Heaters - Which are the most Reliable

[btkrausen]

After several incidents with heaters this year, and my fiasco last year with a Stealth blowing up and cracking my sump, I'm looking to see what you think are the most reliable heaters. I went to an Eheim-Jaggers, but it stopped working on me...had to jiggle the cord for it to turn on. Then, my Eheim controller died, causing my tank to drop to 70 yet again once night.

What do you guys recommend? Please only responses with personal experience with multiple heater brands.

 

[laynframe]

jagger with a Ranco controller works well. Ive never had issues with either of them! You could use a 2 stage ranco controller with 2 heaters in case one doesnt work it will kick in heater number 2, also you could wire in a led light to let you know the 2nd heater is working to. Sorry im kinda a diy guy.

 

[btkrausen]

Thats fine, I appreciate the suggestions. Right now, I'm running an Eheim Digital Controller (Manual one is the controller that died) with an 800w titanium tube attached. The controller is plugged into my Apex for extra protection. I don't like using the big 800w heater, but it was all I had spare when my Jaggers wouldn't/couldn't keep up with the coldness.

 

[Octospek]

ive had problems with both marineland and all glass heaters not turning off period.

 

[mc-cro]

The old ebo-jaggers were bullet proof, but somewhere along the lines they changed slightly, and while they are still good, they are not as good. I have found that I have better luck if I dont submerse them. I eventually went with some ebo jaggers on a Ranco and never looked back.

 

[btkrausen]

ive had problems with both marineland and all glass heaters not turning off period.

Yeah, I've had them stick in the on position as well. Now I make sure to run through my Apex controller to cut the power if it gets too hot.

The old ebo-jaggers were bullet proof, but somewhere along the lines they changed slightly, and while they are still good, they are not as good. I have found that I have better luck if I dont submerse them. I eventually went with some ebo jaggers on a Ranco and never looked back.

Thanks. I've never heard of Ranco before I started looking around tonight. There is a thread on RC about the Stealth heaters blowing up, and the referenced my thread about my incident. A lot of people on that thread were talking about Ranco too. Gonna have to check them out.

 

[btkrausen]

Where are you guys buying the Ranco heaters? I don't see them on Premium Aquatics or Foster and Smith.

Has anybody tried that JBJ True Temp setup?

 

[mc-cro]

I forget where I bought mine, I paid $75 for mine with the temp probe sealed off in clear shrink wrap type stuff. A lot of people dont seal the temp probe, but they are supposed to be. I saw one on another board just a day or two ago, dual stage, for $65.

You really cant go wrong buying a new or used Ranco, they are industrial strength, and they have been in the simple controller business for years.

 

[nixer]

you can get new rancos pretty cheap especially on ebay. they are typically 46-70$ for the singe stage.
they are noisy, allow for a 2 degree swing, and they too can stick on, but you can wire them together.
i dunno if the probe itself is waterproof or not.
you could also opt for the many other controllers out there. most of them are typically used for industrial applications.

you might also want to look at johnson controls, helix, herpstat, there really is alot of them out there some are on/off, some are proportionate, some even have replacement probes

oh yea and the only reliable heater is one that isnt plugged in!

 

[Rayzback]

I run the JBJ True Temp... loveit, no problems to date... knocking

 

[btkrausen]

I forget where I bought mine, I paid $75 for mine with the temp probe sealed off in clear shrink wrap type stuff. A lot of people dont seal the temp probe, but they are supposed to be. I saw one on another board just a day or two ago, dual stage, for $65.

You really cant go wrong buying a new or used Ranco, they are industrial strength, and they have been in the simple controller business for years.

Thanks man, much appreciated. I've never heard of a temp probe not being waterproof.

you can get new rancos pretty cheap especially on ebay. they are typically 46-70$ for the singe stage.
they are noisy, allow for a 2 degree swing, and they too can stick on, but you can wire them together.
i dunno if the probe itself is waterproof or not.
you could also opt for the many other controllers out there. most of them are typically used for industrial applications.

you might also want to look at johnson controls, helix, herpstat, there really is alot of them out there some are on/off, some are proportionate, some even have replacement probes

oh yea and the only reliable heater is one that isnt plugged in!

I'm going to research some Ranco controllers, and probably get one as a spare in case the Finnex gives out.

I run the JBJ True Temp... loveit, no problems to date... knocking

I've been thinking about trying this setup, but never seen many reviews on it. Thanks for the tip.

 

[chadfarmer]

the jbj true temp has failed on a few locals --- i would suggest 2 smaller heaters instead of 1 big 1

 

[aquafrags]

your best option if you have continually had heater problems. get a dual ranco controller. If you want to run 800 watts of total heater, do not buy a 800 watt heater, because if it fails then you have no backup and have a drastic drop in temp. I would recomend getting 2 400 watt heaters and if you wanted the temp to stay @ 78 degrees. I would set one heater @ 78 degrees and one @ 77 degrees, then you always have a back up (you can set the temp diff to come on @ one degree). You will be able to find a used ranco controller in the 4 sale section dry goods, just keep looking they always come up. I have been using finnex titanium heaters on a ranco controller for 8 yrs and have had no problem, I do change out the sticks every three years, because my heaters run all the time in the winter, my tanks are in the garage!!

 

[btkrausen]

the jbj true temp has failed on a few locals --- i would suggest 2 smaller heaters instead of 1 big 1

Thanks. That is actually what I was running until the 300w failed, only leaving me witha 250w, which couldn't keep up. I think I'm going to go this route coming off the Ranco Controllers

your best option if you have continually had heater problems. get a dual ranco controller. If you want to run 800 watts of total heater, do not buy a 800 watt heater, because if it fails then you have no backup and have a drastic drop in temp. I would recomend getting 2 400 watt heaters and if you wanted the temp to stay @ 78 degrees. I would set one heater @ 78 degrees and one @ 77 degrees, then you always have a back up (you can set the temp diff to come on @ one degree). You will be able to find a used ranco controller in the 4 sale section dry goods, just keep looking they always come up. I have been using finnex titanium heaters on a ranco controller for 8 yrs and have had no problem, I do change out the sticks every three years, because my heaters run all the time in the winter, my tanks are in the garage!!

Thanks, I appreciate the response. I didn't want to run 800w of heater, but its all I had at the time. My sump and frag tank are in the garage as well, which is why my heaters had trouble keeping up.

 

[swannyson7]

I'm running a Finnex titanium hooked up to my Apex and have had no problems thus far. One thing I would definitely suggest is running multiple small heaters rather than one large one. That way if one of the heaters fails, your tank won't boil or freeze, but will still stay within an acceptable range.

 

[Viva'sReef]

IME the Finnex Titanium heaters are the best heater element.....Now controllers are a different story. Personally I have been trusting the task of controlling to my RKE without any backup and it has been running just fine since I purchased the RKE over a year ago

 

[btkrausen]

Thanks again for the responses. I'm going to look into two of the 400w Titanium heaters from Finnex, attached to two different controllers for redundancy. This is the first winter with my sump in the garage, so I guess I need to be better prepared next year with redundancy.

 

[Captain Nemo]

I had a stealth heater, and it crashed my tank so I now hate them. Anyways, on a brighter note my new finnex heater is AWESOME!!! On the money with the temp all the time. Its also titanium, so no chance of breaking/corrosion!

 

[btkrausen]

I had a stealth heater, and it crashed my tank so I now hate them. Anyways, on a brighter note my new finnex heater is AWESOME!!! On the money with the temp all the time. Its also titanium, so no chance of breaking/corrosion!

Don't speak too fast, I've heard of these things exploding as well, just not as often.

 

[Captain Nemo]

I was referring to the glass heaters breaking, not specifically about these. LOL