Hygger heater making house lights flicker

[Rob909]

Rob909 did you order the power conditioner yet or did the 2nd heater do same thing?

I haven’t tried the power conditioner. I was waiting to see if the second heater did it, which it did.
the link provided for the power conditioner revealed less than desirable reviews as far as power conditioning and other units designed for it were much higher in price.
I emailed hygger and am waiting for a response. If they can’t recommend anything else, I will definitely go the power conditioner route before I add a designated circuit.
I have everything prioritized by price lol.
I may even try a different heater without an eco mode at some point.

 

[Rob909]

Maybe you're looking for something like a power conditioner? That particular field is full of a lot of scammy BS, but legitimate ones basically just have capacitors to smooth out the power.

https://www.amazon.com/Furman-SS6B-Power-Conditioner/dp/B0002D017M/ref=sr_1_3?crid=16NRLVL1546K&keywords=power%2Bconditioner&qid=1670265334&sprefix=power%2Bconditioner%2Caps%2C421&sr=8-3&th=1

No response from hygger yet. For only $23 I tried this one out. Luckily Amazon has such a good return process because this didn’t work for me. I suppose the next route is to try a more dedicated power conditioner, or a heater without this stupid eco mode.

 

[Trouser Cough]

Eco mode is an interesting concept in this application. An electric heater is a purely resistive load and technically turning it on at a lower wattage for maintenance purposes would be of no value as the same thermal load would need to be addressed whether (as an example) you applied 800W for one minute or 400W for two minutes. There appears to be a layer of unnecessary complexity to that heater that may be at the root of your issue.

I've had single, high wattage heaters go crazy in the past and cook my tank. Since then I've always tried to keep at a few smaller heaters in the tank as opposed to one big one. Sort of a belt and suspenders approach. Is it practical for you to install two heaters instead of one and get beneath the overall wattage with each of them to avoid the Eco-mode voodoo science?

 

[fishdance]

Eco mode sounds like clever marketing?

The concept of several smaller heaters being safer is a propagated myth. Even a small heater will cook your tank, just slower. And having several heaters increases the risk of one malfunctioning.

 

[Trouser Cough]

The concept of several smaller heaters being safer is a propagated myth. Even a small heater will cook your tank, just slower. And having several heaters increases the risk of one malfunctioning.

I would respectfully contest both statements.

Several smaller heaters are definitely safer as long as each are sized such that they're incapable of rapidly cooking the tank individually. Common practice places roughly 4W of heater per gallon of aquarium water. If you use Rob909's example one might assume that his tank is a minimum of 200 gallons. 4 ea, 200W heaters would be safer than one 800W heater and depending on ambient may give him a day or more to notice the tank problem before it reached fatal levels whereas a single 800W heater in the same scenario could kill the tank overnight.

I prefer a more conservative approach yet and at 61*N I use a single 200W heater for an 800 gallon tank.

Having four 200W heaters rather than one 800W heater may increase the risk of a single heater's failure by a factor of 4 but also dramatically reduces the probability of catastrophic tank failure.

 

[Rob909]

Eco mode is an interesting concept in this application. An electric heater is a purely resistive load and technically turning it on at a lower wattage for maintenance purposes would be of no value as the same thermal load would need to be addressed whether (as an example) you applied 800W for one minute or 400W for two minutes. There appears to be a layer of unnecessary complexity to that heater that may be at the root of your issue.

I've had single, high wattage heaters go crazy in the past and cook my tank. Since then I've always tried to keep at a few smaller heaters in the tank as opposed to one big one. Sort of a belt and suspenders approach. Is it practical for you to install two heaters instead of one and get beneath the overall wattage with each of them to avoid the Eco-mode voodoo science?

Yes, the eco mode is quite a gimmicky feature to have on a heater if you ask me. And definitely not the reason I purchased it. I like the functionality of having an external controller and digital readout for the simplicity of quick and easy temperature changes/readings. No, I’m not changing temperature all that often, but I like the ease of access with an external controller.
Your estimation of my tank size is correct, it’s a 240. I initially ran two 300w heaters and due to a malfunction in my temperature probe, I thought they were unable to keep up. I still have them but I really want to figure this out. Call it perseverance or just plain stubborn, but I really want to learn why it’s doing what it’s doing at this point.

edit:
And although these heaters have a “high temp shutoff”, it’s at 95 F so everything would be pretty cooked at that point anyways.

 

[aroijuana]

Yes, the eco mode is quite a gimmicky feature to have on a heater if you ask me. And definitely not the reason I purchased it. I like the functionality of having an external controller and digital readout for the simplicity of quick and easy temperature changes/readings. No, I’m not changing temperature all that often, but I like the ease of access with an external controller.
Your estimation of my tank size is correct, it’s a 240. I initially ran two 300w heaters and due to a malfunction in my temperature probe, I thought they were unable to keep up. I still have them but I really want to figure this out. Call it perseverance or just plain stubborn, but I really want to learn why it’s doing what it’s doing at this point.

edit:
And although these heaters have a “high temp shutoff”, it’s at 95 F so everything would be pretty cooked at that point anyways.

You could just get an inkbird controller and control any heater you'd like..

 

[TwoHedWlf]

Eco mode sounds like clever marketing?

The concept of several smaller heaters being safer is a propagated myth. Even a small heater will cook your tank, just slower. And having several heaters increases the risk of one malfunctioning.

My preference is to have multiple heaters and then a heat controller with a temp setting a few degrees higher. I've only ever had heaters fail off. So the redundancy fixes that. Then if one does stick on the heat controller should cut power and alert to keep it from getting too hot.

 

[fishdance]

I would respectfully contest both statements.

Several smaller heaters are definitely safer as long as each are sized such that they're incapable of rapidly cooking the tank individually. Common practice places roughly 4W of heater per gallon of aquarium water. If you use Rob909's example one might assume that his tank is a minimum of 200 gallons. 4 ea, 200W heaters would be safer than one 800W heater and depending on ambient may give him a day or more to notice the tank problem before it reached fatal levels whereas a single 800W heater in the same scenario could kill the tank overnight.

I prefer a more conservative approach yet and at 61*N I use a single 200W heater for an 800 gallon tank.

Having four 200W heaters rather than one 800W heater may increase the risk of a single heater's failure by a factor of 4 but also dramatically reduces the probability of catastrophic tank failure.

No offence taken.
It doesn't snow where I live but my comments come from real life experiences.

Luckily it is easy to test the theory if you have the time, a 200W heater and 800 gallon tank available? Or something comparable. Just set one heater to a much higher temperature and wait. It will take longer but still overheat the tank.

 

[jjohnwm]

A100W heater running continuously produces about 24 calories of heat per second. A calorie is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one Celsius degree. So a heater of any given wattage is limited in how far it can raise the temperature of any given aquarium by the ambient temperature in the room and by the rate at which the aquarium loses heat to the room. The old rule of 4 or 5 watts per gallon was broadly based on the idea that the room would be something like 60F at its coolest; if the room is much colder, then a 5watt-per-gallon sized heater can run continuously but simply won't be able to heat the water past a certain point, and that point can be well below the danger level or even the desired level. That's why multiple smaller heaters are safer than one big one.

The catch is that using, for example, a pair of 200W heaters in place of a single 400W one can still overheat the water if one of them gets stuck in the on position. You really need to go to several much-smaller units that combine to achieve the heating you want, but individually are not capable of producing the over-heating you fear.

I am currently changing my fishroom organization a bit; allowing the room itself to be kept much cooler rather than heating the whole room as in the past, and accepting that a couple of tanks will require their own heaters. That's the part I hate; individual tank heaters are without a doubt the most failure-prone equipment aquarists use. My plan is to use two thermostatically-controlled heaters set to the desired temperature, and then plug them into a controller set slightly higher. This way the heaters are contolled by their own crappy built-in thermostats, but if one sticks on the controller will cut power as soon as the temp hits that upper setting which will still be a safe temperature. If a single heater's thermostat sticks off...which I have never seen happen but obviously is still possible...then the other heater will pinch-hit and keep the temperature safe.

There's still one possible problem scenario; if both heaters get stuck off, then no amount of controller overwatch will keep my tanks warm. After years of heating the fish room...worrying about this is a PITA.

<<<sigh>>> I hate heaters.