Heater.

[Tracy G]

Anyone have their heaters in their overflows? Was thinking about doing that since I have large overflows and could use the sump space back. I would also put the temp sensor in the sump to make sure temp stays up

 

 

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[miggs76]

Yup. I keep both heaters in the overflow and the temp sensor in the sump.

[monkiboy]

that sounds like a really bad idea. just one example: power goes out, overflow drains and heater is immediately exposed to air. heater breaks/cracks. power comes back on and let the zapping begin.

[Origami]

that sounds like a really bad idea. just one example: power goes out, overflow drains and heater is immediately exposed to air. heater breaks/cracks. power comes back on and let the zapping begin.

But... If the power goes out, the heater is not on. Still, I know what you're saying.

 

I personally dislike placing heaters and temperature sensors in different parts of the system. Like Marco says, you need to consider failure scenarios. If the return pump fails for any reason, there's the chance that if the heater is still powered, that it will be turned on by the cooling temperature in the sump, causing problems if dry or cooking the tank if wet.

 

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[Tracy G]

But... If the power goes out, the heater is not on. Still, I know what you're saying.

 

I personally dislike placing heaters and temperature sensors in different parts of the system. Like Marco says, you need to consider failure scenarios. If the return pump fails for any reason, there's the chance that if the heater is still powered, that it will be turned on by the cooling temperature in the sump, causing problems if dry or cooking the tank if wet.

 

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both are great points. As for the running dry issue I don't think that will be a problem since the overflow is very large and water would not empty far enough for that. If the pump does stop that could be an issue but both of my heaters have their own sensor I just set them higher but if it got too hot they would shut off on their own. I do have 2 temp sensors now for my Apex but I am only using 1 of them and not sure if I need anything else to get a second but maybe I could put a second sensor in the overflow just in case. Will have to read up on Apex

 

 

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[bravanc]

please put your temp sensor in the same chamber as the heater,  i just had an issue where my hosed poped off of my bio-pellet reactor and spilled into my backup/floor and drained the system enough to where there was no water flowing.  Heater came on in one chamber as the temp sensor was in another chamber, needless to say the water got very hot in the chamber.  i only noticed it when i saw steam comming from the sump.  Glad i was at home at that time

[Origami]

both are great points. As for the running dry issue I don't think that will be a problem since the overflow is very large and water would not empty far enough for that. If the pump does stop that could be an issue but both of my heaters have their own sensor I just set them higher but if it got too hot they would shut off on their own. I do have 2 temp sensors now for my Apex but I am only using 1 of them and not sure if I need anything else to get a second but maybe I could put a second sensor in the overflow just in case. Will have to read up on Apex

 

 

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I have a second temperature sensor on my Apex connected through a PX1000 (the old extension box for the AC series of controllers).

 

please put your temp sensor in the same chamber as the heater,  i just had an issue where my hosed poped off of my bio-pellet reactor and spilled into my backup/floor and drained the system enough to where there was no water flowing.  Heater came on in one chamber as the temp sensor was in another chamber, needless to say the water got very hot in the chamber.  i only noticed it when i saw steam comming from the sump.  Glad i was at home at that time

You should always set your heater's built-in thermostat to just above the desired tank operating temperature when running them off of the controller. The theory is that the internal thermostat will open and turn the heater off in the event that power is continuously applied (should a controller fail or, like you saw, something else happens where it is turned on continuously). It's still a risk to measure in separate chambers, but it's one way to mitigate the risk and to possibly keep the tank from cooling too much.