visi therm heater blew up....twice in 3 days.

[itzafugasi]

i have (well, had) 2 visi therm deluxe glass heaters for 3 months now, without a problem. this past saturday, one of them blew up in my sump. smoke was coming out of the water, and the glass cracked. luckily, nothing burned or died and nobody got hurt. my water had a burning smell that was pretty nasty. just as the smell was going away, my backup heater (same brand) blew again today.... i dont know what the problem is. i sent the first one back to marineland today for a replacement, and now i have no heater for my tank. i dont think i did anything wrong. the heater has always been fully submerged. the only thing i can think of is if my heater got some kind of electrical spike. any thoughts? this is frustrating.....i think its time for a titanium heater.

 

[theatrus]

Or an Ebo-Jager

But I would think you'd notice an electric surge. A heater is a very simple electronic device, I would think you would have noticed other failures if somewhat was wrong supply side. I assume you have a GFCI circuit and maybe a surge protector on your aquarium?

No heater lasts forever...

 

[grimlock3000]

Well, typically heaters do not "blow up" and VisiTherms are pretty durable overall. Any chance the heater came out of the water? Anything may hay hit the heater? Anything else in the house blow up? Did you have any brown outs?

 

[loganj]

I'd go with a Won Pro Heat...I've had great luck with them. I used to like the VisiTherms until I had one explode in my sump. JMHO.

 

[itzafugasi]

well, by blowing up i mean the glass cracking and smoke coming up from the unit...sorry if that was misleading. i do have a surge protector on everything. the heater has always been underwater... it is just very odd that this happened.. i have had a tetra heater for my fw tank for over a year w/o any trouble. bad luck i guess??

is my water safe or is it contaminated?

 

[loganj]

I'd do a water change just to be safe. My Visi Therm sounded like a firecracker going off underwater. Big, hollow thump...cloud of smoke and steam...actually blew some water out of the sump.

 

[phases99]

Wow, their older models were flawless. Sounds like a quality control issue with the new one's. Not a good sign.

 

[itzafugasi]

well, i bought a visi therm stealth. its made of plastic and is supposedly shatter proof. and it has auto shut off if it overheats. so far, so good.

 

[klam]

I had a visi therm that stuck and boiled one of my tanks. Only thing going for titanium heaters is that they dont shatter or crack but they can still malfunction and boil your tank.

 

[phases99]

I had a visi therm that stuck and boiled one of my tanks. Only thing going for titanium heaters is that they dont shatter or crack but they can still malfunction and boil your tank.

That stinks!!! Using 2 smaller heaters instead of 1 large one will help avoid that kind of disaster. I wish I thought of it before I bought mine.

 

[revhtree]

Could a Mantis crack one open??

 

[IfoundNemo]

My water temp remains constant 75F w/o heater. Ebo Jagar heater stated 200watts for 40-90 gal tank. But, some people say that 4 watt/gal is required. So, do i still need to get a 300watt heater for a 75 gal?

 

[dralarms]

Contact marineland, they most likely will replace it. They did mine. and it just busted in the sump.

 

[c0mf0rt]

I second the mantis..... I've heard of them cracking thermometers... .why not a heater????