Ebo Jager Repair

[McGilly]

;D ;D ;D OK, I just had one of my 250W Ebo Jager heaters fail on me. I had it cranked to 90 and it only took a 29g to 84.4f (the room is 82f)

So I thought what could be funner than fixing this thing. Sooooooo here goes. ;D ;D ;D

UNPLUG HEATER

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find a good work space
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pry up blue button
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pull cap
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pull off
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remove white cap
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slide off collar
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heat glass warm (NOT HOT)
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pull cord
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slowly remove controler
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separate plastic
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gently pull apart
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temparature control arm
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bend arm to look more like an L
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line up round slot and slip into place
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replace other side
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apply very light coat of vasaline to ribs
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lightley slick collar
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replace white cap
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line up cap and push on
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push blue button in and recalibrate by heating a small tank to determine the temp output setting. Then adjust degree control by popping button out and turning to the small tank temperature. pop in button and recheck.

Jeff

[ronrca]

Nice pics! The million dollar question! Did it work? ;D

[Jason]

GooD Work Jeff!

over the years I've opened up alot of heaters and serviced them, anyone remember the heetmasters? used to be able to buy new replacement contact points for those.

I'm not an electrician but how would you rate the quality of the parts inside?

I'll send you a green ebo if you want to compare the two models

[brewmaster15]

Jeff,
Thats an awesome Dissection , you'd have made one heck of a good biologist! :) ;D ;D

but I have to say... thats a one very time consuming solution ....


I have been very successful handling them like this.... ;D

1) pick up hammer
2) close eyes
3) curse ebo
4) gently smash to a million pieces
5) go to bigalsonline or jehmco and buy replacement or try another heater brand

:)

[McGilly]

So far it works good, I have digital thermometer that records highs and lows. I'll let you know the range and how it holds up.

This was a fairly new heater, no moisture inside so the contact points should be fine.

The material that supports the coiled heating element is very fragile. So tie the cord so it does'nt get in your way. and try to work with the element in the glass tube.

Jeff

[McGilly]

8)

[daninthesand]

Jeff.

Thanks a bunch for posting this! You are a godsend! I've been trying to see if the ebo's could be dissassembled like that and now you've shown me the way!

Is it difficult to remove the top, white cap and collar? Does pulling out the blue button make removal of the top easier? I have tried removing the top myself, but was afraid of breaking the heater.

Also I'm not sure why you need to bend the arm in the shape of an L. Can you elaborate? :P

I'll give this a try. I have a couple ebo's that have water vapour inside and I 'd like to dry 'em out.

Thanks again!

Daniel

ps. to be honest, I think Al's method might be a lot more satisfyting though LOL!

[ronrca]

That brings up a good point, Dan! Condensation in the heater! I had it happen in another heater brand also. The heater fried after a while because of too much water plus it did not heat properly either. It may be a good idea to keep a eye on the heaters and as you say dry them out!

[Fish_Fin-atic]

Jeff...

What can I say? AWESOME!!! Thank you so much for posting this photo demonstration of how to repari them! I was just about to use mine as a cattle prod, or a turkey temperature gauge, and then I was going to add it to the new Ebo wind chimes outside, and even though Al's method of repair sounds like fun, I think I'll try your method first ;) Thank you so much! I'm going to give this a shot over the weekend. I never thought to open one up because I thought the rubber seal was machine pressed onto the glass, and it was not possible to open - guess I was wrong. Thanks again!

[Jason]

regarding condensation in the heater, here's what the good folks at Hagen Canada had to say on the subject.

The problem of condensation from a heater element is rather common. In general, it is the result of the drying process of the ceramic element, since it is heated it will remove all humidity from the element, but when cooled, there is a chance that atmospheric humidity will enter the ceramic core rather rapidly. The environment of the Italian area where the heaters are manufactured and assembled is quite humid, so when the ceramic core is sealed within the watertight tube, any humidity that the ceramic core had within it was trapped. When the unit is heated again, that moisture naturally is expelled and will occasionally show as condensate on the tube. It has been my experience that the droplets slowly dissipate and it is not an indication of a failing heater.

[Lance_Krueger]

I heard somewhere that the problem with the new black Ebo Jaegers compared to the oldie but goodie green ones is that the new ones have a low water shut off sensor. Any knowledge of where this sensor is in the heater and some way to bypass it? Maybe this will make them as reliable as the old ones?
Lance Krueger

[Fish_Fin-atic]

I've always wondered about that one myself Lance. How would the heater be able to sense "low water"? The sensor can't be external obviously. If it's an internal sensor, there's only two ways I can think of. One would be a light sensitive sensor, but I don't think that would work very well with water, since you can have different stains in the water, or it can be clear, algae covering the outside glass, etc, etc. So that leaves a heat sensor. I'm guessing that without water (low water) the heater goes above a specific temperature, and this circuit will cut off the power to the heating element. If this circuit goes haywire, then the heater may not be able to heat properly (sound familiar anyone?)

What does a heat sensor look like? It's hard to say. Usually, they'd use what's called a 'thermistor' which is a temp-sensitive resistor (for those of you who may dabble in electronics). When the thermistor changes temps, it's resistance changes, and this triggers a response inside the circuit. A thermistor looks like a teeny tiny Salami with two wires sticking out of either end (usually, but there's different types too). On the other hand, the engineers could have incorporated the bimetalic switch into the shutoff circuit, and as another possibility, there may not even be a low water sensor - it may just be an advertising gimmick and a total hoax :o (wouldn't be the first time a corporation did that would it?) Have you ever tried taking an Ebo out of water while the light is on? It doesn't turn off right away......what does that tell you?

Well, now that I've rambled on, I can't wait 'till I have a spare hour or two to tinker with one of these heaters.

[McGilly]

I believe the low water sensor is the round thermo switch that looks like hearing aid battery.

So far this heater is only fluctuated .5'f
I have it set at 90 and over the last three days the recorded low was 89.9 and the high was 90.4

Jeff

[daninthesand]

Jeff, what size tank is the test going on in (the 29g?)and is it the 250 watt heater in the pix above? Oh, yes, and what is the room temp, still 82?

Thanks.

Daniel

[Mr. Limpet]

Nice job Jeff! Again, what was the reason for bending the L shape in? I was suprised to see that it had the old bi-metal temp control. I was expecting something a little more sophisticated. One of the problems with all metal contacts like that, especially switching 110V at 2A+,(250Watts), is that they do wear even if they are platinum. The calibration changes over time as they wear. Can you post a close up of the guts to better see the components. All I have are the old ones, or I'd just take one of them apart. Paul.

[daninthesand]

Paul, regarding the L shape, Jeff IM'd me and said the following:

"the temp control arm is bent to a L, mine had a lazy leg so I gave it a bend to put a little more force to the contacts."

HTH


Also, I was wondering if it would be worth while leaving off the black plastic strips that cover the internals. This might come in handy should there be problems in the future, with the heater and be able to look at the contacts etc, without disassembling it again? Would the heater still function normally with the "jacket" removed? I'd guess it would... just a thought.


Daniel

[daninthesand]

Well, I finally got around to taking apart one of my ebo's today. It went well. I took it apart because it was starting to fill with water. So now I have dried it out and I am recalibrating the temeperature control as instructed on this post.

Just thought I'd give some more details about that little blue knob at the top of the heater. Inside the heater the blue knob sits over a blue plastic screw that rotates and adjusts the thermostat contacts. The blue knob has teeth inside it like a gear which fit into similar gears on the inside of the blue dial (the thing with the temperature numbers on it). As you rotate the dial, the blue knob rotates, which in turn rotates the plastic screw. This is the normal operation when the blue knob is pushed in.

However, if the blue knob is pulled up (out) it disengages from the plastic adjusting screw so that when you turn the temperature dial, the rotation of the blue knob DOES NOT turn the screw.

So all those of you out there that have ebo's that won't go over a certain temp I'd sugget you do the following.

Turn the temp as high as it will go until the dial stops at the little pointer. Lift the blue knob out (it only comes out about a 1/4 inch.) Turn the dial back a couple of notches and push the blue knob back in. You should now be able to turn up the temp up and the heater will now heat higher than it did before. Trial and error will get you to the point where the heater will run at the temp you have set.

The best part is that you don't have to take the heater apart to do this. You can recalibrate the ebo and it will work better for you. I have seen other peole refer to this recalibration technique on this forum, but I thought I'd tell you my experinece with it.

HTH

btw I did not have to heat the glass to get the heater apart. Your experience might vary.

Daniel

http://www.mts.net/~9trader5/colour/eboscrew.jpg

hey dan, you're the man....I guess maybe there's still hope for that 250w I've got that only heats to 77deg ;)
david

[daninthesand]

Sure thing. I bet we can get it to heat to like 80 or something. LOL. There is a limit to the degree you can re- calibrate the heater. The blue screw can only be turned so far before it bottoms out on the inside housing. (At red dot in picture above) If all else fails, you can always take the heater apart and maybe bend the control arm like Jeff suggests and then re-calibrate.

Daniel

Dan: To reply to your leaving the black plastic cover off. I've done that. IMHO. The plastic covering act as a shield to block heat from the coil radiating to the sensor or the thermal stripe to set the heater on/off. It will create a larger than operable heat gradient to trigger it on and off. Without it may cause pre-mature cycling and unable to heat up the water before turning itself off. When properly installed with it . It will opeerate with only +/- 2 degree gradient. JMHO.
Jimmy

[daninthesand]

Hi Jimmy.

yes, you have a point there, and now that I have taken one apart I see that the black plastic shield is integral to the structure of the internal parts. Without it there is nothing to hold the internals together and they'd flop around in there ;D

Daniel

I re-calibrated one of my ebos a couple days ago that would only heat to 78 degrees, and so far so good...
the whole process took less than a minute...turned the heater all the way up(it was unplugged and pulled out of the tank of course)pried the blue button up(it will pull out about a 1/4 inch) and then lowered the temperature dial back to 78...then i pushed the blue button back in and put it back in the tank...2 days later it's heating evenly to 84 degrees, and i don't even have it turned up all the way...
david

[Fisheyes]

What am I dooing wrong .

I could get the blue button up but would not turn .

I was leary of forcing it as i thought it might break

Fisheyes :crazy:

OOOOOPsie

Lift the button up and then turn the dial???? DAAAAAA

fisheyes,
the blue button doesn't actually turn...it just pulls out to disengage from the temperature dial....
so if you're having troubles with the heater not heating high enough, you set the temperature dial all the way up-THEN you pull out the blue button, and set the temperature dial to a lower temperature....then you push the blue button all the way back in....through trial and error(ie* turning the heater back on and seeing it's "new maximum temperature") you can get the heater to heat accurately again...
or you could just cut the blue knob off with a hacksaw ;D hahahaha

david

[Fisheyes]

Hey Dave


IT MUST BE THE BEEF LOL


Fisaheyes :o

[allan_mark76]

ummm......trash can?!?!?! Too much work for me... but then again I aplaud your hard work and dedication.

A-

[Geodiscus]

This method seems to work.....But after trying to lower the temp to the indicated dial setting it would not set.What now? Go in reverse EG. Crank it all the way down pull out the blue tab set it at the temp?
Geodiscus

[McGilly]

Hi Geodiscus

You may have to pull it apart and turn the blue plastic temp screww back in. If it get turned out too far you have to push in on it while turning to get it started



ahh the joys of owning a ebo jager ???

McGilly

[Mykiss]

Hey Jeff, that was an excellent post! Very useful. Actually, it was by chance that today my ebo went and I wanted to take it appart but really didn't know how. Excellent!
PT

[McGilly]

Hi PT
also if your heater light comes on but there is no heat the thermal switch could be bad (that little gizmo that looks like a hearing aid battery) Then you can pull back the insulation and twist the two wires together to bypass it. Just make sure you remember to unplug it when you do your water changes.

Jeff

[Fisheyes]

do all ebos shut off on low water????

[McGilly]

sooner or later the thermal switch will turn them off until it cools and resets. It will still do a nice melt down on anything touching it though.

Jeff

[Rick_May]

Jeff,
Just wanted to give you a quick thanks, I repaired a few ebo's that I had collecting dust. I don't trust them yet to be in a tank but it saved me needing to buy a new heater for my water prep. :thumbsup:

[McGilly]

Hi Rick,
I hate to throw anything away too, seems like everytime I do I end up needing it later. I figure anytime I can make or repair something, it will save me more money for what this is all about........... gettting more discus,...... getting bigger tanks,....... getting a bigger house for all your bigger tanks
you see tanks breed and multiply too, and before you know, your whole house is infested, tanks everywhere, then your neighbors catch it, then their neighbors catch it, until discus fever has taken over the whole world. ;D

Jeff

[Mykiss]

Thanks again Jeff for the helpful tips. I too hate to throw away stuff but at times are unsure how to fix them, so it just sits there collecting dust. You can say I am a pack rat! Lol

PT