Stealth heater bubbling

[Coral Hind]

While I was doing a water change and vacuuming out my sump I noticed my 200w Stealth heater had bubbles in the plastic case. The bubbles were about 4" from the bottom. This heater is less then a year old and I doubt it has many hours of use on it since the MH normally keep the tank pretty warm. The heater was never allowed to run out of water and I have it positioned so the control end is not submerged. Anyone else ever seen this happen before. I guess it is a good reminder for us to always check out our equipment from time to time.

 

[iangibby]

Thats scary do you think they'll replace it?

[tecsavi]

Ok this is the 4th time in the past week I have read about these stealth heaters having either a meltdown and in one case it exploded and tore up a sump. I have one of these in my tank and it's making me uneasy. Way too much livetock at stake to have something like a heater take everything out.

 

In the past I used Ebo Jager heaters and they were pretty tough and never failed on me. I haven't seen these anywhere. What are you going to replace your heater with?

 

 

[hypertech]

That's crazy. I've used a lot of stealth heaters. One had a thermostat failure but still kept ticking on a controller. Another leaked current. I have always run them fully submerged.

 

Is this a newer one? I've heard of more problems with the newer ones. At this point, I'm not sure I'd buy another one.

[Chad]

Good catch on finding it before a problem could occur. It seems that you are doing thing right with the control end being out of the water. May just be "one of those things,' but I have seen way too many problems with stealth heaters over the years to use one. I haven't run a heater in years, but if I did, I would probaby use one of those under tank heaters that the freshwater plant folks use. I like the idea of getting as much electrically powered stuff as possible out of the water.

[Coral Hind]

What are you going to replace your heater with?

 

Eheim Ebo Jager!

[Coral Hind]

Is this a newer one?

I guess it is the newer one as I bought it last January at Petco late one weekend to replace my other Stealth that stopped working.

 

Good catch on finding it before a problem could occur. It seems that you are doing thing right with the control end being out of the water. May just be "one of those things,' but I have seen way too many problems with stealth heaters over the years to use one. I haven't run a heater in years, but if I did, I would probaby use one of those under tank heaters that the freshwater plant folks use. I like the idea of getting as much electrically powered stuff as possible out of the water.

Good idea. I will look into that option as I could put it under my sump.

[overklok]

Looks like a hotdog!!!!

[extreme_tooth_decay]

One of my favorite subjects!

 

That is pretty nasty looking. At least you discovered it without some catastrophe.

 

While no heater is perfect, and there will of course be failures for them all, it has always seemed to me that there are enormously more reports of stealth heaters failing than Ebo Jager, now Eheim Jager. Here is an old compilation I made one time: LINK. This is another thread we had more recently: LINK. I don't understand why people use heaters with so many failure reports when there are heaters available that have so much fewer.

 

At that time, I could find a single report of Jager heaters failing. I have now seen one here on WAMAS.

 

All the people in this single thread talking about failures of stealths is enough by itself to steer me clear of them...you will not find a similar thread for Jager.

Edited November 22, 2010 by extreme_tooth_decay

[tecsavi]

I found out that Marine Depot carries Ebo Jager heaters. I might just have to yank the stealth out and banish it to the saltwater mixing bucket.

 

Did your heater stick on the on position to get that bubbling or did you just happen to notice it? One of the features I wanted to use a controller for was to shut these things down if a heater sticks on. I also heard that dedicated Ranco controllers are better at it though.

[Coral Hind]

I just happened to notice it while I was doing a water change. I'm protected from a heater cooking my tank, I have an ACIII that turns on a single stage Ranco that operates the heater.

[extreme_tooth_decay]

I found out that Marine Depot carries Ebo Jager heaters. I might just have to yank the stealth out and banish it to the saltwater mixing bucket.

 

Pretty much everyone carries Jager heaters. I see them at pretty much all LFS and online. I buy mine at That Fish Place.

 

They are either called "Jager" or "Eheim Jager". "Ebo Jager" is what they were called a long time ago before Eheim took over Ebo.

 

There are some accounts that the newer Eheim Jager heaters are not as good as the old Ebo Jager heaters (there are also accounts that this is no longer the case)...but it still seems clear that even if this is the case, they are still enormously better than stealths, given the trouble reports I have seen.

Edited November 22, 2010 by extreme_tooth_decay

[BowieReefer84]

Another heater with very good feedback is the Rena Smartheater.

 

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem.aspx?category=Aquarium_Pharmaceuticals_RENA_SmartHeater_Inline_Specialty_Heaters&vendor=Aquarium_Pharmaceuticals_API_MARS_Fishcare&idProduct=AP7151&IdCategory=FIHTIH&tab=4

 

I have one, and haven't had a problem.

[cbatkinson]

I had a stealth...and i think it blew up....my tank temp shot up to the mid 80's. I replaced it with a Rena and haven't had a problem since.....

[Origami]

Coral Hind, out of curiosity, is it an older Stealth or one of the newer Stealth Pro's? The newer ones have a light on top that tell when it's on. There have, it seems, been many reports of failures (including one that exploded on Laura - Sharkey18 - here on our boards). I ran the older ones for over 3 years without incident, but now use them only for my change water.

[tygger]

I've been using 3 of the older (no light indicator) ones for the past couple years with no incident. This is making me nervous.

[Coral Hind]

Coral Hind, out of curiosity, is it an older Stealth or one of the newer Stealth Pro's? The newer ones have a light on top that tell when it's on.

 

There is no light on the top of mine.

[Origami]

There is no light on the top of mine.

It's an older model, then. Most of the failures I've read about (never experienced one myself) were failures coming right after the introduction of the Stealth Pro heaters.

 

If you're so inclined, drop a line to Marineland. Many of their heaters are guaranteed for life. You may find it useful to heat your change water or to keep on hand as an emergency spare.