Marineland Stealth Pro Heater zapped!

S

sushiray

AC Members
Jan 14, 2009
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new windsor, ny
Didn't want to hijack another member's post on stealth issues.

so I bought a stealth pro 300w to try it out for it's auto-shutoff feature from www.kensfish.com couple months back along with visitherm deluxe 300w cuz I still believe them to be one of the best reliable accurate heaters around.

well, guess what! just now when doing a w/c the pro was left plugged in & just when I went more than 1/2 way down the length of the heater it popped snapple cracked! sizzling smoking smelling burnt.

so now I have to go complain & see if they will replace (went to www.marineland.com to find out more warranty info also just now but didn't know we could have registered one's equipment purchase but it doesn't have the 300w listed anyway).

so add me to the growing list of users with issues with the stealth/pro model.

btw - we all know practically everything is made in china (except my hanes underwear, made in mexico!) so no surprise the pro is. but this is a big surprise is that the visitherm deluxe is made in italy (guess these are the older stock ken still had)! not sure if that means better quality (for fashion yes but aquatic equipment??!!) - but I still feel the quality is there for the visitherm deluxes.

this is post I checked b4 I made my purchase:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=211162

here is my post back in jan.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214648&highlight=visitherm+heater&page=2

will post to see how I make out with the company.
 
so, they will replace it. customer svc was fine. but costs me $9 for ups, there goes my savings at kens.
 
they tried to tell me I had to have original receipt and all packaging (who keeps heater packaging!!) until I asked to speak to a manager...then they replaced but I had to mail back the damaged heater first. Pain in the butt
 
msjinkzd said:
they tried to tell me I had to have original receipt and all packaging (who keeps heater packaging!!) until I asked to speak to a manager...then they replaced but I had to mail back the damaged heater first. Pain in the butt
Click to expand...

And in the mean time you what....BUY ANOTHER HEATER....then you have an extra one, yay! :huh:
 
Why replace a detonated hand grenade with an undetonated one?

Buy a Stealth if available or go Rena/Finnex/Jaeger... anyone else at least half way reputable.

StealthPro=time bomb...
 
wait.. so you willfully and purposefully exposed an energized heater to open air, in an operational tank?

First - If you wanted to test the heater's ability to not catastrophically fail in conditions that warrant failure, you should not conduct said testing in a tank you wish to keep in good shape.

Second - It's a SAFETY feature, not a "bonus add-on". The auto shut-off is not there for your convenience, it is there IN CASE the water level dropped while you weren't around.

The heater should not have failed, but that is not the point. The heater should not have been willfully subjected to failure conditions, regardless of interlocks.
 
Purchased a Stealth Pro from F&S when they were first introduced and found it to be extremely innaccurate in maintaining desired temps.
returned to F&S for credit [$9.00 shipping loss] and purchased the very expensive Fluval E200. so far has been great[should be for the price] maintains extremely accurate settings.only gripe is housing should be black instead of grey to better blend to my tank background
 
The Visitherm Deluxes USED to be made in Italy. I've always used them with terrific reliability and temperature accuracy. I run a lot of 300W heaters and I replace them every couple/few years, taking advantage of sales at Drs. F&S. A few months ago I got some new Visitherms Deluxes and they too are now made in China. Every one of them is inaccurate on the temperature setting vs. actual tank temperature. We'll see how they do in the long run.
 
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