# JBL Protemp e500 Heater review



## Barbara Turner (7 Jan 2020)

Hi All
I finally replaced my broken Hydor heater... I'm not having much luck.

I recently picked up the new heater from Aquasabi, I was initially quite impressed.
mouldings are all nicely finished and on the outside, it looks like a well-designed unit, the box is nicely printed. 



 
It's amazingly similar to the Hydor unit, I would normally use the word "inspired by" but in this case, copied might be a better phrase. It does have a few upgrades like the idea of allowing different hose diameters and the LCD temp display. I'm not sure what the green button does I never got to turn it on.. 


 


 

Connecting the heater up I came up with my first issue, I'm using HI-Fitt Cristallio Extra 16-22mm clear hose (not JBL) and the gland nut doesn't even come close to tightening up. It just slides over the top of the hose.



 

 
This didn't bother me too much, I put it down to not using JBL hoses and had some good old trusty jubilee clips.

Big problems came when I turned on the water, there is an internal leak, so water pisses out all the holes in the case, as this internal leak it fills up the case and has got into the lcd, circuit board etc.. 

I didn't dare turn it on..  I connected it to the mixer tap to check that I hadn't missed anything.

I've uploaded a video here



 

I spoke to Aquasabi who have contacted JBL, hopefully, I'll hear back soon.. 

In the meantime, if anyone else buys one please check that if you seal one end you can't still blow air in it..


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## Wookii (20 Jan 2020)

Thats a shame to read - JBL stuff is normally pretty good. That said, it looks suspiciously like the SunSun External heater, which is also sold on eBay and Amazon under various other (presumably Chinese) brands: Amazon - so I'm guessing JBL just rebadged it.


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## Barbara Turner (20 Jan 2020)

It does look amazingly similar. Even with the same 300w and 500w options.
It looks like it's out the same tooling. 

I got the replacement heater sent out from Aquasabi, touch wood its all working perfectly. 

I would like to think that JBL are doing a few extra quality checks but if my first one leaked like a sieve and they didn't pick up on it. It makes you wonder.


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## Witcher (29 Feb 2020)

Barbara Turner said:


> Connecting the heater up I came up with my first issue, I'm using HI-Fitt Cristallio Extra 16-22mm clear hose (not JBL) and the gland nut doesn't even come close to tightening up. It just slides over the top of the hose.


I'm afraid this is not how this thing works, gland nut is supposed to tighten the hose from the bottom, not the top. First screw gland nut down the unit, then attach the hose, then screw gland up to the hose to tighten it up.


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## Barbara Turner (29 Feb 2020)

Witcher said:


> I'm afraid this is not how this thing works, gland nut is supposed to tighten the hose from the bottom, not the top. First screw gland nut down the unit, then attach the hose, then screw gland up to the hose to tighten it up.



It's not great, Its an easy enough metal off tooling mod that I'm surprised quality team at JBL didn't pick up on.

To be fair I don't know if my hose is really 16mm Id / 22mm OD and how it compares to JBL own hose.  Being a flexible hose it's not the easiest thing to measure.


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## Michal550 (29 Feb 2020)

Wookii said:


> Thats a shame to read - JBL stuff is normally pretty good. That said, it looks suspiciously like the SunSun External heater, which is also sold on eBay and Amazon under various other (presumably Chinese) brands: Amazon - so I'm guessing JBL just rebadged it.


every single jbl product I had failed so not so good mate.


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