# Life expectancy of a heater?



## playthecello (May 14, 2009)

Yesterday I had to buy my third heater in about a year and a half, because once again the thermostat broke and the tank temp shot up around 86 (despite turning the dial as low as it goes). The first heater was an All-Glass 150w that came with the tank, back in April 2008. The second was a Marineland Stealth that I bought sometime around April/May 2009, after the All-Glass stopped shutting off. This time I bought the cheapest one the LFS had (a Hagen Elite) because apparently it's just going to break anyway.

How long have you had the heater that's currently in your tank? Am I crazy to think that a heater should live longer than 8-12 months? Can you un-stick a stuck thermostat in such a way that you won't get electrocuted when it goes back in the tank?


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## jmowbray (Dec 7, 2009)

I have a Marineland Visi-Therm Deluxe 100W 8 3/4" Heater for my 25 gallon. I have personally had the heater for two years. But, I received it from my uncle that used it about 3 years. So all together it's been five years and it's still chugging along.


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

After experiencing failures on various brands (they all failed to turn off automatically), several years ago I concluded that the temperature control mechanism was just too unreliable. So, I went for the Tetra fixed temperature heater:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=16756

Gradually I ended up replacing all but one of the adjustable heaters with Tetra. And everyone of the Tetra heaters worked reliably. The only adjustable heater left is the one in the hospital tank which has just plants for most of the time.


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## aquatic_clay (Aug 17, 2009)

I use 2 heaters in my tank they're both from marine land and about a year old and still running. They're both rated for half of my tanks volume that way if the thermostat in one of them stops workng it won't bake my tank too fast and hopefully I can catch the problem before it's too late.


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## Cliff Mayes (Jan 29, 2007)

3,4,5 Years at least. Some I bought at auction, used so I do not know. I buy expensive heaters and have not had a problem since I will not use HOB heaters.

Stealth,Hyador and Ebos are what I have been using, for at least 3 years.


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## F1_Cobra (Nov 8, 2009)

I was just wondering about my heaters the other day....life expectency wise.....all of mine are old....One is probably close to 25 yrs old although it spent about 15 yrs of that in a box in the attic, it worked fine and is in use now....but the fact is all my heaters are quite old.

I read another thread about someone getting shocked while working in their tank and their heater glass broke.....that got me to thinking about upgrading my heaters, but when I read about new heaters crapping out ofter a few months it makes me want to just keep using my old antique stuff....lol

I have decided to upgrade my aquarium wall sockets to the ones with the built in breakers, and not rely on a cheapo power strip breaker to keep me safe.....i've got a bad heart and the last thing I want is to get fried while i'm workin in my tank.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

8 years and running with my 250watt EboJager in my 75 tank. Holds to within 1/2 a deg F


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## Cliff Mayes (Jan 29, 2007)

Good for you F1! It is absolutely impossible to be too safe about electricity! When you hear an absolute from me, pay attention! You cannot see, smell, hear or otherwise know there is stray juice in a tank and it does not take much electricity to stop your heart. It is best to be safe!


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## mikaila31 (Feb 24, 2006)

Why don't you run the tank on a GFI if you are worried about stray electricity? I run all my tanks on GFI's. You can replace the wall outlet, buy a plug in GFI outlet, or get GFI protected powerstrips. The outlets I use are $10-20 each, basically the same ones as bathroom outlets. Installing them is quite easy. They will protect you and your tank from any electrical leaks. I won't run a tank without one. I've had tanks flood onto their powerstrips and the only thing that saved me from a painful shock when I ran over there was the GFI.

As far as heaters, I've only had one die on me. I think it was a Hydor Theo was mabey 2 years old. Oddly the GFI cut power to the tank roughly a week before the heater malfunctioned and took the tank to almost 90*. I'm not sure why the GFI cut the power, if it really was the heater or not that caused it. I've never had it trip randomly like that though. As the time I though it was random, but I now feel it had something to do with the heater.

All my other heaters, both expensive submersibles and HOB heaters have fine. I'm not sure how much longer the one in my 20gal will last. It's a submersible and has a lot of condensation in it. Its pretty scary to look at. Its been like this for over a year. 

You could get one of those digital thermometers with temp alarms. They beep when temp gets too high or too low. Most are preset though.


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## F1_Cobra (Nov 8, 2009)

Yeah....GFI outlets...thats the ones I was talkin about....I think i'll add one to all my aquariums and while i'm at it, i'm gonna go ahead and install them in the bathroom.....I've been noticing lately the daughter leaves her straightning/curling iron plugged in, and leaves it right next to the sink......I forsee an accident waiting to happen so GFI's in both bathrooms too...lol.


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## mikaila31 (Feb 24, 2006)

You must have a older house if you don't have them in the bathroom. I think they started requiring them in bathrooms 20-30 years ago. Any newer house will have them in the kitchen too.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

any place that has running water is supposed to have a GFI circuit - kitchen, bathrooms, fishtank. even the laundry room.


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## Cliff Mayes (Jan 29, 2007)

GFIs or GFCIs are important, if properly installed, and indeed are required but they do not protect from everything so be careful; you only die once. Learn to turn things off when fooling with a tank for any reason.

Sorry if I am redundant or too verbose but this stuff is important and needs to be understood by all.


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## F1_Cobra (Nov 8, 2009)

Yeah, our home is an old Queen Anne style structure that was built in the early 20's the best we can tell......We think the wiring was updated in the 70's to a modern breaker panel and copper wiring but we don't have any GFI's in the house. That will change.

Technicly Cliff is right when he said you only die once....however, due to my heart problems, i'm in the unique position to say i've died three times already, and I can assure you i'm not lookin to do anything to cause a 4th....lol....I like my aquariums....my fish and my plants, but i'm not willing to die for them.


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## Cliff Mayes (Jan 29, 2007)

Electrical codes change a lot more frequently than that. Anything that was done in the 70s is ancient and needs to be looked at and probably updated, read expensive.

I too am ancient but electrical stuff could care less how old you are. I remember in the 70s a salesman giving a talk about GFIs, which were new to most of us at that point. But now they are old fashioned things that most folk are familiar with. I also remember a salesman that had a brand new house burn down that was fully protected by GFIs so never assume and never trust any mechanical device completly.


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## fishstein (Dec 12, 2005)

*Moderators should post sticky on importance of GFCIs and shutting power down*

I posted about this issue a long while back and suggested that a sticky be put up about the importance of using GFCIs properly and of shutting off power when working on the tank, so glad to see these comments.

Moderator, do you think you can put together a sticky on GFCIs and shutting power down before working on tanks?


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## jestep (Nov 14, 2009)

I got the crap shocked out of me from my heater last month. It was a plastic "unbreakable" heater with a safety shutoff. Funny thing is that I think the heater was grounded to the water for several months before I found out. Got a new lighting fixture, which was metal with a ground plug. Cleaned the tank, shoulder touched the fixture, and bamm...

Get a voltage meter, and test the water ever month or so. Best idea would be before any water change. Stick one end in the round ground plug on an outlet and the other in the water. If you see any voltage more than 10v or so, you have something shorting into the tank.

It takes 100mA (.1A) to kill a person. A hard ground into an aquarium can kill a person 50 times over if it goes through their heart. It can also cause internal burns and necrosis, and is extremely painful at the very least.


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## fishstein (Dec 12, 2005)

*why not use a GFCI and a stray voltage removal probe*

Why not use both a 1) GFCI and 2) a stray voltage removal probe which attaches grounds to the screw on an outlet cover as a safety against this, and for the health of your fish?


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## fishstein (Dec 12, 2005)

jestep, which brand/type/range of voltage meter do you recommend?


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## jestep (Nov 14, 2009)

fishstein said:


> jestep, which brand/type/range of voltage meter do you recommend?


If you have any reason to buy a multimeter (Test for voltage, resistance, current, continuity, etc...), Fluke (http://www.fluke.com/) makes some very good ones. They are very expensive though. Home depot offers a really nice Ryobi Tek4 multimeter for under $100.

Otherwise, if you just want to test for a grounded component, any cheap voltage meter should work as long as it's rated for higher than the voltage in your house. Test the meter directly on an outlet, to make sure it is working (Should read 110 - 120V for US). Then test the water to the ground. Finally you should test the meter again directly on the outlet after any measurement, just to re-verify that the meter is working.

Best way to test to ground is to use the round hole (Earth ground) on a standard 3 prong wall outlet. It's important to make sure the ground plug is actually grounded by testing both other holes in the outlet to ground. One should read nothing, the other should read 110. If they both read 0, the ground is not correctly wired. Find a different outlet to test with.


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