Should in increase heater temp?

[Putty]

My water isn't quite 70 degrees. I have the heater in my wet/dry on 75. The water temp does not seem to change. Since water is in and out of the wet/dry at such a high rate, should I increase the temp to 80 or so?
Not sure how else to do it..

Thanks!!

[Orcrone]

There are other possibilities. You'll need to do some detective work. If it's set at 75 & the actual temp is below 70 then something else is wrong or the thermostat is way off.

How big is your heater? You want 3 - 5 watts/gallon.
Is it working? I've had a couple of heaters die and not put out any heat.

[Putty]

I bought one rated at 45 gallons, my tank is 72 bow. I was told since it was going in sump, I did not have to get one rated for the tank size. If that's incorrect, I am not sure. Yes, I assume it works..there is a light on it that. Honestly, I am not sure how you test them.

[Cole_lol]

I would agree with the above. My guess is the heater thermostat is not working or way off. I recommend a quality heater and may even suggest two in the event one stops. I had a bad spell where I was blowing up 300w heaters every 3 months and that was with two 300w heaters in my 90 gal because I was paranoid about them going out!

[Cole_lol]

Put your hand close around it but not on it and see if you can feel any heat coming off it. Sometimes you can see heat waves coming off it like a hot highway too. May have to bump it up... Oh and don't take it out and put it back in while it's hot I blew up a glass one that way because I was not thinking....

[gonpostal]

I was told since it was going in sump, I did not have to get one rated for the tank size.
Someone told you that because it was going in the sump it could be rated for a smaller size tank??? You need a heater that's rated for the total gallons of your tank and sump combined.

[kurt_n]

If your heater is constantly on and your water is still only 70, you have too small of a heater. As gonpostal noted, you need to size the heater for your tank+sump capacity.

The markings on the knob/dial rarely coincide with reality. The best thing is to ignore the markings and rely on a thermometer in the tank to determine your heater settings. Absolute best thing is to put the heater and a thermometer in a 5g bucket of water with a little powerhead in it to keep it circulating and see how the water temperature and heater setting compare. Then you can get it spot on to where you want it before putting it in your tank.

But you definitely need a heater that is sized for your tank + sump capacity. If you didn't, we'd all be running 1g sumps with a 5W heater!

[jim.l]

It's July, is your house colder than 70 degrees? If not, you have a bad thermometer not a bad heater. However you do need to size the heater for your entire water volume. To check the heater thermostat get a working thermometer and put the thermometer and heater in cold water in your sink or a bucket. Let it sit overnight and see what the temp is. Adjust the heater thermostat until it's set where you want it.

[Putty]

Thanks, guys. I bumped it up to 82. Since I was told incorrectly about the size to buy, I assume this is why it's not heating. So if I keep this, which I like cause it fits perfectly, I probably need to crank it up a bit more, since it's rated for far less than tank. I really don't want to have anything hanging on the inside the tank.

[Orcrone]

Thanks, guys. I bumped it up to 82. Since I was told incorrectly about the size to buy, I assume this is why it's not heating. So if I keep this, which I like cause it fits perfectly, I probably need to crank it up a bit more, since it's rated for far less than tank. I really don't want to have anything hanging on the inside the tank.

That won't work. A heater is an on/off device; turns on when it calls for heat and off when it reaches the set temperature. I'm going to assume the temp in your tank is low because the heater is undersized. That would mean it's running constantly right now and can only bring the temp to 70. Setting the thermostat to 82 won't make a difference if the heater is already running constantly.

Of course if your thermostat is off then turning it up will help. But I'd still urge you to verify whether the heater is working and how well the heater's thermostat and your thermometer are calibrated before you just 'turn it up'.

[Putty]

I'm listening! However, I had it set it 75 before I started this thread and when I noticed the water was not quite 70, I created this. I want to say it's not constantly running right now because it has a blue LED on this and I assume when that light is on, it's heating and not when it's off. Most of the time it's off. When I cranked it to 82, the light was on for quite a while and then shut off.
I will do the bucket test and see if it's working though.

[Orcrone]

OK, that sounds like the thermometer is way off to me. My guess is that your water temp is closer to 75 since I'd expect it to be a bit above your room temperature and it's not likely you're keeping your home at 68 degrees in the summer. But you'd know that better than me. I'd still urge you to determine what's going on first before making adjustments to your heater.

[Putty]

I will do that this evening and thanks. No, I keep my house at 73.

[Chris27]

That won't work. A heater is an on/off device; turns on when it calls for heat and off when it reaches the set temperature. I'm going to assume the temp in your tank is low because the heater is undersized. That would mean it's running constantly right now and can only bring the temp to 70. Setting the thermostat to 82 won't make a difference if the heater is already running constantly.

Of course if your thermostat is off then turning it up will help. But I'd still urge you to verify whether the heater is working and how well the heater's thermostat and your thermometer are calibrated before you just 'turn it up'.

That reminds me of the people who turn their window AC's all the way cold thinking that it'll blow cooler air!!