How often should heaters be replaced?

[DN328]

Yes, if I had a many tanks I probably wouldn't be getting a Ranco for each one - that wouldn't be practical. My fish would survive at room temp with HVAC but may not thrive.

I agree that better heaters could be made. Hard to say why don't manufacturers do that. They may look at what the mass population is willing to spend vs what's best for their bottom line.
As long as people are willing/need to buy and replace when broken or NOT broken heaters why would the business change? ?

For my situation with only one tank, I chose to go with a Ranco. Forgetting about redundancy for a moment; I have more trust in a Ranco running titanium than any of the general heaters out there. Nothing is guaranteed and will fail in time. I personally would spend more up front and take my chances.

 

[slippery slimecoat]

I run two undersized Eheim/Jager heaters with their thermostats set just a couple degrees higher than the Finnex digital controller I have them plugged into. My thought is one heater stuck on won't be enough to cook my tank. If the controller fails, hopefully the thermostats on the heaters work and will only raise it a couple degrees. Been running like this for about 4 years. Did have one heater quit working that I had to replace in that time.