@Inkbird _Official... I have an ITC-306A controller controlling 2 xBRS 600W titanium heaters. T1 is set at 77.5 and T2 at 78.0F This afternoon, I got an alert that temp was high at 79.0. it has stayed at this temp all afternoon. I thought the controller is suppose to turn off the heater at 78 to prevent it from going above? Does this mean the controller is faulty?
Ink Bird ITC 306A issues
- Thread starter Kingston
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blaxsun
10K Club member
Check the placement of the temperature probes (sometimes they become detached), and if that’s normal try turning the Inkbird off, wait a minute, then turn it on again - all through the interface.
Sometimes the temperature reading gets “stuck” and has to be reset. Also note that occasionally the Inkbird “overheats” (ie: let’s the heaters run to long) due to the temperature measuring intervals. If it’s reading 79 then verify that it’s actually not heating.
Sometimes the temperature reading gets “stuck” and has to be reset. Also note that occasionally the Inkbird “overheats” (ie: let’s the heaters run to long) due to the temperature measuring intervals. If it’s reading 79 then verify that it’s actually not heating.
Room temp is 72. The tank is in the basement with AC on
So the temp probes have been detached. The suction cups to work well but they were still below water surface. I will try turning it off and on when i get home this evening to see.
ShadowMan
Community Member
I've had this issue in the past, but it's only occurred when the ambient room temperature has crept up during the hot summer days. I did have to recalibrate the Inkbird to run -0.2C, as 2 independent thermostats had slightly lower temperatures. I've also got the probes at opposite ends to end a more balanced read, rather than having them closer together.
I also had similar issues with the probes not staying put... but a quick scrub in some citric acid and a good clean of the glass resolved that!
Gtinnel
10K Club member
As long as the probes are still in the water then them not being suctioned to the glass shouldn't matter. Even if the temp probes were out of the water once the temp on the probes raised to over 78 it should turn the heaters off, even if that 78 was from the temp probes reading air temp (seems incredibly unlikely). When you saw the temp did you notice if the inkbird showed that it was still heating the water?
No the inkbird was not heating the water.
So this morning the temp went down to 78.6F. Later this evening went back up to 79.1F and staying there. I turned the inkbird off for about and hour and back on and temp remains the same....79.1F solid. I verified tank temp with Hanna probe and its 79.0F.
Gtinnel
10K Club member
Well if the inkbird is kicking off at the the set temp then as suggested by @Jekyl it's other things in the tank increasing the temp that high.
You need to either figure out what is adding that much heat to the tank, or find a way to reduce the temp. A chiller would work although they're not cheap and use a decent amount of energy. There is a cheap route of having a fan blow across the surface of the water. It's cheap but could significantly increase your evaporation rate and humidity in your house.
If this just started and the temps used to be lower, then I would personally start looking at equipment to see if anything is getting way too hot.
You need to either figure out what is adding that much heat to the tank, or find a way to reduce the temp. A chiller would work although they're not cheap and use a decent amount of energy. There is a cheap route of having a fan blow across the surface of the water. It's cheap but could significantly increase your evaporation rate and humidity in your house.
If this just started and the temps used to be lower, then I would personally start looking at equipment to see if anything is getting way too hot.
I am not sure if it kicked off at 78 or 79. I just noticed when the high alarm went off at 79.1F . i did increase my reef octopus skimmer pump speed to level 4 on saturday and cleaned my return pump.
So still trying to work out the puzzle of why my tank is currently running at 79F for the past 2 days. I gather courage and touched the titanium heaters and they didn't seem warm at all. I ultimately unplugged the heaters from the controller and lo and after 1.5hrs, the temp is still 79F registered by the controller. So it looks like something is heating 400g of water to 79F and its not the heaters.
Current equipment:
1. Jebao DCP 10000 80W return pump running at 35%
2. Jebao DCP 6500 55W feed pump for ext protein skimmer running 30%
3. Varios 6S 70W skimmer pump for RO 300Ext skimmer
4. Pentair 120W UV sterilizer
5. Neptune refugium light
6. Tank light 4 Kessil 360s and 8 T5s
7. 4 power heads (2 gyre and 2 tunzes)
I know its not the fuge light since the temp was 79 even when the fuge light was off
Tank lights have been off for 40mins and temp is unchanged
Now wondering how I can safely go through some elimination process and still keep the tank running.
What is baffling is that these equipment have all been running for over a year and a half.
Any suggestions guys and gals?
Current equipment:
1. Jebao DCP 10000 80W return pump running at 35%
2. Jebao DCP 6500 55W feed pump for ext protein skimmer running 30%
3. Varios 6S 70W skimmer pump for RO 300Ext skimmer
4. Pentair 120W UV sterilizer
5. Neptune refugium light
6. Tank light 4 Kessil 360s and 8 T5s
7. 4 power heads (2 gyre and 2 tunzes)
I know its not the fuge light since the temp was 79 even when the fuge light was off
Tank lights have been off for 40mins and temp is unchanged
Now wondering how I can safely go through some elimination process and still keep the tank running.
What is baffling is that these equipment have all been running for over a year and a half.
Any suggestions guys and gals?
Gtinnel
10K Club member
I would think if it were a pump you would be able to touch the pump and feel if it was hot. To heat up that much water it would have to be pretty hot, well actually it would be a combination of all of the equipment, but if it wasn't running hot before then something obviously had to change.
You could also turn the skimmer off for an hour or two and that would check 2 of your pumps.
Since you seem to have an apex, are any of the pumps plugged into the energy bar. If so can you check to see if any of them look unusual in regards to power monitoring.
You could also turn the skimmer off for an hour or two and that would check 2 of your pumps.
Since you seem to have an apex, are any of the pumps plugged into the energy bar. If so can you check to see if any of them look unusual in regards to power monitoring.
Gtinnel
10K Club member
I can't judge I've had my apex for around 4 months and I have one thing plugged into the energy bar.
DaddyFish
“5 percenter”
You have roughly 270 watts of heat being generated 24x7 to the water column (return pump, feed pump, skimmer pump, 120w UV). There's your heat sources. Might as well say you have the equivalent of a 300w heater turned wide open.
80 x .35
55 x .35
70
120
plus whatever for power heads
All those items (I assume) are submerged in the water column. All that power is dissipated as heat to the water column.
Gtinnel
10K Club member
I could be wrong here but I don't think it works that way. Sure the pumps produce heat but most of the energy they use is converted into mechanical energy not heat energy. They are taking in a certain amount of energy and if it is all converted to heat there wouldn't be any water movement. Also, if it were just because of the heat produced by the pumps functioning normally then the OP's temperatures would've always been higher than they wanted.
Its interesting how based on the initial calculations when setting up the tank, even one 600W heater may be barely enough to heat the tank and now 270W minus mechanical energy is able to maintain my tank at 79.
DaddyFish
“5 percenter”
You are correct, however, the average efficiency of a permanent magnet motor is roughly 80%. So at least 20% of the total energy consumed is directly lost as heat due to resistance. There's also friction of the mechanical components in motion etc. etc. Point is, there's a lot of power being consumed and a major portion of that is being lost as heat directly into the water column. The UV is especially responsible for a large heat source.
Example would be one of my tanks is a 90-gal running a 36w UV. Ambient room temperature never exceeds 75F. All pumps are external except for one 40w first-stage return. The heaters for that tank never run and the tank struggles to stay below 79F. But shut down the UV and within 24-hours the heaters are cycling.
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