# This is a PSA



## Flexin5 (Nov 12, 2011)

just a PSA, if you're heaters are older than 2 years, swap them out for new ones. 

came home one night last week, and smelt something electrical burning. checked the tank, everything seemed fine, lost two sps colonies over the last few weeks but couldn't figure out why? figured it was just something with the water quality or the like. about half hour later, smelled the electrical burning again...still, can't find anything wrong. 

then smoke started from somewhere and i freaked out. it seemed like it wasn't coming from the tank, and maybe a pot light or something, boom shut everything down at the breakers and grabbed a fire extinguisher. the smoke went away, turned back on the pot lights, waited for 15mins everything was ok. 

then i turned on the tank, slowly, starting with pumps, then lights, then heaters. i put my finger in the tank, and ZAP. got hit with some voltage. shut everything off again. turned everything on 1 by 1 and tested, everything was fine? no zap. 

then all of a sudden, ALL of my fish are on the sand bed, rapidly breathing, tangs, clowns, everything. now i'm swearing a good amount. i can't find the source of the stray voltage. after about an hour, all of the fish are back to normal? up and swimming about like nothing happened? ok, leave the tank running and go to sleep with one eye open and put a extra smoke detector ontop of the tank. 

the next morning, i come to a dark tank totally quiet. shit, GFI tripped. i threw in a spare heater and a maxijet to move water from the sump to the display and 1 MP40. head to work. after work, i come home and pull out anything in contact with water. fill a bucket with water, put each part into the bucket and test with a multimeter. still can't find the source. all fish and coral still doing fine. 

knowing that heaters are mainly the culprits, i bought two new ones (i run 2). replaced those and everything is on the up and up. they are good quality ehiem heaters and don't get knocked about or anything but i could see some heat discolouration on one of the heaters and it smelled a little burnt so i'm pin pointing it on that, everything that i have have been proven brands but still anything can go wrong. 

anyways, the point of this post if you're still with me is that i think these heaters, no matter the brand, like to leak stray voltage and will eventually fail so if you have a older heater, swap it out before stuff goes south.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*heaters*

good call man .... time to check and throw out the 2 year old ones ... do u have a temp controller .....


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

That is true IF one completely submerges the heater. I position so that the top is out of the water. Over time the seals, adhesive, sealant, etc, will eventually allow water in due to the heat differential of on/off states.

Heaters completely made with polymer casing around the heating element vs glass, avoid like the plague.

I rarely have these issues with Eheim heaters, even though completely submerged when the suction cups fail...have to incorporate design heater holders in sumps nowadays as things aren't as well made like they used to.


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## littletnklvr (Nov 1, 2010)

What about cobalt heaters?


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## loonie (Mar 29, 2008)

I did post about heaters recently, also the thermostat in the heater do not work properly. This is why I have two thermometers, to double check. Its true, best replace 2yrs or older heaters with new ones.


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## Orangutran (Oct 16, 2012)

littletnklvr said:


> What about cobalt heaters?


Just as bad. Had a neotherm 150 stuck at 94F. Cobalt sent a replacement, and that got stuck too! Trust no one.

Sent from my SM-G986W using Tapatalk


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