# Via Aqua Titanium Heaters info?



## fish_luva (Nov 24, 2009)

HI Everyone, Just wondering if anyone has used these heaters? 
Here is a link for them if you want to know what i'm talking about.
I'm not promoting the sight,, just a reference: http://www.petsandponds.com/en/aquarium-supplies/c5810/c377975745/index.html

i AM on another forum and looked at a discussion about heaters and this gentleman responded as follows. There is a background into the electronic makeup of the heater and then i asked what they recommended... responses at the end.

my questions first:
1. If you have used these heaters, can you please paste your thoughts.
2. Where did you buy yours and do you know of local places in Ontario to buy them.

thanks in advance
sheldon

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. 
Two sources I know of are Commodity Axis and Pet solutions at this site:


----------



## fish_luva (Nov 24, 2009)

I guess no one has had any experience with these......

I'm buying some soon and will advise...

Cheers!!!


----------



## Y2KGT (Jul 20, 2009)

Hey Sheldon,
Check out the reviews on Cichlid Forum.
--
Paul
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/reviews/view_product_review.php?id=1069


----------



## fish_luva (Nov 24, 2009)

thanks Paul,,, fantastic.... I hope that it's not going to be the same for the titanium based ones... sounds like a mixed review... i just started testing a 300w glass one 2 days ago....... 

thanks paul
sheldon


----------

