Heaters

I bought two 500 watt heaters from Jehmco to replace my aging 3 x 300 watt Eheim heaters. Didn't know until the order arrived that these were Penn Plax, not exactly a name I have any trust in, and the power cord was all of 3 ft long. These heaters come with a big bright red LED readout of the water temp. Since I had them I hooked them up, despite my dislike of all things Penn Plax, and they worked fine the first day or so. Then, the LED readouts went wacking, sometimes jumping up and then down by 30 degrees within seconds. Obviously something was wrong.

Sent John an email telling him I'd have to return these since they were obviously defective only to find out I was sh*t out of luck cause I had opened the box so he wouldn't take them back as defective. Had I not opened the box he would have taken them back, but, had I not opened the box how would I know if they were defective or not?? At first he told me he wasn't sure if the warranty covered the LED readout (?????) and that I'd have to deal directly with Penn Plax the manufacturer if I wanted them replaced or refunded (?????). Can honestly say this is the first time in my adult life that I've run into a situation where a vendor refuses to stand behind the product they sell - it was especially shocking being Jehmco telling me this.

So now I'm throwing two untrustworthy 500 watt heaters into the trash cause it's too much trouble to have to go back and forth with Penn Plax over something that should have been taken care of for me.

Live and learn

Jim,
Im sorry to hear that. Jehmco is is usually really good to work with... heaters are a tough item as they all are pretty much hit or miss these days but Surprised John wouldnt take them back .

before you pitch them maybe someone can use them for a water storage barrel? Hate to see them go to waste. I have had heaters leds go out and the heater worked fine even after that....I guess it all depends on how its wired.

Bummer on the whole affair though.
Al

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cosmo

I bought two 500 watt heaters from Jehmco to replace my aging 3 x 300 watt Eheim heaters. Didn't know until the order arrived that these were Penn Plax, not exactly a name I have any trust in, and the power cord was all of 3 ft long. These heaters come with a big bright red LED readout of the water temp. Since I had them I hooked them up, despite my dislike of all things Penn Plax, and they worked fine the first day or so. Then, the LED readouts went wacking, sometimes jumping up and then down by 30 degrees within seconds. Obviously something was wrong.

Sent John an email telling him I'd have to return these since they were obviously defective only to find out I was sh*t out of luck cause I had opened the box so he wouldn't take them back as defective. Had I not opened the box he would have taken them back, but, had I not opened the box how would I know if they were defective or not?? At first he told me he wasn't sure if the warranty covered the LED readout (?????) and that I'd have to deal directly with Penn Plax the manufacturer if I wanted them replaced or refunded (?????). Can honestly say this is the first time in my adult life that I've run into a situation where a vendor refuses to stand behind the product they sell - it was especially shocking being Jehmco telling me this.

So now I'm throwing two untrustworthy 500 watt heaters into the trash cause it's too much trouble to have to go back and forth with Penn Plax over something that should have been taken care of for me.

Live and learn

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What a bummer. Is it the display only not working ? Do heaters seem to function ok? Was going to say you could just operate it with something like an inkbird but if the display is buggy maybe it's not worth the risk ?

Yeah Al, I was speechless when John gave me the bit about not his problem, all mine - maybe he's going through tough times or something cause that is not at all like him. Had two in the tank hooked up to a controller (from Jehmco of course) and the LEDs were reading all sorts of temps but the controller stayed where it was set, so, either both are okay or one is bad or both are bad. I'm not going to go through the hassle of testing them one by one. Tank is staying up to temp but don't know if one is doing all the work or not - so off with their heads! Just hope John is going through something really difficult that has put him off his usual self.

Ryan, not worth the risk are the words I used to determine they were garbage - PLUS they are Penn Plax - last time I used a Penn Plax heater was in the 80s and I lost a whole tank of Discus and cooked Discus does NOT smell good :(