I've taken apart a few failed ones the last couple years, all maybe 5ish years old. Aqua One and Eheim. They still had bimetallic strips and contact points. Failure point was the nichrome wire for the heating element though split on all 3.
Heater failure!
- Thread starter Austin1234
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This ^ certainly. A simple overcurrent situation, caused either by attempting to feed a device or devices that draws too much current or by a simple short to ground, will quickly trip any standard breaker. The idea is to protect the wiring, which is rated for a certain amount of current capacity. Rather than allowing the current to exceed that, resulting in a dangerous condition where the wire starts to heat up, a standard breaker trips.
A ground fault breaker does that as well, but in addition it detects an imbalance between the hot and neutral wire that indicates some current is leaking at some point. If the discrepancy exceeds some very small amount, the GFCI trips and thus interrupts that current from leaking somewhere...like through your aquarium water or your arm...as it seeks ground. The GFCI is protecting you rather than the wiring.
A ground fault breaker does that as well, but in addition it detects an imbalance between the hot and neutral wire that indicates some current is leaking at some point. If the discrepancy exceeds some very small amount, the GFCI trips and thus interrupts that current from leaking somewhere...like through your aquarium water or your arm...as it seeks ground. The GFCI is protecting you rather than the wiring.
I have one of these exact chinese heaters but my trick is to also use a chinese gfci power strip. Im not sure but I think gfci is some kind of magic fire resistance spell for reality and stuff.
On a related note, anybody got a recommendation for a 400g stock tank heater that wont cause a fire?
On a related note, anybody got a recommendation for a 400g stock tank heater that wont cause a fire?
I also use a Hygger heater with it's own digital controller, but am skeptical of it's reliability so it is also plugged into an inkbird. I know very little about electrical issues but if I understand correctly from Johns message earlier, this would only kick off the electricity to the included controller and heater unit if it were stuck on and heated the tank above the safety limit I set, not useful if faulty wiring inside the device heated up enough to catch fire.
I’ve had far too many issues with heaters failing in the “on” position and killing off tankfuls of very expensive fish.
Was happy to find these thermostats and used them on all my tanks for peace of mind until I recently came home to a funky smell and smoke and found that the plug of my thermostat was melting and extremely hot.
I have no clue how or why it failed but I’m now a bit freaked out and uneasy about fully trusting any of these heaters or thermostats regardless of where they’re made.
I’m considering ditching heaters altogether and looking at species that don’t need a heater so I can sleep at night
Anyone have any guesses on why this happened? I have no understanding of electricity
Was happy to find these thermostats and used them on all my tanks for peace of mind until I recently came home to a funky smell and smoke and found that the plug of my thermostat was melting and extremely hot.
I have no clue how or why it failed but I’m now a bit freaked out and uneasy about fully trusting any of these heaters or thermostats regardless of where they’re made.
I’m considering ditching heaters altogether and looking at species that don’t need a heater so I can sleep at night
Anyone have any guesses on why this happened? I have no understanding of electricity
Hello; Early in this thread was mentioned a 1000 watt heater. That is considerable flow of electric power at full capacity. I do not know how much/many heaters you had working off this thermostat. Regardless assuming the plug was not close to some other heat source on the outside it looks like it melted from the inside.
I have a small electric heater in a bathroom. Set at 1250 watts. I run it for a short time when taking a shower during winter weather. I plug it directly into the wall outlet and not an extension cord nor power strip. I unplug it after every use. The plug and cord will be warm to the touch after maybe ten to fifteen minutes. This is from the resistance of the metal conductors in the plug or wires of the cord.
Household plugs and wiring are a compromise of cost for materials and function determined by the manufacturer. The thinner the wire the hotter it will become due to resistance of the wire. A thicker wire strand will carry the same current with less resistance as so will not get as hot.
Same for the metal prongs in the plug itself a thicker meta prong does not resist so much.
Then there is how the manufacturer connects the wire to the metal prong. I have had a few apart. To save money some makers use the less stable ways to connect. Some make a good solder connection. Some just a mechanical pinch or some such.
Knowing myself I would likely replace the plug with a heavier duty plug. Maybe the wire feeding the unit depending on how stout the feed wire is.
On to guessing. My first guess is a combination of two things. First is too much power drawing item(s) plugged into the system along with continuous use. I imagine somewhere in the paperwork is mention of how much can safely be plugged in.
A second guess is perhaps an extension cord is used or perhaps a power strip rather than being plugged into the wall outlet directly. I get it, sometimes a wall outlet is too far away. Again the thickness of the wire of such makes a difference. Use an extension cord rated for more power.
A story. Some years ago my brother bought a 30 foot camper. We parked at my place while he waited for a spot at the campground. We first use a couple of common light duty extension cord because it was handy. The camper drew too much current. So, i dug out my 100-foot heavy duty cord and it worked fine. It was as much the distance (length) as the draw.
One other thought. If you did not have the fish room wired for big tanks it might be wise to spread the load over as many breakers as you can. By this I mean you may have more than one wall outlet in the room but they all may run from one breaker in the houses electric panel. Often the overhead lights are on a separate breaker for example so a short in a wall outlet will not kill the lights. Flip off the circuit breaker for the outlets which run the tanks and see if any other wall outlets in the area still have power.
Good luck
The only truly safe combination for this is a Peruvian submersible heater run by a Bulgarian temperature controller. It's the multinational synergy that makes it special...
A 1000 watt heater on a 110v system draws only about 9 amps of current. The standard breakers are 15amp-rated, should be loaded to more than 12amps, but in any case are more than capable of supporting such a load. But, as S skjl47 stated, most people have no idea how many receptacles are on each breaker or which ones they are, so breakers start tripping when you have all kinds of assorted devices all attempting to draw a total that exceeds the rated amperage. The idea of making a map of your house, listing all the receptacles, lights, etc. and which breakers feed which ones is, IMHO, essential for any homeowner. And don't forget that you can plug in far too many devices on one circuit, but the breaker won't trip until the number that are simultaneously powered up at one time exceeds the allowable amperage. You plug the stuff in...the circuit doesn't pop...and you think you're golden. Then, later that day...or next week...or a month from now...a bunch of stuff is coincidentally energized all at once and suddenly you're wondering why your breaker popped.
But a damaged plug end like that shown above is caused by overheating. Like everything else nowadays, the wire used is the absolute bare minimum legal size; the connections inside the plug (wire to prong) are the absolute cheapest possible crimps or solders. If you then unplug from the receptacle by yanking on the cord rather than grasping the plug...or if you step on the plug...or do anything else to possibly damage and loosen that connection...well...loose connections heat up, and this is the result.
Can’t say I’m a Gfci expert. But when my metal saw give it up and the magic fire resistance spell didn’t work.. it started smoking and the Gfci it was plugged into tripped..I assumed it was a possibility. So I’ll apologize for my incompetence. I’ll be better next time.
