# Decent heater - life expectancy



## jameson_uk (21 Nov 2018)

*to;Dr* looking for heater recommendations and how long I should expect a heater to last

Not sure if I have just been unlucky or whether something else is at play but I am now looking for a third heater in six months.

I had a Juwel 200w heater that came with the tank but it died after two years and just stopped heating.  This was back in May and I ended up getting an Oase 200w heater (I wanted two 100w but LFS only had 200w+ in stock).  This seemed great, it seemed to keep temps around +/- 0.5 °C.  A few weeks ago this died whilst I was away.  As seems to be the story of my heaters I managed to get to a Maidstone I spotted on the way home just as it was closing and picked up one of their 200w Aqua LCD _Smart_ heaters which was about all they had in stock.

This heater has an LCD display which shows the temperature (and is quite annoying) and an external switch to set the temperature.  I came down the other day and noticed it was saying 29°C (heater was set to 26°C which was giving me a temperature of about 23.5°C to 25.5°C ) so I panicked but noticed that the tank temperature was actually ~22°C.   I ended up turning the heater up to 29°C which raises the tank to about 25°C.  The thermostat then decided to kick in again last night and the tank rose to about 28°C.   Turned the heater down and it is now about 23°C.

So I am on the lookout for heaters again (annoyingly Amazon don't do a great selection so I will be racing to LFS again...).  Any recommendations on heaters?

How long should I be there expecting a heater to last?

The only thing I did think is that I normally turn the filter off when feeding.  This is actually turning the four gang off which has filter, heater and powerhead attached.  I guess they aren't really designed for constant switching but I have would have thought once a day shouldn't cause any issues?


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## foxfish (21 Nov 2018)

This is a good question, mine have never lasted that long, three years maybe but many have failed long before that.


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## Conort2 (21 Nov 2018)

hot one of dennerle's plastic heaters at the moment, looks solid and well built compared to the usual glass alternatives. However only had it around a year so time will tell if it's actually any good. I never seem to have much luck with heaters.


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## ian_m (21 Nov 2018)

Sounds like you are unlucky. My Jewel 200W heater lasted over 10 years, before one day the temperature adjustment knob fell off as plastic shaft had degraded due to probably heat and light. Took it apart, as one does with broken things and was quite a good design, used a "standard bimetallic strip" to sense temperature but switched the heating element via a triac, thus no issues with sticking welded contacts.

Replaced with a TetraTec 200W about 3 years ago, works fine.

If you are really worried about things going wrong temperature wise, you can always use a temperature controller (about £20 odd from Ebay). You connect controller to the tank heater set tank heater to say 26'C. You set the temperature controller to say 28'C to turn off tank heater if over heat and 22'C to sound alarm in tank is under temperature.


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## Andrew Butler (21 Nov 2018)

I've not seen anyone use one in a planted tank before but I think the Schego Titanium heaters are great, just remember you need to use something like an STC-1000 to control it as they don't have a built in thermostat.
I'm sure someone will know if there is a reason they shouldn't be used and will speak up.

I've only used inline heaters on a planted tank to date and these have always worked for me, if you use 16/22mm filter hose then I have a couple of Hydor ETH 300 that have been used for less than 6 months I'm selling in the sales section; £30 each.


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## george29 (21 Nov 2018)

Always found Visitherms to be simple and reliable over the years, typically lasting at least 6+ years.

Would say using 2 x 100w makes more sense than one 200w, but have each heater on its own fuse/plug

As said use an external temp controller and set the heaters internal temp to 1 or 2 degrees above the target temp so if the controller failed On you have that extra protection.
The most likely cause of the controller to fail is water in the sensor, you can use an extra  length of heat shrink tubing folded over it.


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## rebel (21 Nov 2018)

Unpredictable. Given that we don't know the denominator for the failures and only hear biased accounts of either failures or brilliant success, it's difficult to know.


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## mort (21 Nov 2018)

Andrew Butler said:


> I've not seen anyone use one in a planted tank before but I think the Schego Titanium heaters are great, just remember you need to use something like an STC-1000 to control it as they don't have a built in thermostat.



The schego heaters are what I use for my marine tank simply because they are very reliable and there isn't much to go wrong. With the controller I only get a 0.3c swing in temperature before it kicks in.

In my planted I have eheim jager heater which again in very reliable once calibrated.

Imo and from working at a lfs heaters are one of the biggest points of failure we have and the more control you have over them the better you'll sleep at night. I've seen failures pretty much with any heater. The piece of advise I was given when I first started and one I think is still good was "heaters won't go on indefinitely, if it has a one year guarantee its because the manufacturer is only confident it will last that long before going wrong. So don't buy cheap, buy wisely".


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## leedsrhinojohn (21 Nov 2018)

I use a hydor inline on one tank, had it for about 6 years without issue, I use schego titanium on my marine tank in sump without issue, and use newa ecotherm 400w x2 in my discus tank, although still to early to tell about longevity the newa ecotherm hold temperature and are very accurate, they replaced  2 fluval e smart heaters which although very good I found the lights on the display annoying.


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## Andrew Butler (21 Nov 2018)

mort said:


> schego heaters are what I use for my marine tank





leedsrhinojohn said:


> I use schego titanium on my marine tank



What's if anything is stopping people using them in display aquarium? They aren't that unsightly and I think the stainless steel look is quite appealing myself.


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## leedsrhinojohn (21 Nov 2018)

Andrew Butler said:


> What's if anything is stopping people using them in display aquarium? They aren't that unsightly and I think the stainless steel look is quite appealing myself.


I have a black back ground and black substrate and the schego stands out rather than a heater in a black cage which blends in nicely.
In my opinion schego are the best heaters so for me its purely aesthetics.


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## sparkyweasel (21 Nov 2018)

I just buy the cheapest. No LCDs or extra circuitry to fail, and they are so cheap you don't worry about the cost of binning it after a year, well before it fails.
Using two is certainly a good idea if you can conceal them in your tank. So is keeping a spare to avoid having to rush out and buy something that isn't what you wanted.


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## mort (21 Nov 2018)

Andrew Butler said:


> What's if anything is stopping people using them in display aquarium? They aren't that unsightly and I think the stainless steel look is quite appealing myself.



For me it's simply because I already had the jager heaters which I know were good. When it's time to change I will be swapping to a schego because I already have the controller with the current setup.


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## jameson_uk (21 Nov 2018)

Wow the schego aren't cheap 

Thermostat on this Maidenhead heater (which I never rated) seems to work occasionally so if set high to actually heat the tank suddenly _really_ heats the tank.

Keep thinking I have two spare heaters and then remember they are only 50w.  Have tried to get 2x100w heaters twice now and ended up with a 200w heater that has failed.

Think I will see if LFS will do me a deal on  3 Juwel or Oase 100w.  I have a Seneye which is mainly used to check the temperature so I get alerts when high or low but might have a look at controllers as these seem cheap enough (but just another thing to go wrong???)


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## rebel (22 Nov 2018)

One of the ways of improving against failure is to use an independent temp controller. This is only convenient for a sump though.


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## jameson_uk (22 Nov 2018)

Any recommendations for temperature controllers?  I guess these are effectively just a sensor and some relays?  Look like you need to wire things up?


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## george29 (22 Nov 2018)

jameson_uk said:


> Any recommendations for temperature controllers?  I guess these are effectively just a sensor and some relays?  Look like you need to wire things up?



If you see the link in post  #2 for this thread is shows the popular STC -1000 thermostat, some come with twin outputs so you can run a cooler as well.
stc-1000https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/stc-1000-temperature-controller-question-help-please.48644/

As with all electrics use a qualified electrician if its not your thing or purchase one that just need simple plugging in like the popular one  below.


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## mort (22 Nov 2018)

jameson_uk said:


> Wow the schego aren't cheap



They have gone up massively in the last couple of years but are still popular especially in the marine world where tank contents can be thousands of pounds.


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## zozo (22 Nov 2018)

Andrew Butler said:


> I'm sure someone will know if there is a reason they shouldn't be used and will speak up.



Depends on how they are constructed internaly.. I once had a titanium heater that was rather dangerous and leaked full AC 220 volt into the tank without blowing the fuse.

I did take it out and it made a jingling sound whille shaking it.. Did cut it open to inspect it's construction. And as all other heaters it contained a heater coil. And this coil was led through a glass tube and this tube was broken.. The heater coil probably made contact with the titanium case leaking power and still giving enough resistance to not create an earth leak to blow the fuse.

That was my first and very last experience with titanium heaters. Dunno what happened and what made the internal glass insulation break.
Since i can only view 'm from the indestructible outside, my trusting days for titanium heaters are over. Some brands might construct them safely, bt my trying days are over. If they are not safely constructed, you'll risk electrocution, no way to check it other way.

Now i only use heaters constructed with a glass shell. If they break it's obvious..

Been using the EDEN heaters for the last 4 years, nothing special, simple glass heater, affordable and durable. They already come with a 2 year factory warrenty, but still all working. I also use an extra external thermostat with the heater itself set to 28°C and to control them more precise. The internal thermostat is to much influenced by invironmental factors such as room temp - volume etc. and rather unreliable in accuracy..


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## jameson_uk (23 Nov 2018)

Was certainly up for an electrical project but was looking at a pre-wired one on Amazon last night and I got a notification this morning that it was about 30% off so got one.

I did wonder if there is any issues repeatedly turning the heater on and off externally Vs letting it do the sensing and switching?


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## george29 (23 Nov 2018)

Hi,

Have used such controllers for over 25 years, think you would have heard about it by now if they were problematic.

Set your heater stat, if fitted, to 2 - 3 deg c  above your desired temp, so if you did have any problem with the temp controller the heaters stat will act as double protection.

The most likely problems are when you do tank maintenance and water changes,  you may forget the temp sensor is exposed so it will turn the heater on, which if also below its normal water level can cause a problem, so get into the habit of always switching it off first.

Also its easy to knock the sensor out of position without realising it, so once happy with its location, eg in a good flow location, secure it and / or the cable to a pipe or sucker with a cable tie.


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## Oldguy (26 Nov 2018)

ian_m said:


> switched the heating element via a triac


Hi Ian, do you know if all Jewel heaters have a triac power 'switch' or just a given range of their heaters.


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## ian_m (26 Nov 2018)

Oldguy said:


> Hi Ian, do you know if all Jewel heaters have a triac power 'switch' or just a given range of their heaters.


Sorry, don't know, as this was the only one I have taken apart. I would assume all heaters would be electronic nowadays in some form or another.


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## Millns84 (8 Dec 2018)

Sounds like you've been very unlucky. 

I use two 200w Eheim pre-set heaters in my Rio 450 as they're much smaller and thus more discreet in comparison with any other heater I've seen.

I've also got a cheap All Pond Solutions heater in my 60 litre cube which works perfectly.


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## oscarlloydjohn (8 Dec 2018)

I know that some reef keepers replace their heaters yearly just as a precaution. Alternatively, some keep two identical heaters and have one set a few degrees lower. If the main one breaks, the backup one kicks in when the temperature drops a bit.


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## jameson_uk (10 Dec 2018)

Bizarrely the Maidenhead thermostat started working again as I got the temperature controller.  I have worked this the other way around to suggestions so controller is set 1.5°C higher than I want tank to get so if heater does fail and starts getting too hot again this should cut the power.  

Father Christmas is hopefully bringing me 2x100w heaters to swap over


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