Complete Sump Failure

[Sharkey18]

So I came home from work this morning and found several gallons of water on my living room floor.

I had done a water change earlier in the morning so I thought I just left something running.

 

But then I found glass on the floor.

Some how one side of the glass on my sump was destroyed. Not cracked, not leaking. Totally destroyed.

 

From inside the sump....

 

From the outside of the sump....

 

 

And here is what remains of the stealth heater that was in that section.

 

I don't know what happened. I suspect that for some reason the heater exploded and the force of it hitting the glass explded the glass.... but that would have to be some crazy explosion. Is it possible that the glass cracked and drained and the heater, now running dry, THEN exploded?

 

Good news is that it wasn't in the display and that as soon as the return section emptied (seconds?) the return pump stopped pumping back into the tank so hopefully there is no contamination in the display.

 

Anyone experience this before?

 

Laura

 

PS see my post about needing a new sump in WTB forum!

[flowerseller]

RUN CARBON. lots of it.

I have 15g of 1.026 water if you need it.

[DaveS]

I have about 50G of RO/DI water and plenty of salt if you need it. I even have 3-4 5G containers you can transport them in (thanks to Dave Lin).

[Sharkey18]

THANKS! I have plenty of water, but I really appreciate the offers.

 

Do you really think that much got into the DT? With that large hole in the return section the water has to drain in seconds which means the return pump was running dry really fast.

Everything in the DT looks fine....

 

Laura

[gmubeach]

Just be glad you didn't get hurt.... how does your live stock look? I would also run carbon....anyway this happens every few months... my advice is invest in a higher quaity heater!

[Hilary]

Holy cow, Laura! I'd love to know what happened first - heater exploding or sump, since I use the stealths in several of my tanks. Glad to hear that so far everything is good in the display!

[ctenophore]

My guess is the glass failed first, then the heater. Lucky for you (if such a thing can be said) because it prevented the heater from contaminating your tank. Good luck with the cleanup & rebuild. Just out of curiosity, was the top of your heater underwater normally, or did you keep it out of the water at normal sump level?

[darkcirca]

I've read a lot of problems with the stealth heaters recently - including something like this happening to someone else. Only found that out because I was just researching a new heater to buy, as I don't like the Visitherm Deluxe anymore.

 

Did you recently purchase this heater, or have you had it for awhile?

 

There was a post on 4/16 on RC that someone had happen and their sump cracked as well..

Edited April 24, 2010 by darkcirca

[Glenn]

I'll add my two cents here also .. is it possible the heater was near or next to the glass and got stuck in the ON cycle? I had a 1KW heater in my 220g tank and got stuck ON .. the heat from it cracked the glass enough for water to leak. When he heater was out of the water, it basically burnt up and popped the breaker on the electrical panel.

 

Run carbon !

[Origami]

Wow. Laura, was the heater laying on the bottom of the sump, or was it upright? The radiating cracks in the glass wall plus the almost circular pattern in the edge of the break seems to almost to indicate impact damage (to a layman). It's possible, I guess, that the heater casing failed and water, entering the crack, instantly vaporized and caused the casing to shatter, possibly blowing out the side of the sump. This really brings home the Stealth reliability question....

[chucelli]

My Stealth was luckily in my water change tub when I discovered it was stuck ON and leaking current into the water. I found out when I got a pleasant shock when I stuck my hand in the tub.

The RC post linked above contains postings from multiple users who have had failures with their stealth heaters, including explosion. I'm not sure how they can get away with releasing such a product. Seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

-R

[overklok]

Might be a good idea to get heaters out for sumps for the summer. My temp is so stable, I have not used a heater for 2 years, I have removed all heaters from my system.

[darkcirca]

Googling found several others, including one that Marineland is supposed to be reimbursing for the problems.

 

May be a good idea to contact them regarding this...

[Sharkey18]

Let's see.

 

The heater was in an up-right position, not lying on the bottom.

 

i am not sure if the top was submerged or not. One of the reasons I have liked stealths in the past because they CAN be submerged and I don't want to have to worry about a heater that CAN"T be submerged falling it.... I will say I have been using stealths for years (originally in fresh water ) and have never had a problem.

 

It is possible that it was up against the glass.... but not likely.

 

I agree that the radiation pattern of glass cracking looks like an impact to me, but what do I know about glass impact fracture patterns?? Ummmm, not much. Well, ok, nothing at all. I will say that you can't tell in the pictures but there was a giant hole in the glass. A lot of the bottom glass fell off when I started moving stuff around but there was glass attached to the rim on the top and bottom, but a giant hole in the middle. Also, the bulkhead is intact so the break probably started elsewhere but see reference to knowledge on the subject above....

 

When I woke up this morning the tank temp was 74.... I noticed it was low but was in a rush to get to work and thought I'll deal with that later.... which I most certainly am. So it is possible that the heater started failing last night. Also, my house is brick, faces north-east and is shaded by 2 giant trees. The interior is always cool, and if it isn't I turn on the AC since i like a cool temp. It is possible that the heater was stuck on. The heater was plugged into my controller and with low temp reading it may have been pushed too hard. I just recently (2 weeks ago) REMOVED the second heater thinking I wouldn't need it for the summer.

 

I am sure there is user error in this equation somewhere. Most likely multiple times.

 

But it was a spectacular failure and so far the livestock SEEMS ok. The fact that it was so dramatic probably saved my tank.....

 

Laura

[Chris-]

Okay, thats just crazy!? Good to see all the fishy's are okay.