Aquarium Heater Lifespan

[Potts050]

I've had some bad luck with submersible aquarium heaters over the years. They have a tendancy to fail "closed" i.e. stay on continuously, causing the temperature in a smaller tank to exceed the limits of fish safety. Most folks believe that they can fail either way, which is true, but by the nature of their design, they tend to fail closed about 80% of the time.

I'm curious to know how often monster fish keepers replace their heaters, or am I the only guy that burns them out...

 

[joey02]

I break more by accident then they actually need to be replaced. but i was clumbsy with them for a while. now i have heater guards on them and i dont break them any more. I would say it depends on how hard the heater has to work to heat the water. if the ambiant temp. is not much different than what you want your tank temp. at, then the heater wouldnt have to work as hard to heat it, giving the heater a longer life span.

 

[12 Volt Man]

I have many going on 10 years now..keep fingers crossed

 

[myles]

this would be really interesting to kno, this is soemthing iv never though about. I kno alot of people that have had there fish fry litterly because it stayed on constanlty all of a sudden. I dont recal but heaters dont acualy state a lifespan on them do they?

 

[davo]

I have many going on 10 years now..keep fingers crossed

same. I also have them guarded (at least most). Think I've had one die on me, lasted about 5 years.

 

[aquatic_wonders]

Maybe just to be accurate maybe I'll change them every 2yrs or 3 yrs. and to make sure its not waisting the electric too.

 

[Sturgeon]

I've had to replace one, I broke by accident doing a WC. was thinking about getting a titanium heater but Recently I picked up a 150W marineland stealth, which is guaranteed for life.
As long as you pick the right wattage for your tank, and you unplug the heater when doing waterchanges, and your gentle with glass heaters, I believe a heater should last 10+ years, like 12Vman has said^

 

[Potts050]

What is the right amount of wattage for a submersible?

 

[tunerX]

I only change them when I break them by being clumsy. I use external temp controllers cause I heard that some of the them can fail and run continuously.

 

[12 Volt Man]

I like 3-5 watts per gallon.