Heater Safety and Life Expectancy (The Heater's Life, not Mine)

[punman]

I don't think about heaters too often but replaced one this week and actually read the manual. It is an Eheim Jager but my comments and queries are not specific to that brand.

1) Do you put your hands in the tank to do maintenance things without unplugging the heater? I do. I figure if there was an electrical issue, I'd see my fish all dead before I put my hands in there. I guess it could malfunction WHILE my hands are in there though.

2) Do you do partial water changes without unplugging your heater? I do over 50% and never unplug.

3) How long have your heaters lasted? I have three Ebo Jagers I bought new 15 years ago that are still going strong. Another couple over 10 years old but they have not been run continuously. I have a Visi-Therm that I got with a used set up I bought close to 15 years ago so the heater is 15+.

4) Do you think the life expectancy would be affected more by the number of hours a day the light is "ON", or by the number of times a day it shuts off and on, or an equal combination of the two?

 

[TexasMFK31]

I definitely unplug my heaters anytime I begin a water change, it is on the power strip with my filter separate from air pump and lights. I've had fellow fish keepers shatter them doing a late night WC without unplugging with the heater still 50% submerged. I don't need to be dealing with that when I do a water change. I am going to slowly phase out my Eheims and onto the Finnex titanium tubes that require the controller. They are a solid build and I have 1 that works very nice.

 

[PYRU]

Heaters suck. They are the most undependable piece of equip you have imo. I will always use a controller from now on and keep them out of the main tank with anything over 6".

I turn everything off during water changes except lights

 

[Jexnell]

I just recently got back on the hobby. At first I got the cheaper ones. All failed within the year. Replaced them all to Ehiems.
Now if the heater us horizontal I leave it plugged in cause it stays submerged. If in the vertical position then it get unplugged 1/2 hour prior to water changes. Lastly I got an inkbird to control it as well. Almost lost a tank of fish when the cheap ones failed. Caught it just as the water hit 90dF.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

I agree about the controller being a necessity. I have Inkbird controllers on all of my tanks to prevent the heaters from overheating if it gets stuck on. I learned that the hard way when my son’s ten gallon glofish tank got wiped out from a heater getting stuck on. The water was 102 when I found it.

 

[TexasMFK31]

I just recently got back on the hobby. At first I got the cheaper ones. All failed within the year. Replaced them all to Ehiems.
Now if the heater us horizontal I leave it plugged in cause it stays submerged. If in the vertical position then it get unplugged 1/2 hour prior to water changes. Lastly I got an inkbird to control it as well. Almost lost a tank of fish when the cheap ones failed. Caught it just as the water hit 90dF.

Keep an eye on the inkbird temperature probe. It is not reliable as I and others have found. Some state coating it in silicone has worked, or they replace them every so often. Just giving you a heads up. Luckily, it high scaled keeping the heaters off instead of low scaling and turning them on indefinitely.

 

[punman]

Now if the heater is horizontal I leave it plugged in 'cause it stays submerged

My instruction booklet says to mount the heater in a vertical position. Horizontal would seem to have some advantage but I wonder why that is not recommended?

 

[Kittiee Katt]

My instruction booklet says to mount the heater in a vertical position. Horizontal would seem to have some advantage but I wonder why that is not recommended?

Maybe so the cord doesn't get all bent and messed up? If the heater cord is strained (which would be more likely in a horizontal position) for too long the rubber/plastic stuff coating the wires might become brittle and break leading to a higher chance of electrocution. Just a stab in the dark.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

1) Do you put your hands in the tank to do maintenance things without unplugging the heater? I do. I figure if there was an electrical issue, I'd see my fish all dead before I put my hands in there. I guess it could malfunction WHILE my hands are in there though.

I never unplug my heaters. And a broken heater wouldn't necessarily kill your fish, electricity would only flow from the live to ground and neutral circuits. The rest of your tank usually isn't grounded so minimal current flow through it and the fish. Until you put your hand in. But that's one of the reasons all tanks should be on an RCD.

2) Do you do partial water changes without unplugging your heater? I do over 50% and never unplug.

Yes, unless the heater won't be submerged, but I put my heaters low and horizontal, I'd need to do about an 75+% change.

3) How long have your heaters lasted? I have three Ebo Jagers I bought new 15 years ago that are still going strong. Another couple over 10 years old but they have not been run continuously. I have a Visi-Therm that I got with a used set up I bought close to 15 years ago so the heater is 15+.

I usually get something like 2-3 years. Usually what happens is heater dies, go to get new heater, only ones available are POS Aqua One heaters. Buy one, dies after a few years, replace....

4) Do you think the life expectancy would be affected more by the number of hours a day the light is "ON", or by the number of times a day it shuts off and on, or an equal combination of the two?

In general, I'd say the number of cycles would be more significant. All my heaters that I've found the cause of failure have been due to the heating element breaking. Which, I think would probably be due to heat cycling.

 

[duanes]

You won't notice a short by looking at your fish, they won't die because of a short in a heater, because they are not grounded, like you are when you put hands in, and get zapped.
A titanium probe might help a little from small amounts of stray voltage.
Your fish can however become chronically stressed by that stray voltage leading to disease.