it feasible to control the heat with a dimmer switch? ....."

Should work after a fashion, but would not be able to take into account
changes in the ambient air temperature caused by sunshine etc. so you would
not be able to be very accurate.
I should think that unless you are going to use a very short cable then the
extra cost of a thermostat would pay for itself in time.

What I cant understand is why a Mechanical time clock which will switch
lights(or other appliances) on or off wont work with florescent lights.

Will it not? I can vaguely understand why a dimmer switch won't work
with a fluorescent light, but we have a time switch on our aquarium to
switch from a 'daylight' fluorescent to a 'moonlight' fluorescent. And a
fluorescent bulb in one of our rooms is controlled by an elderly
mechanical ex-street light time switch. So what am I not understanding
(it wasn't me who set up the above, so I don't really know what I'm
talking about ;-) )



--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm