Re: [AGA Member] Heaters

["S. Hieber" <shieber@yahoo.com>]

I know that works in theory. I was jsut saying that my
experience with the Ottos was just the opposite. My thermos
with electromech relays are still running and the Ottos I
bought afterwards, totally solid state, have gone kaput but
for two and those are only about a year old.

Let's all note that it's almost always the glass or the
thermostat that goes bad on heaters -- rarely does the
heating element break.


If the points in both of your heaters independently fused
at the same time, give or take a few days, I wonder what
the odds of that are????? Some single event probably caused
both to fail, no?

On solid state controllers, I'd bet the thermistors or
output transistor are the first things to go.

Depending on the circuit design, the failure rate could be
as high as with the elctromechanical thermostats in most
heaters -- which actually do tend to last a long time. The
trick is a well proven circuit -- not all on the market
necessarily are :-\  

sh
--- Steven Pituch <spituch@ev1.net> wrote:
> About 20 years ago I  had  two Supreme heaters in a 55
> gallon tank with
> about 100 African Ciclids.  During a weekend trip both
> contacts in the
> heaters fused and I came home to about 55 gallons of
> opaque fish soup (very
> messy).  I replaced the heater with a solid state one and
> had no problem
> until the Oscar grew to about 13 inches and smashed the
> tube creating a loud
> pop.  Being in Amateur Radio I was familiar with OP amps
> and a thermisistor
> available through Radio Shack for a couple of dollars.  I
> believe I had it
> trigger a larger relay and  had a hysteresis circuit with
> the OP amps so it
> would go on at one temp and off about a degree higher.  I
> must have used it
> for quite a few years in NJ in a room that got pretty
> drafty.  I forgot
> about it as I was traveling a lot and my wife sold the
> tank and contents for
> me when we decided to sell the house and move.
> 
> I would think a solid state thermostat including a solid
> state relay would
> be the best way to go (no physical relays or contacts or
> bimetallic strip).
> The parts themselves are very inexpensive if you were
> going to make it
> yourself and were good with electronics.  Below is a
> reference to a FAQ at
> The Krib for a very high quality heater for $65.  I don't
> know how old the
> reference is, but on Google I found many references to
> solid state heaters.
> http://www.thekrib.com/TankHardware/heaters.html
> 
> Steve P.
> 
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=====
S. Hieber

-  -   -   -   -   -   -   -
Amano Returns
to the AGA Annual Convention
Nov 2004 -- Baltimore

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