hillmar77
Fish Crazy
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2010
- Messages
- 320
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Hey,
I've been having some issues with heaters lately....
1) Marineland Stealth Pro heaters has been recalled locally ( heaters exploding in peoples tanks) so I tried....
2) Fluval E300 heater, but the temp can't get to my 84 settings so I bought 2 and the highest I've reached with 2 is 82. so I'm trying.....
A 300Watt titanium heater. Currently my temp is at 84 with the new titanium heater, and I'm running a total of 900Watt of heater power. I'll keep you guys posted on the the reliability of this new heater, but overall impression is a good one! It has a external temp controller and a external temp reader, the quality seems pretty good too. Here is a little write up that swayed me towards titanium......
Maybe a little looking at what happens in a heater would help understand why they go bad. We think of heaters as measuring the water temperature and then heating until the water reaches the set point. There is one really big point left out in that thinking when it is the standard heater most of us use. The heater use a bimetal spring inside the glass tube to measure the temperature. That means it does NOT measure the water temperature to shut off. It measures the AIR temperature inside the glass. That air is then heated and it transfers through the glass to the water. No big deal, huh? Not unless you want it to last a long time. If you plug a heater in when it isn't in the water, you find it heats hot enough to start a fire. What you get is a very little spring gizmo that gets heated very hot and cooled many, many times each time the water is cool. If the water is cool by 5 degrees the heater may cycle twenty times before the water reaches normal set temperature. Guess what happens to a little metal spring when it gets heated very hot and cooled often. It gets distorted and doesn't work right!!! Throw in a tiny set of contacts passing 110V opening and closing that often and you have certain failure builtin. But builtin cheaply!! For reliable operation the contacts have to be outside the tube away from the heat. It will cost you $30-35 but kill fewer fish.
Your choice, pay $35 upfront once or pay $15 many times over and over.
#######
For heaters I'm switching over to a heater that I admit is not well known and has little history. I have taken it apart and looked at the electronics and find they look pretty good. Dealing with circuit boards I found that ones that look good show that the plan is to make them good. Via- Aqua brand has heaters that have a separate sealed electronic sensor for temperature, a fully sealed and submersible heating unit and a separate control box located outside the tank. Looking inside the control box I found a nice looking circuit board with really components (diodes, transistors,relays,etc.) There is no bi-metal spring to get warped and balky. What they have described above is a symptom of warped springs. They get warped from heat and then you can't get them set precisely. The heater I'm recommending has a nice solid sounding relay mounted on the board away from all the heating. Can't see it but it sounds and feels good when it throws. I like a nice solid thump for relays that switch 110V. A titanium metal heating tube should keep me from breaking the thing. Titanium being the best metal for heat transfer.
before:
after:
I've been having some issues with heaters lately....
1) Marineland Stealth Pro heaters has been recalled locally ( heaters exploding in peoples tanks) so I tried....
2) Fluval E300 heater, but the temp can't get to my 84 settings so I bought 2 and the highest I've reached with 2 is 82. so I'm trying.....
A 300Watt titanium heater. Currently my temp is at 84 with the new titanium heater, and I'm running a total of 900Watt of heater power. I'll keep you guys posted on the the reliability of this new heater, but overall impression is a good one! It has a external temp controller and a external temp reader, the quality seems pretty good too. Here is a little write up that swayed me towards titanium......
Maybe a little looking at what happens in a heater would help understand why they go bad. We think of heaters as measuring the water temperature and then heating until the water reaches the set point. There is one really big point left out in that thinking when it is the standard heater most of us use. The heater use a bimetal spring inside the glass tube to measure the temperature. That means it does NOT measure the water temperature to shut off. It measures the AIR temperature inside the glass. That air is then heated and it transfers through the glass to the water. No big deal, huh? Not unless you want it to last a long time. If you plug a heater in when it isn't in the water, you find it heats hot enough to start a fire. What you get is a very little spring gizmo that gets heated very hot and cooled many, many times each time the water is cool. If the water is cool by 5 degrees the heater may cycle twenty times before the water reaches normal set temperature. Guess what happens to a little metal spring when it gets heated very hot and cooled often. It gets distorted and doesn't work right!!! Throw in a tiny set of contacts passing 110V opening and closing that often and you have certain failure builtin. But builtin cheaply!! For reliable operation the contacts have to be outside the tube away from the heat. It will cost you $30-35 but kill fewer fish.
Your choice, pay $35 upfront once or pay $15 many times over and over.
#######
For heaters I'm switching over to a heater that I admit is not well known and has little history. I have taken it apart and looked at the electronics and find they look pretty good. Dealing with circuit boards I found that ones that look good show that the plan is to make them good. Via- Aqua brand has heaters that have a separate sealed electronic sensor for temperature, a fully sealed and submersible heating unit and a separate control box located outside the tank. Looking inside the control box I found a nice looking circuit board with really components (diodes, transistors,relays,etc.) There is no bi-metal spring to get warped and balky. What they have described above is a symptom of warped springs. They get warped from heat and then you can't get them set precisely. The heater I'm recommending has a nice solid sounding relay mounted on the board away from all the heating. Can't see it but it sounds and feels good when it throws. I like a nice solid thump for relays that switch 110V. A titanium metal heating tube should keep me from breaking the thing. Titanium being the best metal for heat transfer.
before:
after:
