# stealth pro exploded?



## Pattysphish (Apr 9, 2010)

Hi everyone, Have any of you stealth pro users had serious problems with this heater? I purchased a new 250 watt stealth pro for the 125 that I am setting up and have found out there have been some issues with this heater. On another forum a user had his heater explode and blow the side out of his 75 gal tank. I have used marienland heaters for years without any problems other than old age. I thought this was a very well rated heater, now Im not so sure. I certainly do not want to keep this one if there are a lot of problems with them. Anyone use the stealth pro?


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## slackline (Mar 28, 2010)

I don't know about exploding but I have owned two and one was leaking electricity. I haven't found a good heater in 10 years. I think the longest one I have owned in that time is two years until failure. I don't understand why the quality has been so low.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

I can't say anything about the new pro series as I haven't tried them...

But I've been using Visi Therm Stealth heaters since they came out 7 or more years ago. I've had one or two or the 20 or so stop working but have never had one get stuck on or explode... I won't use anything else and recommend them to all my friends...


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## Pattysphish (Apr 9, 2010)

Thanks for the replies. I have a Visi Therm in my other tank and it is 6 years old, never a problem. I thought I had found enough good reviews on this new Stealth Pro until after I bought one! Just happened to find the review about the exploding heater today and thought I would check with some of you. I have never even had a heater stick on myself, this was something new to me. Maybe just a fluke. The photos looked awful.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Sometimes we here stories and accept them as true when we might be better to ask more questions. I think about the size and way a heater is built and then compare it to the glass on a 75 gallon tank. Can't say I can prove it but it kind of sounds like a VW bug trying to run through a diesel locomotive. All heaters can have problems but it just doesn't seem to be enough mass in the heater to do that much damage. I will admit there may be stories of it happening.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Sorry Patti. I was typing while you were posting. Any chance you could referr me to the post with the pictures? I might have to look it over before deciding what I think. :-?


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## Pattysphish (Apr 9, 2010)

PfunMo, The forum with post is http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/equip ... ter-3.html. It took me a bit to find it again. There are others as well that have exploded..I just googled Marineland Stealth Pro recall and found others have had this happen. I may rethink my new heater. Thank you[/url]


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

I own a visi therm in the 55gallon for about 5 years, no problems. I have a stealth pro in the 100gallon for almost 3 months, it's keeping the temperature stable. The only problem I have with it is it's 3-4 degrees lower then what I set it at. So if I set it at 80 I get 76-77.


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## Pattysphish (Apr 9, 2010)

LSBoost, I too have the older visi therm and never a problem. I thought I had done my homework on this new Pro so I went to buy a 200 watt heater. I found the 250 watt on sale for just a couple of dollars more so I bought the bigger heater. I decided to check on line and make sure this 250 watt was not too big for my tank and that is when I found these reviews and warnings. wow


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

Also remember that most people don't give their review when they're happy with the product. Like all heaters, there are bad and good ones. I would keep an eye on it for a few weeks to see it it keep the temperature where you want it. Temperature control is also another option. I don't use one so I can't tell you anything.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

After reading the post, I will flat state that I do not believe the story. I had assumed there must have been something like a heater left on in an empty tank at least. That is not the case as I read it. If the story is that the heater was in a filled tank it is nearly impossible to happen. One is that we have all had heaters stick and overheat to the point of killing fish. This poster states that his fish lived so the heater was not getting very hot in any way I can see. Second is even if the heater got hot enough to explode, there is the matter of physics underwater. Have you ever tried to throw something underwater? It is nearly impossible to move the water out of the way. Then there is the mass of the heater vs. the strength of the glass in a 75 gallon tank. I'm not sure I could throw a heater hard enough to totally break through the glass the way this is pictured. Doing it under water is even less apt to happen.

I would propose another possibility. It seems likely there are two things that might have happened. One the rocks may have tipped and broken the glass. I think we can all see that as possible. If one were not wanting to take the blame for this, they might jump to the conclusion that the heater did it. The second is even less agreeable to think but still quite possible. Perhaps the poster knows what happened and tried to get Marineland to replace the tank and now he is mad and badmouthing Marineland.

I see nothing that indicates the heater broke the tank..


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## Pattysphish (Apr 9, 2010)

Ok, you have somewhat eased my mind. I had my doubts as did others on that forum, but the heater sure looked like it exploded even if the tank was not broken in the explosion. I know what you are talking about in regards to throwing a rock under water, you can not really throw at all. I would also think you would notice issues with your heater before that could happen but maybe not. It was interesting to see that Marineland has offered to pay for the damages to the tank, stock and home...if you believe any of that. I do appreciate your opinions, thank you for looking into this. I had to laugh when you stated that you flat out didn't believe the story.


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## frank1rizzo (Mar 14, 2005)

2 things to add.

1. Been using 6 different visi-therm heaters for 8 years... no issues.

2. Lol at heater causing tank wall to bust :lol: :lol: :lol: . If you took the heater in your hand and beat it against the tank wall, you would still have a **** of a time to get a crack in the glass before the heater fell apart.


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## tranced (Jan 11, 2006)

i dont have an opinion on this either way...

but nobody said the heater banged against the side causing the glass to crack

they claim it exploded and the resulting explosion made it crack

explosions are alot stronger underwater, for the same reason you cant throw a ball underwater.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I agree with that but looking at the picures show it to be a single point blow rather than concussion. I would think the only way for that to happen would be if the heater was able to explode with such force that it then threw a rock, .etc. against the side hard enough to break the glass. Since the fish survived I think I would rule out any major concussion in the tank. I've seen electrical explosions but they take a whole lot more than a 15-20 amp circuit can provide. It gets even harder for me to believe when there are other much simpler explanations.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

frank1rizzo said:


> 1. Been using 6 different visi-therm heaters for 8 years... no issues.


The current criticisms are that the new Stealth "Pro" series is of a lower quality than the old Stealths... It has been pointed out the old ones were made in Italy and the new ones are made in China...



tranced said:


> they claim it exploded and the resulting explosion made it crack explosions are alot stronger underwater, for the same reason you cant throw a ball underwater.


In deep water or in a sealed container you are absolutely correct... but in a 21" deep tank the energy would release upward well before it built up enough to blow out the side of the tank...

I call BS on the guys claim... but I also acknowledge that the new Pro series Stealth heters are consistently getting a much worse review in comparison to the old Stealths...


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

The older visi therm aren't "stealth". It's just their regular heater but it get much better reviews.

I happen to have a picture of it (behind the gt)









Here's the stealth pro. Looks better, feels better but I guess not too many people have good experience with it.


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## Pattysphish (Apr 9, 2010)

Have any of you found any other issues with explosions using the Stealth Pro? There have been others that claim to have had this happen. I have found information provided in regards to lot numbers on some of these heaters. Seems a customer with another exploding heater called Marineland and was given this information. Lot # 01H31 was the number of this persons heater and in the conversations with Marineland, lot numbers with a G H or I are suspect. This person did not have his tank broken, just the tank top and some pvc. This person is an administrator on this other forum.http://www.kcfishclub.org/top-forum/13- ... html#28509

My new heater is lot # 01I31
Interesting


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## Pattysphish (Apr 9, 2010)

LSBoost, what is the lot # on your heater? It is printed in white. Are you using this and has it been working well for you? Seems these are not as accurate as the old heaters, visi therm. No explosion yet? lol


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## exasperatus2002 (Jul 5, 2003)

*** used the reg. visi therm heaters for years w.o issues. Now that I got back into the hobby, I went with the stealth and havent (knock on wood) had any issues yet in the past year its been running.


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

Yes I've been using the heater for about 3 months. The dial is off by 3-4 degrees so if I set it at 80 it will hold it steady at 76-77. Don't know the lot number because I threw away the box.


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## Pattysphish (Apr 9, 2010)

Lot # is printed on the heater in white. I am happy to hear you are not having any real problems.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I think a call to Marineland would be a good thing to check on this story. While it may not be politically correct to say this, Forums are not the most accurate way to gather the straight story.


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

k just checked it, the number in white is 01k31


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## Pattysphish (Apr 9, 2010)

K was not mentioned in the list as "suspect" so I would be relieved if it were me. However my heater # was 01I31 and that is a "suspect" letter. Being the chicken that I am, I returned the heater and bought a Rena Smart. I have never had a problem with a Marineland heaters in the past, but I do not want that type of problem ever.


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

That's good, thanks for checking for me. :thumb:


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## Pattysphish (Apr 9, 2010)

You are certainly welcome. I hope yours continues to work properly for you.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

LSBoost said:


> The older visi therm aren't "stealth". It's just their regular heater but it get much better reviews.


It's mildly relivent to this conversation... but for people following along... the above quopte isn't accurate...

Visi Term does or at least did make a regular glass heater... such as the one in the background of the pic LSBoost showed...

Visi Therm started makeing "Stealth" heaters about 7~8 years ago. These are the black plastic heaters with no indicator light. They have been very popular for years and I own over a dozen of them. Very impressed...

It's this new "Pro" series with the indicator light that are having issues... I've do not own one and am learning about them by following along with the experiences shared by others...


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## Pali (Dec 22, 2009)

Thouse pictures from the other thread are pure horror, that got to be a pita sitting in your liveing room and boom the heater blow out one side of the tank.

For the people who question if it could happen, go see the morrons on youtube who put tiny fire crackers into there tanks and blow out the side. (To there own big surprice) im shure they only wanted to harm the fish and not clean up a huge mess. It's a little punishment, but im shure karma will get em at some point.

From reading the other thread I thourt it was cool and nice to read that marineland, too care of it and payed up to cover the damage. Nice to know there still are thouse kinda companys and people around! :thumb:


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## rarefaction (Aug 6, 2009)

Pali said:


> For the people who question if it could happen, go see the morrons on youtube who put tiny fire crackers into there tanks and blow out the side.


Very angry...


pali said:


> im shure karma will get em at some point.


They better hope karma goes easier on them than I would. :x


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

Pali said:


> For the people who question if it could happen, go see the morrons on youtube who put tiny fire crackers into there tanks and blow out the side. (To there own big surprice) im shure they only wanted to harm the fish and not clean up a huge mess.


I only found one such video on you tube... and it was a 10 gal tank...

The side wall of a 75 gal is around 4 times as thick. I still have stong doubts...


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I have just spent the week disposing of a number of windows I had changed out. This meant breaking a number of large pieces of single strength window glass. At this point I not only do not believe this story of a heater breaking a 75. I have some trouble thinking I could break it with a hammer. Putting glass down in my large trash cart and banging it with a hammer taught me glass is pretty tough stuff. Hitting single strength window glass with a hammer is a whole lot easier than breaking tank glass with a heater under water and it is still tough. I see NO WAY.


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## tokyo (Jan 19, 2010)

I believe 100% that this could happen if for some reason their was an explosion in the tank. Maybe not if it was in the middle of the tank, but right up against the glass I don't think its too unreasonable. I'm not pretending to be a physicist or anything, but think about it. If there is an explosion right next to the glass there isn't many places for it to go. When you consider that for it to move away from the glass it would have to move 75 gallons of water. I'm pretty sure it would be easier to break the glass, and only so much of the force can go up.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, its been known to happen. :lol:

What I find curious about the story is why a heater would explode while fully submerged. It would have to heat up so fast that the heat transfer between the water and the heater wouldn't be able to keep up. Which as far as I know isn't possible with aquarium heaters. Although, maybe some sort of power surge did it?

Also, I've had heaters explode on me before during water changes and it was never so impressive that I would be worried about it breaking glass.

But you never know, stranger things have happened


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I will grant that there could be an explosion under the correct conditions. Condition one is that Marineland put a small bit of plastic explosive like C4 in place of the normal ceramic core. With that condition I will believe the glass was broken by the heater. :lol:

Could happen... :wink:

How did the fish survive the explosion? He sensed it and left the room before the "accident" . opcorn:

Cichlids are extremely smart and learn quickly.


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## tokyo (Jan 19, 2010)

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Yeah, the story is quite fishy :fish: .

I'm just saying that if there was somehow an explotion in the tank right up next to the glass, I'm sure it could do that kind of damage.

Maybe the guy just doesn't want to admit what actually happened. He was practicing his golf swing in the house again.... FORE


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I agree the hardest thing to believe is " I did what?" Denile ain't just a river.


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## ytsabba (Jul 31, 2008)

Hi
I was reading this thread and doing some internet search and it seams all the exploding heaters were >200wats.
Is there any information about 50-100w stealth pro heaters.
About a month ago I replaced two 50W and one 75W 3 years old stealth heaters with the new pro.
Yesterday after reading this post and other across the net I took them out and replaced them with the old heaters. The serial# on all of them is 01H31.
Was I to hysterical to do so?

Itzik


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## Pali (Dec 22, 2009)

Toby_H said:


> Pali said:
> 
> 
> > I only found one such video on you tube... and it was a 10 gal tank...
> ...


K

I have found a few different once, but yeah it's small tanks.

Shure the glass is thicker, but a heater is also bigger and made from more robust material then a paper fire cracker. I would belive the expantion from a carbon fibre tube explodeing would be atleat 4x the force of a paper fire cracker.

Take a look for yourself if you have'nt see the thread, also interresting reading IMO

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/equip ... eater.html

Besides I don't think the guy would make this up, if he did he went to ekstreme lengths to fake this.


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

> but a heater is also bigger and made from more robust material then a paper fire cracker. I would belive the expantion from a carbon fibre tube explodeing would be atleat 4x the force of a paper fire cracker.


Where'd you get the 4x number?

I don't know whether this whole thing is fact or hoax, but when you make claims like this, better be prepared to back it up.

A paper fire cracker is filled with explosives, black powder maybe? It doesn't matter what it is cased in, but there are ways to determine how much energy it can release based on how much explosives are present, and how quickly that energy is released based on the type of the explosives. Those 2 factors are what matters when determining how powerful an explosion is.

Now a heater - How do you determine how much energy it releases and how quickly to come up with the 4x more force number? Firstly, you have to determine how much energy a heater can store, and that is probably related to the pressure that can build up inside the heater. How quickly it is realeased depends on how the casing fails, whether the pressure is released all at once or is vented off slowly. Might be an easier task to determine how much pressure needs to be released to equal the force of a fire cracker stong enough to replicate the damage (determined experimentally?), and then determine if it seems reasonable that a heater could hold that much pressure long enough to explode.

But, I suppose if you have a pressure vessel (the heater), and then a fault (such as the heating coils melting through the sides), the pressure could be released explosively. But you can't just throw out a "4x more powerful than a fire cracker" number without at least a little bit of scientific backing.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

I think there is ample evidence to conclude that the new version of Stealth heaters are of a much lower quality than the old versions of stealth heaters...

But I don't think there is enough evidence supported by science to suggest that they are of risk of explosion...



but yea, it was an interesting read... I think the guy just has it out for Marineland/Stealth...


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

To escape from a sinking car, a sharp metal object pressed against the car window will cause it to shatter. They sell such devices for this purpose. You don't have to whack it or bang it. You just press it against the glass and push.... the window shatters.

Unlike a sinking car episode, in a fish tank, the increased pressure is on the inside of the glass, not the outside, but the resulting physical forces should be similar. So I don't find the PlantedTank post to be infeasible.

I have heard of several reports of Stealths exploding, although it has been the top that has blown off the ones I've read about. As far as I am aware, this has been with the "Stealths" (with the white temperature control knob), not the Visi-Therm Stealth (with the red temperature control knob).

Regardless, my lesson from it is that I don't fully submerge even my fully submergable heaters. I keep the temp control knob above water level.


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## txfront (Sep 27, 2007)

For those of you who doubt this story...Dont. Today I had my 3 month old stealth pro explode in my sump with enough force to burst a couple of seams and cause multiple cracks. It was a 30-40 gallon factory built sump, and the heater went through it like butter.


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

To say "that sucks" would be to under value the level of "suck". Wow.

Was it one one of the stealths with a white temp knob or a red one?


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## txfront (Sep 27, 2007)

It was one of the ones with the clear back-lit knob. It does fall under the affected lot number. I also have two other ones that fall under the same lot number as well.


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## jrf (Nov 10, 2009)

I assume this is a "side effect" of pressure builing up from overheating?


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## txfront (Sep 27, 2007)

cant say for sure, but all i know is that the tank was not hot when it popped. I had 550 watts running in a 180 gallon tank, and they only had to raise the temp 5 degrees from ambient temperature. Im lucky i had sponge filters seasoned and ready to go or i would have been seriously screwed.


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## slimbolen99 (Apr 28, 2006)

PfunMo said:


> After reading the post, I will flat state that I do not believe the story. I had assumed there must have been something like a heater left on in an empty tank at least. That is not the case as I read it. If the story is that the heater was in a filled tank it is nearly impossible to happen. One is that we have all had heaters stick and overheat to the point of killing fish. This poster states that his fish lived so the heater was not getting very hot in any way I can see. Second is even if the heater got hot enough to explode, there is the matter of physics underwater. Have you ever tried to throw something underwater? It is nearly impossible to move the water out of the way. Then there is the mass of the heater vs. the strength of the glass in a 75 gallon tank. I'm not sure I could throw a heater hard enough to totally break through the glass the way this is pictured. Doing it under water is even less apt to happen.
> 
> I would propose another possibility. It seems likely there are two things that might have happened. One the rocks may have tipped and broken the glass. I think we can all see that as possible. If one were not wanting to take the blame for this, they might jump to the conclusion that the heater did it. The second is even less agreeable to think but still quite possible. Perhaps the poster knows what happened and tried to get Marineland to replace the tank and now he is mad and badmouthing Marineland.
> 
> I see nothing that indicates the heater broke the tank..


Check this thread out: http://www.midwestcichlid.com/showthrea ... r-disaster.

This is a post from a very reputable local breeder. His tanks are bare for the most part.

Also, check out this thread: http://www.kcfishclub.org/top-forum/13- ... html#28225

Also from a very reputable local breeder. It's for real.


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## exasperatus2002 (Jul 5, 2003)

I recently had an accident with mine. I was doing a large water change and dropped the water level below the heater. It did start to get bubbles in the casing so I dipped it into the tank to cool it down. They didnt rupture and its still running with no voltage leakage.


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

There are far too many reports of exploding Stealths for these reports to be discarded.

It's the newer stealths that are having the problem. If you have one of the old ones (the ones without an on-off indicator and red temp control knob), hang onto it. They are great heaters. Marineland really pooched the cooch with these new ones. It's further example of the decline of a great company after it was sucked up by the United Pet Group and rolled into a Corporate conglomerate. The line between Tetra and Marineland is being blurred by the month.


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## cjbtech (Dec 5, 2008)

This is not a joke. I know this guy personaly. This tank was holding some very nice fish & he lost quite a few. I have been to his house numerous times & almost all of his tanks are bare bottom & very well taken care of. I know for a fact this was a bare bottom tank.
I am in the process of replaceing all of my stealths because of this episode. This is not the first person I have heard of having this happen. This is the first that is a friend of mine.


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## cjbtech (Dec 5, 2008)

Should have read through the whole thread first. I don't see why so many on here are so quick to discount the possibility of this happening. I understand that you can't believe everything on a forum The idea you can't move water, or the "physics" behind it is a little silly. Ever hear of depth charges? Ever throw a fire cracker with a water proof fuse in a pond? Once you get the water to move in a concussive (spelling) blast look out! Believe what you want about the possibility of this happening. For those of you that don't believe it can happen pm me with your address I'll sell you 3 stealths REAL cheap.


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## vealboy (Jul 27, 2009)

Ugh...just installed a 200W Stealth Pro in my 55gal. I will have to check the lot numbers, I guess there are specific lots that are suspect.


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## Jonesboy75 (May 11, 2007)

Congratulations Marineland, you just lost a customer.


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## cjbtech (Dec 5, 2008)

Not to burst your bubble,but he had checked lot numbers, these were not on the effected list. This is also the reason I will quit buying them. I had checked mine too, but this is giving me to much of a freak out factor & I'm to atached to my fish to gamble over a $40 heater. I also know there are none that are fool proof. This just has happened to many times.


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

Jonesboy75 said:


> Congratulations Marineland, you just lost a customer.


I can understand the sentiment, but I'm not going to give up on one of the better companies our hobby has known.... not yet anyway. Even though the evidence is pretty clear there has been a decline since the merger with Tetra and the shifting of manufacturing of many of their products to China. However, the Marineland Penguin and Emperor HOBs are still made in the U.S..

Heaters are a problem in the industry right now, primarily because they are now (almost) all made in China and the precision (and material) required to make a safe heater is apparently beyond them. But the issue is not unique to Marineland. Jager heaters have hit a snag, as has Hydor, and any other manufacturer you can think of.

Fluval M Heaters are made in Italy. I am giving them a try, especially since I've historically had fantastic luck with Fluval heaters.


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## John27 (Jun 6, 2010)

kmuda said:


> Jonesboy75 said:
> 
> 
> > Congratulations Marineland, you just lost a customer.
> ...


Weber grills went to China last year, I assemble them at work. I used to kind of "skip" a step by assembling the frame and then setting the grill body on the frame, it allowed me to shave some time (along with a few other things but I won't get into detail). Anyway, I did this with one of the new Chinese ones, yeah that was fun showing my boss the mangled up mess that resulted. It collapsed under it's own weight, the material was THAT much weaker, and they are CONSTANTLY being returned now with stuck regulators, leaking hoses, bending/bowing frames. But you know what HASN'T changed? The price, no drop in price (oh it keeps going up though), and no, it's not the store, our price to buy it is climbing every season. Pocketing the profits because, simply, they have no competition. It's as good as it gets, so why make it great? I think if just ONE company would come out with an affordable, well made heater that was marketed at the average aquarist, then the others would have to follow!

-John


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## snoskiur (Nov 10, 2010)

I had one of the old Stealth 250W heaters with the red knob. I noticed the other day that there were small bubbles coming off it it like you would see in a carbonated drink. I pulled it out and found that there were two bulges on the side where the bubbles came from. It's obvious that it was melting. I noticed during past water changes that the unit doesn't shut off like it should when it's removed from water. So, I called Marineland and told them about it. They said that the lot number I had was not one of the models known to have the exploding issues, but they immediately offered to replace it with a 300W Stealth Pro that has no known issues. The did this without question and without requiring a receipt or anything. They even upgraded my 250W to 300W for me.

Thanks to Marineland for doing the right thing!


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## lickteeth (Nov 9, 2010)

Stealth 250W heaters are suitable but it does not lasting more. I had stealth which was very old, this are giving good service still now. But newest one can not continue. I think the metals have a problem


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## cichlid_baby (Jan 28, 2003)

More pictures of the Stealth Bombers...

http://www.minnfish.com/forum/viewtopic ... er=asc&sta

So yeah... it can and does happen.....


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## chem (May 24, 2007)

I just purchased one two weeks ago and this morning it exploded in my tank, or really just blew the top of the heater apart and split down the lenth...only killed one fish and filled my house with an electical fire smell that woke my wife. She ran downstairs expecting to find the house on fire and quickly spotted the problem and unplugged the heater.

Really why are these things still on the market. Guess I should google products before I buy them.


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## snoskiur (Nov 10, 2010)

Which model did you have?


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## cichlid_baby (Jan 28, 2003)

I wonder if these things are even UL listed?

The only thing that will fix this situation with these Stealth heaters is when someone slaps a lawsuit on Marineland.

Imagine the negligence involved with leaving all these potentially deadly units out in the market place especially now since they have been made well aware of the defects.

Just thing for sec..... an open electrical circuit submerged in water... an unsuspecting victim reaches into tank and gets a deadly surprise...... can't believe Marineland would leave themselves open to this unecessary risk.


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## chem (May 24, 2007)

It was a Stealth Pro 250...after reading other reports or talking to the owner of a fish store, not the place the sells them, I actually feel lucky. However what would have happened if my wife was not home. It really scared her waking to that sort of smell in your home. Guess I a pretty PO'ed that this is common.

Just starting to get my 95 gal tank in shape and now this...drained 1/2 the water and changed one filter, carbon, etc...as the water kind of smells like an electrical fire.


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## snoskiur (Nov 10, 2010)

I had several replaced by Marineland. They're customer service was awesome. I was told that only certain lot numbers were defective...


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## chem (May 24, 2007)

Guess I will see on the customer service side of things. Certainly don't want a replacement with a Marineland product.


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## snoskiur (Nov 10, 2010)

Put it this way, I had three that went bad. They replaced them, somehow, four times. I ended up with 9 heaters for free and they didnt' want them back.


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## chem (May 24, 2007)

How did yours go bad? Blowing the top off and filling house with fumes has me a bit scared...sure you know what I mean. Fish versus wife, baby, and home. Will see and I will let you know how it goes.


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## snoskiur (Nov 10, 2010)

Yeah, i had a few that split down the side, had bulges and just plain stopped working. I have two 300W Pros that have had no problems since they replaced them... We'll see.


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## rarefaction (Aug 6, 2009)

cichlid_baby said:


> Just thing for sec..... an open electrical circuit submerged in water... an unsuspecting victim reaches into tank and gets a deadly surprise...... can't believe Marineland would leave themselves open to this unecessary risk.


And that's why it is the fish keepers responsibility to protect themselves and others with a GFCI. Concidering how much money we spend on this hobby even a simple plug in style GFI is a no brainer, especially with children around!!!


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## newforestrob (Feb 1, 2010)

rarefaction ,what is GFI,is this a certain type of power bar,sorry if this is a dumb question,  electrical honestly scares me,probably because I don't know alot about it


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> what is GFI


GFCI Outlet


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## newforestrob (Feb 1, 2010)

thank you,so are there ground fault circuit interrupter power bars that can be plugged into a normal outlet?or changing the outlet itself?


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## chem (May 24, 2007)

yes I too just use a power strip with circuit, is that the wrong way to go. Is it better to replace outlet?


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## dotbomb (Jan 5, 2011)

I just got the recall notice from Marineland (via a chain retailer). I'll be returning my heaters pronto!


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## snoskiur (Nov 10, 2010)

Which models, specifically, were recalled?


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## dotbomb (Jan 5, 2011)

All 100 watt, 200 watt, and 250 watt stealth pros.

My LFS hadn't heard of the recall yet when I called this morning. I'd rather deal with him than the big chain but I guess I don't have much choice. I don't want these bombs sitting in my tanks.


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## dotbomb (Jan 5, 2011)

By the way I find it convenient that they issued the recall when they closed their offices for the weekend. Ugh.


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## snoskiur (Nov 10, 2010)

Well, I guess I should be good with my two 300 watts then...


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## dotbomb (Jan 5, 2011)

I doubt it. Give them a call on Monday.

From my email:



> If you have questions about this withdrawal, please call Marineland Customer Service at 800-526-0650 or 800-432-6986.


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## larry.beck (Jul 31, 2009)

This "recall" isn't posted on Petco's site (although all of their previous manufacturer's recalls were) and not on Marineland's site. The number listed above is not the number listed for customer support on Marineland's site either. And finally, I was on the phone with Marineland about replacing two 250w devices just Thursday and they didn't mention anything at that time.

Just saying... :?


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## cichlid_baby (Jan 28, 2003)

Here is the recall letter...

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... p?t=224662

http://www.minnfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25107

Finally..... I am sure the Marineland reps have run across many of the threads like the ones we've been posting about these Stealth heaters that have been blowing up or splitting sides and electocuting our fishes...

Like I said... risk of a lawsuit is all it takes.....


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## rarefaction (Aug 6, 2009)

chem said:


> yes I too just use a power strip with circuit, is that the wrong way to go. Is it better to replace outlet?


As long as the existing outlet is properly grounded it shouldn't make a difference if it is plug in or wall receptacle style. You don't need an electrician to use the plug ins either, if you don't know how to change an outlet yourself. Here's a link to show examples of plug in GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter)
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=17878

Remember these things do fail over time just like anything else, so be sure to test them regularly.


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