So I have 2 eheim jager one of them never turns on and one is very often on. I’m starting to get concerned because I just shut them off and adjusted the one to a lower temp hoping it would have less on cycles and give the other a chance to turn on at all. This was not the case. I plugged them back in and the hyperactive one is still on despite lowering its temperature and the other one is still dead. Any suggestions? I know that the temperatures aren’t very accurate so I have 2 thermometers to keep an eye on things. It’s a 75 gallon I have the heaters at a 45° angle.
Heater is on a lot
- Thread starter PinkFrostedSprinkledDonut
- Start date
It sounds to me like the one that doesn't turn on may be wore out. You may have to replace it.
WYite
WYite
they’re both 3 months old. I think I solved it by turning the one down even more. I just did a little research. I gotta calibrate them really well. Thanks for the quick response!
How many watts are each heater? For sure the dials and temperature indications on the heaters themselves are more of a guideline. If you had one heater set for a higher output than the other, I'd expect the higher set one to run much more, if not all the time compared to the other one.
I run a single 150 or 200w heater on my 75g. Always have. It will easily maintain 10deg above room temp.
I run a single 150 or 200w heater on my 75g. Always have. It will easily maintain 10deg above room temp.
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I hate heaters, almost any brand. The only ones that have worked flawlessly for me are the Hydor inlines. But I only run three of these as they are really only good to use with canisters or sumps. The heater is external to the tank and the water runs through it. It should be placed in the return line to the tank.
For other tanks I use a heater controller. It determines when the heaters go off and on and it also displays the water temp. I set the heaters a degree or two above the controller temp. This way if the controller were to fail. the heaters will still go on and should not overheat the water. On the other hand this heater setting also means when the controller activates them, the heaters will always turn on, unless they have failed.
I almost always use two smaller heaters on tanks rather than a single bigger one. This way if one fails the other still works and the tank will stay warmer than it would with no heater. It also helps to keep a more even temperature through out the tank when the heat source is in more than one place. I am protected from overheating but not from failure to heat at all.
For other tanks I use a heater controller. It determines when the heaters go off and on and it also displays the water temp. I set the heaters a degree or two above the controller temp. This way if the controller were to fail. the heaters will still go on and should not overheat the water. On the other hand this heater setting also means when the controller activates them, the heaters will always turn on, unless they have failed.
I almost always use two smaller heaters on tanks rather than a single bigger one. This way if one fails the other still works and the tank will stay warmer than it would with no heater. It also helps to keep a more even temperature through out the tank when the heat source is in more than one place. I am protected from overheating but not from failure to heat at all.
I agree with TTA, heaters are the weakest link in our hobby. I don't currently use heaters in my tanks...but if I needed to I'd likely do what he does, inline or controller...or 2 smaller 1s...
I agree as well. i had my eheim jager malfunction on me as well,it start overheat and then was constantly on. Hydor Theo failed on me as well. Officially three heaters failed on me. Lost 4 heaters originally, where i break one and it shocked and burned me hand.
It's actually not a bad thing to have the heaters set at different temps. It's better for a heater to be on constantly than to be switching off and on for short cycles. Short cycles mean more wear and tear on the solenoid and that's what causes heaters to fail. By using two lower wattage heaters set at different temps:
1. the lower set heater only comes on when it's really needed or when the higher set heater fails,
2. if the higher set heater actually gets stuck in "on" mode, as long as it's low wattage there's less chance of cooking your fish.
1. the lower set heater only comes on when it's really needed or when the higher set heater fails,
2. if the higher set heater actually gets stuck in "on" mode, as long as it's low wattage there's less chance of cooking your fish.