# how long do heaters last?



## ozzkoz (Jul 3, 2007)

How many years should I expect out of my heater? I recently had a bunch of fish die and I think it might be a faulty heater. To test my heater I turned it up as high as it would go (without fish in the tank of course) and it isn't heating the tank higher than room temp.

I've ad my vistherm 250W for about 4 years now.


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## Alleycat (Dec 2, 2006)

I have a few visitherms that are 5-7 yrs old and still work like a champ. But, then I have a few that haven't lasted 2 yrs and a couple that have been returned as they lasted a month.
Sounds to me like you're in need of a new one.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Lots of things change how long a heater lasts. Some of them are just mechanical breakdowns but some are things that do we to ourselves. If a heater is not meant to be submersed and it gets dunked, it will fail sooner. Heaters that get exposed to air during water changes will fail sooner. Of course there's always the ones we break. What it boils down to is that there is no standard on how long they last but it does help if we treat them right. Sounds like your heater has failed. Quite likely the small wire heat coil has gone open. Normally turning them to the max is not a good practice as it tends to bend the contact spring which then may cause it to fail.


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## ozzkoz (Jul 3, 2007)

Thanks, I'll pick up a new one, they aren't tremendously pricey. I only turned it to max as an experiment to see if it was working.


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## PauloSilva (Apr 17, 2006)

Consider this. Instead of buying 1 heater with adequate wattage to heat your tank, why not buy 2 somewhat underpowered heaters that could work together. This has a few advantages. If one ever broke than atleast you still have one, albeit under powered but it can do the job. Another is if a heater gets stuck on max heat settings it will be unlikely to fry your fish.
This would work well in a sump setup where you can't see the heaters but could be done in tank aswell.


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

I have a couple of heaters from the 60s I still use on and off. The advice to have 2 heaters is good.


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## snorkel2 (Sep 30, 2005)

heaters are some of the most problem prone aquarium hardware. I would get a eheim Jager as they seem to get the best reviews.

I have one on order as well as a Stealth Pro, which I discovered after I ordered it (based on the old stealth) that they can explode, maybe they have fixed it by now, but I am not taking chances and ordered one of the newer Jager TS models.

Aqueon has a newer pro model that appears to be a updated version of the old Stealths with the aluminum core. Apparently the new stealth pros have a epoxy core that is not that good as the epoxy can have voids (air pockets) that can explode.


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## snorkel2 (Sep 30, 2005)

Oh, all the marine land heaters are now made in china.
The Jagers are made in germany and the Aqueons are still made in Italy.

I would take German and Italian over Chinese any day. Most chinese made products are really bad.


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## cgmark (Aug 18, 2010)

Almost all the heaters I have seen are mechanical bimetallic strip type heaters which really isn't a good design for controlling a heating element. Bimetallic strips are used in millions of homes for thermostats on ac and heat and water heaters but they are not used to switch the actual elements on and off like in aquarium heaters. Instead they use low voltage across the thermostat and that switches a relay with much stronger contacts to control the on/off. The larger the heater the more current across the contacts and those bimetallic strips are not going to hold up long to repeated open and closing like that before they start to change the temps they respond to.

I am a retired electronics tech and have been looking at all the various designs for heaters and controls and think I have come up with a very low cost heater controller. One where you would just plug in any heater into the box, set the heater to its highest setting , a probe drops in the water and the box controls the heating cycles. It is microprocessor controlled so it prevents a situation where the heater is stuck in the on position or the tank is too hot and can even detect if a heater fails to turn on.

I'm just trying to decide if I want to leave it at a temp controller or if I want to add more features to it like light control, feeding, etc. My income is really low so I try to DIY as much of this stuff as I can and right now just the temp controlling part could be built by someone with some basic tools for about $25 . The great thing about it being microprocessor controlled is the processor I used is using about 1% of what it can do so adding more features wouldn't really make it cost more except for connectors to it and a few support parts.


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## snorkel2 (Sep 30, 2005)

cgmark said:


> Almost all the heaters I have seen are mechanical bimetallic strip type heaters which really isn't a good design for controlling a heating element. Bimetallic strips are used in millions of homes for thermostats on ac and heat and water heaters but they are not used to switch the actual elements on and off like in aquarium heaters. Instead they use low voltage across the thermostat and that switches a relay with much stronger contacts to control the on/off. The larger the heater the more current across the contacts and those bimetallic strips are not going to hold up long to repeated open and closing like that before they start to change the temps they respond to.
> 
> I am a retired electronics tech and have been looking at all the various designs for heaters and controls and think I have come up with a very low cost heater controller. One where you would just plug in any heater into the box, set the heater to its highest setting , a probe drops in the water and the box controls the heating cycles. It is microprocessor controlled so it prevents a situation where the heater is stuck in the on position or the tank is too hot and can even detect if a heater fails to turn on.
> 
> I'm just trying to decide if I want to leave it at a temp controller or if I want to add more features to it like light control, feeding, etc. My income is really low so I try to DIY as much of this stuff as I can and right now just the temp controlling part could be built by someone with some basic tools for about $25 . The great thing about it being microprocessor controlled is the processor I used is using about 1% of what it can do so adding more features wouldn't really make it cost more except for connectors to it and a few support parts.


Man, you would make a lot of people happy if you published how to build this. Heck I would pay a few bucks for some well written plans with a parts list.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Before looking too long for the solution, you may be reinventing the wheel to some extent. I've not torn it down as it has not failed but I'm liking a heater I've found that moves the temperature control out of the heating tube and also gives a remote sensing probe. I'm thinking it may be what you are looking to invent to some extent. Pet Solutions has a 100W titanium heater with outside the tank controls and a separate temp sensing probe for $34.99 on page 46 of their current catalog. With that pricing you may not find much wiggle room for DIY at $25. Hard to beat the pros at their full time job.


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## snorkel2 (Sep 30, 2005)

PfunMo said:


> Before looking too long for the solution, you may be reinventing the wheel to some extent. I've not torn it down as it has not failed but I'm liking a heater I've found that moves the temperature control out of the heating tube and also gives a remote sensing probe. I'm thinking it may be what you are looking to invent to some extent. Pet Solutions has a 100W titanium heater with outside the tank controls and a separate temp sensing probe for $34.99 on page 46 of their current catalog. With that pricing you may not find much wiggle room for DIY at $25. Hard to beat the pros at their full time job.


If I had plans and a part list I would much rather build my own than buy one of the off the shelf ones, then i know what is inside of it and it would make it easier to fix.

I have gone through two controllers from various companies and they are just as junky as the standard heaters, and the titanium heaters are hit and miss as well. The one I have now has worked ok but has corroded quite a bit. I think a high quality stainless tube would be better than titanium for a heater.


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## Andras (Jul 17, 2010)

I have a Hydor inline heater thats going on 4 years strong =)


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

The reason for the titanium is the temperature transfer rates. Stainless heats and cools much slower than titanium. That would make for much more pronounced swings in the temperature.

Back when radios were the thing to build, I might have agreed on the DIY but with the more modern variety, there is just no way to get past the micro part of building a better item. Just buying the parts to build things has turned out to be a problem as Radio Shack and the local markets are just not there for parts like they were 30-40 years ago. Just finding a person who knows what the item looks like is now a challenge most places. Still doable if one has a source but doesn't work for most people.


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