How often should heaters be replaced?

[Hybridfish7]

I know with heaters it's a hit or miss kind of thing with brands and all that but it's also a thing where one mistake could kill all your fish or burn your house down. So that begs the question when should you be replacing heaters? I personally have those aqueon preset heaters, some of which are pushing 5 years old now (and I forgot which ones those were in my fishroom). I have only had a heater overheat once but I caught it. That heater was also a cheap brand that only lasted about a month.

 

[esoxlucius]

I had inkbirds with mine which I mistakingly thought would protect me. They failed! I currently use juwel aquaheat 300w heaters and they've been ok so far but to be honest i'm just waiting for them to fail too. I'm totally paranoid about them failing, on or off, to such an extent I glance at water temp or stick my fingers in whenever i'm near my tank.

Some people change their heaters once a year whether they need to or not, for safety. But like you said it's "hit or miss".

I've said before on this forum that it's poor form from all the heater manufacturers that none of them have cracked it yet and come up with a reliable heater. I mean how hard can it be?

 

[DwarfCichlidLvr]

Um, I would replace it when it stops working or working correctly.

 

[esoxlucius]

Um, I would replace it when it stops working or working correctly.

But that's the whole issue with heaters right there, one failure can potentially be devastating. Simply changing them when they start playing up can, in some instances, already be too late.

 

[duanes]

I know people who switch them out yearly, because heaters just can't be trusted.
I have had them fail both ways in the "On" position, and the "off".
The "On" failures can be the most devastating if they are strong enough.
I had an In-Line heater fail, and the way I noticed was the PVC bowing as it started to soften up.
For me after that, the solution was buying undersize heaters, and using 2 or 3 100 watt heaters per tank.
And even in WI I'd unplug them June thru Sept.
With undersize ones, if one fails in either position, hopefully the others either pick up the slack, or shut down if its an "On" failure.

 

[DN328]

I had inkbirds with mine which I mistakingly thought would protect me. They failed!

I just have to ask, did both heater and controller fail? Do tell esoxlucius .

 

[esoxlucius]

I just have to ask, did both heater and controller fail? Do tell esoxlucius .

I still have the juwel aquaheat 300w heaters that my inkbirds were supposed to control. They are still doing OK on their own but I still don't trust them 100%.

I know inkbirds can be good for some hobbyists but for all the good stories there are also not so good experiences. Unfortunately I was the latter.

I did think of trying out the ranco brand at one point but decided against it and i've been ok....so far!

 

[DN328]

I still have the juwel aquaheat 300w heaters that my inkbirds were supposed to control. They are still doing OK on their own but I still don't trust them 100%.

I know inkbirds can be good for some hobbyists but for all the good stories there are also not so good experiences. Unfortunately I was the latter.

I did think of trying out the ranco brand at one point but decided against it and i've been ok....so far!

I see. I've been using a Ranco controller and two titanium heaters with my previous tank and now using that with my current tank.

 

[esoxlucius]

I see. I've been using a Ranco controller and two titanium heaters with my previous tank and now using that with my current tank.

The more I think about the whole heater situation, you shouldn't even need to go down the route of getting a seperate controller. I mean whatever next, another controller to control your controller....just in case.

If a heater was in a turbulent, violent environment then yeah, I could accept failures once in a while. But for the vast majority of us they are tucked away in a nice quiet spot. Never touched, just set, and left alone to turn on and off intermittently as the temperature of their surroundings ebbs and flows slightly.

I mean we're not asking a lot really are we? And yet all these top aquarium brands on the market can offer nothing by way of simple reliability, which an aquarium heater simply has to offer, no question.

I'm no inventor, or engineer, or fancy technician or anything but what's in a heater that makes it so so difficult to get it right. As you can tell this is a subject that really grinds my gears.

 

[tiger15]

If a heater was in a turbulent, violent environment then yeah, I could accept failures once in a while. But for the vast majority of us they are tucked away in a nice quiet spot. Never touched, just set, and left alone to turn on and off intermittently as the temperature of their surroundings ebbs and flows slightly.

It doesn’t matter which brand or where you place it, all heaters fail in a few years, not the heating element per se, but the thermostat which will eventually get stuck or go erratic.

I buy undersize heater just to raise the temp by a few degree above the lowest room temp. Bigger is not better when it comes to heater, and it can be dangerous as a stuck on oversized heater can cook fish. . If you have one big show tank with irreplaceable fish then buying a controller to regulate a heater is worth it, but not justifiable if you have many tanks to manage.

The most reliable heater is your home HVAC. The role of the heaters will then be supplemental to bring the temp to comfort level for the fish, but not for life support.