4th heater to die in 7 months

[Scribbles]

This is totally ridiculous! The last one died last night after only 1 month of use. Does anybody know of a reliable submersible heater? Anyone using the newer Stealth with the light?

Chris

[seanyuki]

Perhaps FLUVAL E SERIES LCD HEATERS and has good reviews......Ken Menard(kenfish.com)

http://www.kensfish.com/fluvaleseriesheaters.html

[mlov1022]

These: http://www.kensfish.com/jagerheaters.html. I dont' think you want the Stealth: http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=77930

[Darrell Ward]

This is totally ridiculous! The last one died last night after only 1 month of use. Does anybody know of a reliable submersible heater? Anyone using the newer Stealth with the light?

Chris

What brand of heaters are you using? The only heaters I've used that have been totally relibable for me have been Jagers. I've been using them for several years now without a single problem, replacing other brands of heaters with a new Jager when the other brand heater fails.

[aalbina]

This is totally ridiculous! The last one died last night after only 1 month of use. Does anybody know of a reliable submersible heater? Anyone using the newer Stealth with the light?

Chris

Yep - replaced it last month with an Eheim Jager Thermostat Heater for $24.99 - the Stealth couldn't get my tank above 83 and heated inconsistently. The Jager has been rock solid at 85 since calibration.

Adam

[Scribbles]

What brand of heaters are you using? The only heaters I've used that have been totally relibable for me have been Jagers. I've been using them for several years now without a single problem, replacing other brands of heaters with a new Jager when the other brand heater fails.

I've been using the Marineland Visatherm submersible heaters for years. The 2 that died earlier this year were 10 and 15+ years old. I got another this spring and it only lasted 6 months. This last one only lasted 1 month. I may have to see if I can calibrate a Jager. Thanks everyone!

Chris

[Jennie]

go with the jagers. Easy to callibrate. set them in water 24 hours first. Then set the red dial to actual tank temp and set blue to desired temp.:)

[Jhhnn]

go with the jagers. Easy to callibrate. set them in water 24 hours first. Then set the red dial to actual tank temp and set blue to desired temp.:)

The older ones weren't much harder. They need to be operating in water for 24 hrs, just to be clear. I use 'em exclusively. Others report good results with the Rena's and the Hydor inlines, not the hydor submersibles...

Jagers are arguably the best available, and the price is right from Kensfish, so I haven't bothered with anything else. I buy spares when I order, but end up not needing them. Be aware that the Jagers are longer than other brands...

[Jennie]

That's right. 17" I believe

[Eddie]

Yup, definitely go with Jagers! Heater Superiority!

[Danimal]

i dont submerge my heaters any more, i only keep the glass part in the water and just turn them off when i do WC they seem to last longer and i dont have to worry about stray voltage

my 2 cents

dan

[Altum Nut]

I too have to go with the Eheim Jagers.
Never knew before that us wops make a dam good heater;)

...Ralph

[Jhhnn]

i dont submerge my heaters any more, i only keep the glass part in the water and just turn them off when i do WC they seem to last longer and i dont have to worry about stray voltage

my 2 cents

dan

I keep my Jagers near horizontal below the normal water change water line. No fussing with 'em that way during normal water changes. I do switch 'em off when more serious scrubbing is involved...

Unfortunately, Discus and Angels will sometimes decide that vertically mounted heaters are a good spawning site. Females' ovipositors can be damaged, possibly leading to death...

Some hobbyists just let heaters lay on the bottom of BB tanks, too.

[Disgirl]

Whatever you buy, DONT BUY RENA SMART HEATERS! I have two and both are only 1 1/2 yrs old, both stuck on and wouldn't go off!! Terrible and expensive things. EJ's from now on. I have ordered 3 today.
Barb

[snowflake311]

Yup the new Marineland with the light is pure junk. I bought one. The top come off and it stop working after 6hr. I returned it and got another after 12 hr the thing blow up. I heard a blast and water splash. It some how cracked my hob filter not the tank. The fish were ok scared but ok.

I talked to a pet store employee and they said it has been happening lot. Don't think about getting another.

[Jhhnn]

Whatever you buy, DONT BUY RENA SMART HEATERS! I have two and both are only 1 1/2 yrs old, both stuck on and wouldn't go off!! Terrible and expensive things. EJ's from now on. I have ordered 3 today.
Barb

Thanks for that- several members offered that they were pretty good, but I never tried 'em...

Sticking on is bad, very bad, almost as bad as blowing up...

My Jagers just work, even some really old green ones... No regrets there. The little bit of fiddling to get 'em calibrated is well worth it.

[Scribbles]

I have a new Hydor inline but can't seem to get a good fit on the ribbed hosing on my Fluval canister. I'll save that one for when I get my Eheim. For now I'm going to go order some Jagers. Thanks guys!

Chris

[wilson038]

This is totally ridiculous! The last one died last night after only 1 month of use. Does anybody know of a reliable submersible heater? Anyone using the newer Stealth with the light?

Chris

is anything else in your house burning up early like light bulbs or anything, if so you might want to check the voltage in your house

[Scribbles]

is anything else in your house burning up early like light bulbs or anything, if so you might want to check the voltage in your house


No. So far so good on electricity.

Chris

[mathfed]

In the last year, I've bought 3 of the Stealth heaters. Since then, two of them have stopped working. One of them would stick on and never turn off, and the other stopped working completely. After reading some of the horror stories about these heater (e.g. Stealth heaters exploding in the tank, breaking the tank glass, and emptying the tank's contents all over the floor), I bought some new Ebo Jagers and haven't had any issues. I have used Ebos for many years, but decided to give the Stealths a try since they seemed so popular. They aren't worth the risk in my opinion.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

6 heaters from various brands in 6 months for me. Thank God for warranties. I will tell you, nothing scarrier than coming home to find one of your tanks at 90 degrees or, your breeding tank at room temperature at 74 degrees.

[Eddie]

6 heaters from various brands in 6 months for me. Thank God for warranties. I will tell you, nothing scarrier than coming home to find one of your tanks at 90 degrees or, your breeding tank at room temperature at 74 degrees.


Have you tried an Eheim Jager?

[Jhhnn]

6 heaters from various brands in 6 months for me. Thank God for warranties. I will tell you, nothing scarrier than coming home to find one of your tanks at 90 degrees or, your breeding tank at room temperature at 74 degrees.

Heh. In my limited experience, Jagers don't need warranties. They just work, and that's why I buy 'em, exclusively.

[Jennie]

And is you're having that kind of problem, you need to be plugging those heaters into a controller unit.

http://www.jehmco.com/html/heaters.html

[Jhhnn]

And is you're having that kind of problem, you need to be plugging those heaters into a controller unit.

http://www.jehmco.com/html/heaters.html

To tell the truth, I've been using much less expensive finnex hc-0800 controllers from Kensfish, plugging the Jagers into those with good results. I set the jagers to 88F or so, regulate the actual temp at a lower value with the controllers. The heater's internal thermostat acts as a backup against overheating. Calibration on the controllers isn't precise, but it's no big deal to just dial it in over time. I have one of the ETC models from Jehmco, too, but it hasn't done a better job... both work flawlessly so far.

I'm extra paranoid about runaway heaters, having cooked a tankful of young discus many years ago with an inferior heater...

[Jennie]

I also learned something from john at Jehmco. not all power strips are alike. Some only handle/rated a certain maximum load on them. So I wonder if you have too much plugged in to yours??

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Well I have not tried a Jager yet I have tried HyrdoThermo, Stealth, Fluval. All new, all have gone bad in 6 months or less. But the kind people at Foster & Smith have been very accommodating.

The power strip I use for my main tank has only the 2 cords for my 2 heaters in it. I know that one, if not careful can easily overload a surge-protected power strip.

I might try the Jager next. Thanks for the link to Jemco.

[Eddie]

Well I have not tried a Jager yet I have tried HyrdoThermo, Stealth, Fluval. All new, all have gone bad in 6 months or less. But the kind people at Foster & Smith have been very accommodating.

The power strip I use for my main tank has only the 2 cords for my 2 heaters in it. I know that one, if not careful can easily overload a surge-protected power strip.

I might try the Jager next. Thanks for the link to Jemco.

Yup, Jagers all the way! ;)

[Greenheinie]

Not to derail the Jager train, but the new ones absolutely STINK! My second one broke now within 11 months (first wouldn't calibrate properly, on the second the indicator light is on, but no heat) and I don't want to keep paying $9 to ship it up to Canada for a replacement.

I've emailed eheim support regularly over the past two weeks, but they don't respond. I was hoping they could pay for shipping or simply send me a new one so I can just throw the broken one out. Moving forward, I will stick with a US-based company with US-based support.

Hopefully you get a non-defective one, otherwise have fun getting in touch with somebody and paying extra for shipping.

[Eddie]

Not to derail the Jager train, but the new ones absolutely STINK! My second one broke now within 11 months (first wouldn't calibrate properly, on the second the indicator light is on, but no heat) and I don't want to keep paying $9 to ship it up to Canada for a replacement.

I've emailed eheim support regularly over the past two weeks, but they don't respond. I was hoping they could pay for shipping or simply send me a new one so I can just throw the broken one out. Moving forward, I will stick with a US-based company with US-based support.

Hopefully you get a non-defective one, otherwise have fun getting in touch with somebody and paying extra for shipping.

This is first post ever to about negative experiences with Jagers. Almost 90% of the time its because the user may have needed to calibrate the heater which is simple and I actually prefer being able to calibrate the heater on my own. I have dozens and all well over a year old with zero hiccups in any of them. I even dropped one from about 4 feet onto the concrete ground and didn't even get scratched. Fell directly on the glass end also. ;)

[Greenheinie]

Trust me, I calibrated and recalibrated my first one over and over...it just couldn't maintain a temperature within a reasonalbe range. I tried with it for weeks before giving up. The second one was doing great until I noticed the tank temp kept dropping and dropping. I touched the heater and noticed there was no heat coming from it.

I've read that the older Jager heaters were awesome (I never had one), but when Eheim acquired them, the quality slipped and more and more problems have been reported.

[inmisawa]

Hey all. This really is a great website! I've had fish on and off since I was 9, but I'm learning so much new stuff since I decided to have discus. Anyway, I'm reading over the heater issues (never realized there were so many problems out there) and I think I'm definately getting on the Jager train. I've noticed there are some of you out there with multiple heaters. Is this just for redundancy? I'm getting a 180 gal and I want to have adequate heating. I see there is a heater out there that can handle the job, but I'm thinking it would be more prudent to run two smaller heaters to distribute the heating better.

If I get one, it'll be this:http://www.amazon.com/Jager-Aquarium-Heater-159-264-Gallons/dp/B003I5UC0W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1287449386&sr=1-1

If I get two, it'll be these:http://www.amazon.com/Jager-250-Heater-inch-Approved/dp/B001EUG7T8/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1287449888&sr=1-11

Any thoughts? Thanks for the help!

[Eddie]

Hey all. This really is a great website! I've had fish on and off since I was 9, but I'm learning so much new stuff since I decided to have discus. Anyway, I'm reading over the heater issues (never realized there were so many problems out there) and I think I'm definately getting on the Jager train. I've noticed there are some of you out there with multiple heaters. Is this just for redundancy? I'm getting a 180 gal and I want to have adequate heating. I see there is a heater out there that can handle the job, but I'm thinking it would be more prudent to run two smaller heaters to distribute the heating better.

If I get one, it'll be this:http://www.amazon.com/Jager-Aquarium-Heater-159-264-Gallons/dp/B003I5UC0W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1287449386&sr=1-1

If I get two, it'll be these:http://www.amazon.com/Jager-250-Heater-inch-Approved/dp/B001EUG7T8/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1287449888&sr=1-11

Any thoughts? Thanks for the help!


Some use 2 heaters in larger tanks in the event that one fails. If one fails, then the other should be able to hold the temp. One the other side, if one sticks on, it will take longer to boil the fish.

[Darrell Ward]

Trust me, I calibrated and recalibrated my first one over and over...it just couldn't maintain a temperature within a reasonalbe range. I tried with it for weeks before giving up. The second one was doing great until I noticed the tank temp kept dropping and dropping. I touched the heater and noticed there was no heat coming from it.

I've read that the older Jager heaters were awesome (I never had one), but when Eheim acquired them, the quality slipped and more and more problems have been reported.

I have a bunch of them, all made by Eheim (they have owned the brand for years now), and they all work perfectly. Perhaps your heater was way too small for the tank, could never maintain the set temp., and finally burned out from running constantly. Otherwise, it's very hard to understand why you had 2 defective heaters in a row, and countless other people have zero problems.

[Dave B]

I have an old 75w Jager that looks like it is about 20 years old. The dial on top basically spins free and doesn't measure anything accurately, but I'm convinced it could heat my 125 all by itself. In fact, I think it does, since the stupid piece of junk 250w stealth in there doesn't go over 79 no matter what it's actually set to.

I've tried just about every brand of heater. Stealths are crap. The other Visitherms are fragile and I've had several break on me almost immediately after buying them. I had a titanium for a while that worked OK but eventually lost some power. I just bought two of the Via Aqua 300w ones and one had its control unit tugged into the water and it blew up. (The other, however, seems to be doing an excellent job heating a 120 on its own, to its credit... but it has only been a month).

The Jager is glass, yet withstands repeated impact from a skittish Arowana and idiotic Uaru. They bash into it, it smashes into the tank glass, and it just keeps on working. It's indestructible.

(Now I've gotta go knock some wood... worried that I jinxed it...)