I think my heaters screwed up, what do you think

Ok so a few days ago my heater all of a sudden brought my temperature up to 84 when I've had it set at 79 and this wasn't after a water change either and it never did things like this after a water change either, it's always kept a steady temp. Then today when I did my water change, I unplugged it like normal then plugged it back in and the pilot light would not go off no matter what way I turned the temp. control knob, then if finally went off and now even if I put it on 86 degrees it won't go off and the temp. is currently 80. I put two different thermometers in different spots to check if it was a bad thermometer but they read the same temp. and it does feel warm so I know somethings wrong. I don't see anything wrong with the heater but I might take it out to see if something is wrong. Basically I have no idea what type of heater it is, besides it's glass and fully submergible that I inherited from my grandpa almost two years ago and he was not using it at the time, I just found it sitting in his basement but it worked so I used it. Only thing I can think of maybe my angels cracked it from bumping into it, if so then I'll have to buy a heater guard or something when I have to buy a new one > I guess heaters do eventually just die from use ??? I don't know, haven't been keeping fish long enough to know

Please let me know what you think

 

If you decide to get a new one get this one in the appropriate wattage..

Those heaters ROCK!!! And they truly are set it and forget it heaters..

Sounds like yours is broken.

 

I was thinking of that heater or aquaclear, I recently bought an aquaclear for my Saltwater tank and I'm impressed by it and I can get it for a good price by me, with the stealth I can't, htough I'm thinking of buying two smaller stealths instead of one IF this one is broken and I can't get the other inherited HOB heater to work.

 

I may do the same...my heater is weirdly erratic though its the opposite way, it gets too cool, sometimes when I go to feed them or check on them I'm startled by a lack of humidity and find the water is room temp.

 

o, I think I'm going to deal with it for now and put off buying another heater and see what happens with the HOB this weekend when I can monitor the temp. better

Hope you get your heater fixed also.

 

I might suggest 2 heaters versus one. Here's my reasoning. When heaters fail one of two things happens: 1) It fails on...boiled fish. or 2) It fails off...cold fish. Personally, I prefer the 2nd outcome. However, all to frequently...I've seen the first happen. Now, you toss in 2 smaller heaters and you do end up with less heating power overall, should one fail. But, should one fail on....it won't contain the power necessary to fry everything in the tank. All the while, the other heater shuts down or works less than the one going crazy. It's a win-win. And...you can still tell what's happening, as the spot around the bad heater will get really warm, and the fish will stay away from it.

I'm doing this with my 55 soon. Yeah, I set it up with one heater, but have been seeing the lovely ideas of two. Every site I see that has one states much less problems with heating the whole tank, as you have more heating the tank than one heater can provide by itself, and they say that the overall temperature of the tank is much more constant than with just one heater.

Just my .02 cents.

 

That is a really good idea. It's too bad I have 3 heaters for my three tanks and each one is meant for that size of tank.
Tom

 

Resurecting an old thread. Ok, I don't know the heater works find now but that's on my things to buy list this fall/summer when I can afford is two heaters instead of one but I'm waiting till I get a job at my lfs so I get a discount. It definitely is better to have two than one for reasons like you said.

 

Doh!!! Sorry for resurrecting the dead.

 

It's fine