View Full Version : pro won heater... almost all Dead
ckeadle
09/08/2006, 09:26 AM
Almost everything in my tank is dead... I am sooo frustrated, I imagine about 2k worth of corals. I think the culprit is one of two things. a closed door to the fishroom and it being hot outside, this has increased the temp before.
or
The pro won heater,
I left for work and the tank was 93 degrees... i opened the doors and immediately the temp started to drop because of the airflow. when I came back the temp was still at 90 and I noticed a spark in the sump. the Pro Won heater had a small part of the wire that had melted and was exposed to the water and caused the heater to stay on. I have not touched or moved the heater or anything around it in about 8 months.
My big question is, has anyone had this problem with a heater before? any input would be greaty appreciated.
jeffbrig
09/08/2006, 09:49 AM
I hate to say it, but every brand of heater on the market has failures. Odds increase with time and age. The only way to be 100% safe is to have no heater at all (but only a few of us are fortunate enough to be able to get away with that).
If that's not an option, you need to look for redundancy - perhaps a backup temp controller that can disable the heaters beyond some maximum temp. Many of the popular tank controllers allow for activation of fans, killing lights, etc. when temperatures rise unexpectedly.
Another simple safety step is using multiple small heaters instead of one large one. Since only one is likely to fail at a time, it reduces the risk of a catastrophic event if a heater sticks in the ON position.
prsguy
09/08/2006, 09:56 AM
I bought 4 Won Pro Heat Heaters when I set up my reef. Needed one for the display, one for my mixing tub, one for my RO/DI holding tank and one for my QT.
3 are dead and one is still in use.
I had the exact same thing happen to me as you describe. I saw my temp go up about 6 degrees in a matter of hours (weekend so I got lucky).
I felt all of my pumps and all of them checked out. My heater light was off, but I decided to feel it anyway and it was plastic melting hot.
Sorry for your loss. If anyone has a good heater recommendation I'd love to hear it. I lost my faith in the Won's.
marinelife
09/08/2006, 10:08 AM
This is one reason I have my heaters on a seperate controller than the one that came with it. All heater go bad at one time or another
Can't remember what kind I had, but they malfunctioned and I went with pro won. about 3 years with them and no problems.
bhdmc
09/08/2006, 10:18 AM
I agree with "marinelife". To play it safe, I have my heater on a separate temperature controller. I currently use a Won Brother's Titanium heater and have heard only negative comments. I been lucky so far, not problems in the last two years.
raskal311
09/08/2006, 10:29 AM
After reading about 20 of these heater stories I decided to go without a heater all together. In the winter I cover my front panel with 1 1/2 styrofoam which helps keep my temp at 75-76. Without the styrofoam tem hits 72.
ckeadle
09/09/2006, 11:42 AM
Thank you all for the information... my heater was the won pro 2 and it went in about 2 years time... I am going to go with a controller for sure on my next one... it is going to take a long time to restock my tank though. this is soo incredibly frustrating I just got my tank to the point where it was all filled out and all i had to do was prune, the montipora capricornis were about 8 inches across and whirling nicely. The ricordia where everywhere my tricolor acro was about 8x4 inches and coming out of the water and I had about 6 frags of it. etc etc.
raddogz
09/09/2006, 12:06 PM
Sorry, for your loss. I have my heater on a controller. I check and clean out my equipment every couple of months. Won pro heats almost melted my skimmer because it was accidently too close to the skimmer body.
Frankysreef
09/09/2006, 12:34 PM
I dont use a heater... 4 250 mh keep the tank hot enuf
antonsemrad
09/09/2006, 07:42 PM
Yep, I had three of those go in the crapper. In my case it was the controlers. I still use the heater part hooked up to my medusa:D .
ethompson
09/09/2006, 08:00 PM
That stinks. I have had 2 won titanium heaters stick on. I lost a couple of fish and cooked my liverock.
They said I could pay $20 to get them both replaced or fixed but it just isn't worth it. I'll never buy their products again.
Just my experience and opinion
ethompson
hopper
09/09/2006, 08:03 PM
Do like I did and get rid of the Won heaters. I got a Finnex with the optional controller. One of the better heaters IMO.
ek9vboi
09/09/2006, 09:45 PM
Yeah, get a heater with a dial in temp. setting. Then get another temp controller that can shut it off if needed. Lucky for me I don't need a heater in FL. I am going to get one just incase I need it for winter, which I really doubt. But I will be looking for one with a controller built in to the heater and then my ReefKeeper 2 will also be controlling it incase anything happens. Right now the only heater I use is for my saltwater mix I make to do a waterchange.
spence15610
09/09/2006, 11:57 PM
I dont use a heater in my tank do to heat from lights and pumps it's not needed, but my Grandfather has a 75 fish only that has an Ebo Jagger heater in it and has never had a problem - 17 years and still going
Bebo77
09/10/2006, 12:01 AM
i dont trust heaters.. i have set to come on at 77 and a contoller that keeps them off when the tank is 80
jmh11788
09/10/2006, 12:29 AM
My won bro's heater died on me recently too. Checked the temp on my cycling 40g, it was 82. Checked it later, 73. Next morning, 77. It's now found a new home in the trash.
McCrary
09/10/2006, 12:41 AM
This is why I ditched my won heater.
Vincerama2
09/10/2006, 12:52 AM
This is another reason why a large water volume is good. And a digital thermometer with an alarm on it is good.
With more water, the temp might start rising (or falling) with a stuck (or broken) heater. But it will change much slower than with a small tank. Hopefully slowly enough where you are around when the alarm goes off and you can react to it.
Having said that, the heat wave of a month or two ago left many (not all) of my corals dead.
I've been using the Visitherm heaters (2 in 2 different tanks) with no problems. I also have an Ebo Jager in my 10g tank at work. And a no-name heater that I think might have the stuck-thermo problem, but I just use it to heat up new salt mixes. And even then the water doesn't get super hot.
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