Heaters Question

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dempsey6

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Jul 13, 2010
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I recently installed 2 heaters in my tank (about 24 hours ago). Anyway the water doesn't feel any warmer; not even the water immediately surrounding the heater. Also, the heater itself is not warm at all when I touch it.


Safe to say it's not working correct?

FYI, they are 2 jager250 watt heaters..I bought them since I had heard they were some of the most reliable heaters on the market.
 

dempsey6

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Jul 13, 2010
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They are set at 77.

And I think I have one of those 99 cent thermometers that a friend just gave me somewhere..
 

Plague

O.o
Aug 4, 2010
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Miami, Fl
78 degrees feels slightly cold when I touch the water and my thermometer and heater work. I would just get another thermometer and cross check to see if they are working. A sure fire way to see if they work is to hold them out of the water and let them heat up (you risk losing the heater or doing permanent damage) and then seeing if it'll boil water when you let the heater touch the water. I learned this when I went to a friends house and he accidentally left the heater on after taking it out of the water.
 

dempsey6

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Jul 13, 2010
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Well I think they are indeed broken.

I checked today and the bulb which is supposed to turn red doesn't turn on either. First one only turns on right after you first put it in and for only about 60 seconds and then it is gone. The second one only flashes the red light when being hit against the tank or tank glass.

I think they are damaged. I bought them from BigAls online so I think they might have gotten banged up through the mail. My luck :(
 

beaven1367

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Jul 4, 2010
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the best thermomoter is the magnet type where the magnet is on the outside while the thermometor is in the inside. in the middle it has a green area thats where the temp should be if it goes above or below just adjust ur setting
 

Geeky1

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Aug 18, 2003
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I think they are damaged. I bought them from BigAls online so I think they might have gotten banged up through the mail. My luck :(
Every Ebo I've bought in the past couple of years has failed on me. Some stick on, some stick off, some just aren't calibrated properly, but I've had a 100% failure rate on them. According to my LFS manager, when Eheim bought the company they apparently moved production from Germany to China; you can imagine what that did for their quality and reliability.

I'd RMA them and replace them, personally. I've had good luck with the VisiTherm Stealths so far, and my inclination is to expect that the solid-state electronic thermostat in those is going to be more reliable than the bimetallic strip that is, as far as I know, still used in the Ebos and virtually everything else on the market, particularly in the long term (since it's not really subject to mechanical wear and tear...). I could turn out to be wrong, but for the time being they're the only heaters I'm buying.
 

OldMan47

I love my endlers
Jan 1, 2008
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Any heater that is not working to the indicated value can still be set correctly. In the old days, a few dozen years ago, heaters did not have any indication of the temperature setting. In those days we would place a new heater into a tank and simply wait for 10 or 15 minutes. After that time we would plug in the heater and turn the adjustment knob until the indicator just barely lit up. At that time the heater would be set to the present tank temperature. If the tan was not warm enough we would turn the adjustment higher, with the pilot light being on and would wait an hour or two for the temperature to stabilize at a new temperature. If the new temperature suited us, the adjustment was done. If it was still too cool, we would make another adjustment. This same method will work today if you are willing to ignore the indications on your heater and simply play around with the temperature that way. The 98 cent alcohol thermometer is probably the best you will find since it is simple and unaffected by things like battery state of charge.
 
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