Is there a way to determine if a heater is about to die? Maybe we should post brand names and how long they lasted to develop a trend. I have a Aquarium Systems 300 watt that is least 4 yrs old and a Eheim 150 watt that is about 2 yrs old. Many yrs a go I found my freshwater tank doing a rolling boil. My other heaters that died just quit and the tank cooled off. I'm just getting a little nervous.
heater failure
- Thread starter Tony44
- Start date
^this. A heater is the most likely thing to crash your tank, so you should always include special precautions to prevent that. I always do the following.
1. Use 2 or more heaters to get the required wattage rather than 1 large one. Don't overdo the wattage. Use a calculator like this and try to stay just above the wattage to maintain temp. http://www.kernsanalysis.com/HeaterCalculator.cgi
2. Buy heaters with reliable thermostats and not the dial built into the thermostat body type.
3. Use a controller (apex, rk, ranco, etc) for primary heater control and set the thermostat a degree or two above normal tank temp as a backup. If the heater controller fails you will know because the temp will be higher than normal, but still a safe level that won't kill anything.
4. (Optional and only with aquarium controllers) Set the state so that in the event the aquarium controller loses communication with the power bars only half of the heaters can run off the native thermostat. Do the same in the event the temp probe falls out of the water or gets unplugged (If Temp < 70.0 Then OFF for apex).
1. Use 2 or more heaters to get the required wattage rather than 1 large one. Don't overdo the wattage. Use a calculator like this and try to stay just above the wattage to maintain temp. http://www.kernsanalysis.com/HeaterCalculator.cgi
2. Buy heaters with reliable thermostats and not the dial built into the thermostat body type.
3. Use a controller (apex, rk, ranco, etc) for primary heater control and set the thermostat a degree or two above normal tank temp as a backup. If the heater controller fails you will know because the temp will be higher than normal, but still a safe level that won't kill anything.
4. (Optional and only with aquarium controllers) Set the state so that in the event the aquarium controller loses communication with the power bars only half of the heaters can run off the native thermostat. Do the same in the event the temp probe falls out of the water or gets unplugged (If Temp < 70.0 Then OFF for apex).
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I had a Catalina 1000w titanium heater controlled by my Apex for 18 months, searched my Amazon purchase history to find when I bought it. It died about a week ago. I replaced it with 2 x 800w Finnex titanium heaters. So far the new ones are doing a great job, I have the Apex maintaining a temp between 76 and 78. I now own a Petco 300w as a backup..... it will sit in a box in the basement until I need to call it into action again.
I think my heater may be going out. I'm pretty positive it has been on all day, tank temp is 2 degreees below normal range that I see it at. And when I stick my hand in the water and touch the heater I pretty much get nothing.
It isn't the only heater in my tank, I have on in my sump. But anyone else try these things to see if their heaters are dead or just throw them out?
It isn't the only heater in my tank, I have on in my sump. But anyone else try these things to see if their heaters are dead or just throw them out?