Nearly Blew Up my Heater

[WrenFeenix]

I was cleaning a tank when I looked over and saw that my heater's light was on. I had forgotten to unplug it!
It had been half out of the water for maybe 5 mins before I noticed. It was warm to the touch by the time I unplugged it. It has no visible damage. Should I still use it, or is it too risky?

It's a glass 100W Aqueon heater, btw.

 

[BigManAquatics]

You may be OK. Any visible burn/scorch marks on it? We did that to one and used it for a few weeks afterwards no problems, before we replaced it out of precaution.

 

[WrenFeenix]

You may be OK. Any visible burn/scorch marks on it? We did that to one and used it for a few weeks afterwards no problems, before we replaced it out of precaution.

It thankfully doesn't have any scorch marks. I already have it hooked up to a heater controller, so it will take care of the temp even if the heater fried its own thermostat. However, my tanks aren't grounded, but I've filled up the tank all the way and I don't see water or condensation in it.

 

[BigManAquatics]

It thankfully doesn't have any scorch marks. I already have it hooked up to a heater controller, so it will take care of the temp even if the heater fried its own thermostat. However, my tanks aren't grounded, but I've filled up the tank all the way and I don't see water or condensation in it.

I would probably order or go shopping for a new one at least, but hopefully it works at least for a few more days

 

[WrenFeenix]

I would probably order or go shopping for a new one at least, but hopefully it works at least for a few more days

I actually already have a replacement in the case a heater died. It's brand-new.

 

[BigManAquatics]

I actually already have a replacement in case a heater dies.

Nice to be ahead of the game!

 

[CrackerboxPalace]

I used to leave my heater on during water changes up until a while ago when i burnt myself touching it terrible idea by me, but my heater works fine still.

 

[BigManAquatics]

I typically keep my heaters down within a couole inches of the substrate so i don't have to worry about remembering to unplug. Especially after the incident we had when we left it plugged in.

 

[WrenFeenix]

I typically keep my heaters down within a couole inches of the substrate so i don't have to worry about remembering to unplug. Especially after the incident we had when we left it plugged in.

I do the same thing; I keep my heater as deep as possible in case of an event like this.
This heater had already been acting a little suspicious for a couple weeks; it would occasionally go up or down one degree when it had a track-record of being steady as a rock. It's about 3 years old, and I guess whatever issue it was having will be worse now.

Nice to be ahead of the game!

I'm accident-prone, so I compensate for my own stupidity. Works great!

 

[BigManAquatics]

I do the same thing; I keep my heater as deep as possible in case of an event like this.
This heater had already been acting a little suspicious for a couple weeks; it would occasionally go up or down one degree when it had a track-record of being steady as a rock. It's about 3 years old, and I guess whatever issue it was having will be worse now.

I'm accident-prone, so I compensate for my own stupidity. Works great!

Self-awareness!! A handy and often necessary skill to have

 

[WrenFeenix]

I just replaced the heater, and I noticed the old one looks kinda... brown.

 

[BigManAquatics]

I just replaced the heater, and I noticed the old one looks kinda... brown.

Probable scorch marks. When we had it happen, first thing we noticed was smoke coming from the heater, then noticed the marks after. Had we had an extra one, would have swapped it out immediately. As it was, it was late enough at night nothing was open anyway.

 

[WrenFeenix]

Oh, crud. I think I fried my Inkbird. In my panic, I didn't thoroughly dry my hands before I pulled out the plug, and I may have gotten it wet in the process. I thought my new heater was defective (it wasn't turning on) until I plugged it into the wall.
Does anyone know how to reset an inkbird? Unplugging it and plugging it back in didn't do anything.

UPDATE: I fixed it! Everything's working now. Whew!

 

[FishDin]

Glad you worked it out.

Some heaters are designed to shut of when out of water. That's what I use, but I still unplug them out of habit and an abundance of caution. It's good to know that it will shut off if I forget to unplug it.

 

[WrenFeenix]

Glad you worked it out.

Some heaters are designed to shut of when out of water. That's what I use, but I still unplug them out of habit and an abundance of caution. It's good to know that it will shut off if I forget to unplug it.

My Aqueon heater is supposed to switch off when it isn't submerged properly, which might explain why it got only a little warm. However, I only noticed it because the light was on, and it was already acting strange beforehand, so who knows what might've happened.

I don't think my new heater has that, but it's supposed to be explosion-proof. My Aqueon heater has "thermal shatter-resistant glass", so probably the same thing.
I got a different heater only because the dial on top of Aqueon's heaters is so hard to read.

 

[jaysurf7]

If its exposed to air and water hits it,it could crack I learned that the hard way,what I do now is when I do a water change is as the water lowers I lower the heater with it so the heater is always submerged,and as the tank fills up with water I move the heater up as the water fills up, works good for me.The reason I don't shut the heater during water changes besides forgetting to plug it back in lol,is to always have a stable temp in the tank especially in the winter when the temp could drop pretty fast.its good though to always have a spare heater on hand though just in case.