aquael unbreakable heater

[revolutionhope]

Hi SKFers

Just a headsup. yes these aquael unbreakable heaters DO look great and its wonderful they're not made of glass but of plastic instead. i decided to be a guineapig without muxh info out there on the net about their reliability or otherwise.. and so I've got them for most of my tanks.

So they've all been running for an average duration of 3-5months i suppose. and now unfortunately I've had two fail recently with the same symptom :-(

The power seems to constantly come off and on - (the led indicator keeps flashing) and the heater fails to actually heat the tank at all..

They haven't had to work very hard as my house stays very warm. I am disappointed!! i am sorry @newbreed -edit- oops i meant @neo2fx !! i did not spot the second failed aquael heater until tonight (this one was in the cull tank, issue could well have been going on for some time..)

Anyway think I'll be avoiding this one from now on and stick with good ole fluval and eheim.

I'm glad its spring now i can probably turn off the heaters soonish anyway and replace them in half a years time (i mostly keep cherries)

I'd love to know if anyone else has much experience with these???

love n peace

will

[sdlTBfanUK]

I have used these (Dennerle do the exact same so I believe they are the same) for years and been very very pleased. I have only had one 'break', in the sense it stopped working and that was probably after about 3 years. I have black backgrounds in my tanks so love the fact you can't really see the heater (unless the heater lights are on of course). I wouldn't go back to glass ones again, I don't like seeing them in the tank and my EXPERIENCE is they are much more fragile all round. I live in UK so heaters are never 'not required'...................even in summer!

Edited October 23, 2018 by sdlTBfanUK

[Cesar]

Hmmmm.... unbreakable? 

[sdlTBfanUK]

I know they are called 'unbreakable' but nothing lasts/works forever.

I think they are referring to the fact they are robustly built and very tough, the heating element though won't last forever (that's probably impossible) but the plastic casing etc is 'unbreakable' which is certainly not the case (in my limited experience) with the glass ones.

I haven't actually tested it with a hammer though, so depends on your definition of 'unbreakable' I suppose!!!!!!

[hengeli]

Have had the same experience - they look great and are small enough to hide behind some java ferns BUT after a few weeks STOP working! They weren't cheap as well, I paid $75 and they failed. Very disappointing for what I thought was a good replacement for my eheim Jagers.

[jayc]

I have been through so many expensive heaters and they are no better than cheap heaters in terms of failure rates.

I now use an Inkbird ITC308 Temperature Controller with cheap heaters as a 2nd layer of protection.

The Inkbird will turn the heater on or off without needing to rely on the heaters thermal probe.