Cooked fish

[emc7]

I lost a fish today (fine yesterday) to a heater to the first time in 2 decades. The 10 gallon tank was 94 degress and the Tetra Whisper 10 heater had its little red light on. It wouldn't go out no matter how far I turned the knob to the left. I used to like this model becasue it was cheap an the cover kept the knob from getting bumped and becasue it has a pretty good heater clamp. I will never buy another. I like submersibles better anyway. I took it apart and instead of being sealed to the glass like I expected, there was only a thing like a rubber stopper inside and a rubber band like thing outside. I don't expect hang-on-tank heaters to be water-proof, but water-tight would be nice. To be fair, I didn't find any water in the tube, it looked like it had just cooked itself. I've had the little 50W whisper heaters fail before, but always by not heating. One reason not to use an oversized heater is that if it malfunctions, it will cook your fish more slowly. But I am now thinking that the littlest, cheapest heaters are more risky..

[Pac-Man]

Visitherm all the way (especially the stealth). Sorry for your loss.

[Dr_House]

Sorry for your loss, emc7. Unfortunately, regardless of what type of heater you buy, as they age, they begin to "stick" on. I don't recall exactly what mechanism is failing, but it will likely happen to any heater given enough time. Many respected fish-keepers recommend replacing heaters every 12-18 months to avoid this. Another recommendation is using two undersized heaters that are incapable of cooking the tank independently for an added fail-safe. Of course all that being said, the better quality heaters do yield a lower rate of failure. Again, I'm sorry for your loss, and I'm glad to hear you're taking the steps necessary to avoid repeating the situation.

[emc7]

Thanks for your condolences, I was lucky I only had one fish in the tank. I have 15 year old heaters that are still working, so I hope you are wrong about this being common. You'd think the manufacturer would spend a little more and put in a thermal fuse. The glass was blackened and still hot hours after I unplugged it. I've been slowly replacing my oldest heaters with submersibles, but this one was fairly new.

[Scuba Kid]

Sorry for your loss.
I just had a heater explode in a tank the other day.

luckily, nothing was in it but liverock. No more glass heaters for me, VisiTherm Stealth are the only way I'm going from now on.

[Dr_House]

I have 15 year old heaters that are still working, so I hope you are wrong about this being common.

15 years?!?! Wow! It's certainly possible I'm wrong...it's happened once before. I don't know from experience that it happens a lot, but it's something I've read a lot of disaster stories about from different people sharing their own experiences. I replace my heaters about every 2 years, but that's just me. I'm glad to hear this hasn't happened to you a lot.

[bscman]

Originally Posted by emc7

I have 15 year old heaters that are still working, so I hope you are wrong about this being common.

I don't think I'd trust a heater that old.
I'm in the same boat as some of these other guys...and I replace them every few years. The older they get, the more corrosion builds up on the electrical components inside, and the more fatigued the parts become.
Now, I don't keep expensive fish...but they're still worth an extra $20 every few years

I am a believer now that I've switched over to the visi-therm stealths...GREAT heaters. I got the 200w from petsmart for $20 (printed out their online price, but got it in store). For all the benefits (non breakable, auto-off if out of water, etc) $20 is a steal.

[Chaos553]

right now i use a all-glass aquarium brand submersible heater, and i love it. its always at the right temperature and it hasnt failed me yet =P