Cobalt neotherm heater just blew up!!!

[shifty51008]

Originally Posted by Reefvet

In the mean time hundreds of other brands of heaters of all sizes are failing daily. But that's not any news to anyone.

but this thread isn't for the other brands of heaters, there have been plenty of other threads for other brands that had problems. the biggest thing that shocks people is that for the price of these heaters they shouldn't explode or melt like they are.

[fifthtoe]

Originally Posted by Reefvet

In the mean time hundreds of other brands of heaters of all sizes are failing daily. But that's not any news to anyone.

For me, the news isn't that this heater failed but the way it failed. I would not have even made a big deal if it stopped working or overheated my tank. I probably wouldn't have even posted that because it's "normal" for a heater to fail in that way. To me, it's not normal for a heater to fail and fill your house with toxic smoke. If it happened to me, it could happen to someone else. I posted to let the community know about it.

[fifthtoe]

Originally Posted by Spyderturbo007

Well this is scary. I just bought one of them for my Betta's 12g Fluval. I figured with a price point of $55 for a 50w heater it had to be top notch quality.

Now I'm worried......

The 200 watt heaters are pretty new. The lower watt units have been out for some time now and I wasn't able to find any bad failure reports on those.

[Lig]

I just had a 200w unit fail in the same way as OP & the other guys on this thread. My whole house filled with smoke, unit just sitting there gushing smoke and nasty junk into the water, gfci never tripped. I called Cobalt today and the lady I spoke to said all she could do without the owner's ok was to replace the one failed unit (I was using 2) and have me ship it back. Obviously this was not to my satisfaction, I'm not keeping the other unit in my tank after having one catastrophically fail. She's supposed to be calling the owner to see what other options he will ok & call back tomorrow.

** Updated** She called me back before I could even post this. She said she spoke to the owner and he said that they'd have five 200w heaters come back having failed in this manner & they were all the run made in Feb 2013, no problems from any other runs. I was offered to have my two 200w units replaced with either two 150w units & some fish food or two new 200's that shouldn't have any problems. I took the new 200's. I don't know if that was the right choice or if I'll even use the replacements. I will say Cobalt was easy to get in touch with & had good customer service IMO.

[jcdeng]

Ok, this is making me wanting to throw my 2 brand new ones away. No way in hell I am gonna risk it out with my fish and corals, they are worth 20 times more than what those heaters cost me.

[Maximus]

How can you find out when they were made? I am using a 200w heater as well.

[jcdeng]

On second thought, I am gonna just use them on newly made SW for WCs

[aquaenthusiast]

im glad i didnt buy these and went ahead with titanium ones, was about to pull the trigger on the neotherms but after considering the stealth recall I said nope, keep us updated on the reason for the explosion

[fifthtoe]

Originally Posted by Lig

I just had a 200w unit fail in the same way as OP & the other guys on this thread. My whole house filled with smoke, unit just sitting there gushing smoke and nasty junk into the water, gfci never tripped. I called Cobalt today and the lady I spoke to said all she could do without the owner's ok was to replace the one failed unit (I was using 2) and have me ship it back. Obviously this was not to my satisfaction, I'm not keeping the other unit in my tank after having one catastrophically fail. She's supposed to be calling the owner to see what other options he will ok & call back tomorrow.

** Updated** She called me back before I could even post this. She said she spoke to the owner and he said that they'd have five 200w heaters come back having failed in this manner & they were all the run made in Feb 2013, no problems from any other runs. I was offered to have my two 200w units replaced with either two 150w units & some fish food or two new 200's that shouldn't have any problems. I took the new 200's. I don't know if that was the right choice or if I'll even use the replacements. I will say Cobalt was easy to get in touch with & had good customer service IMO.

Wow, were you home when it happened? I was very fortunate to be home when it happened to me. How long did it smoke for? How long were you using your heater? I've been using mine for about 5 months before it happened.

I have a second one manufactured on the same date. I may contact them and see if they will replace that one too.

[fifthtoe]

Originally Posted by Maximus

How can you find out when they were made? I am using a 200w heater as well.

there is a tag on the end of the power cord that should have the date stamped on it.

[Maximus]

Thanks Fifthtoe. Mine says 9/2013.

[Lig]

Originally Posted by fifthtoe

Wow, were you home when it happened? I was very fortunate to be home when it happened to me. How long did it smoke for? How long were you using your heater? I've been using mine for about 5 months before it happened.

I have a second one manufactured on the same date. I may contact them and see if they will replace that one too.

It actually happened early am right after I left for work, thankfully my brother was home & found it. It probably sat there smoking for about 10-15 minutes before he located the source. I bought the heaters in September but didn't put them in until right around the first of Oct. 2013, so it failed at almost exactly the 5 mo mark.

[Mr.C]

I have one of these heaters and I don't know how to find out if it's one of the bad ones. I don't see a tag on the plug, I might have pulled it off? Think I'm going to unplug it until I can figure it out.

[Cobalt Aquatics]

Hello, This is Les from Cobalt Aquatics. First off, we want to apologize for the failures of our heaters that you are reporting on this thread and thank you to everyone for the kind comments about our customer service.
As far as the heater failures,
We have had a few isolated incidents with heaters that have leaked epoxy, and although very dramatic with stinky smells and epoxy oozing from the casing, to our knowledge there have been no reports or claims that have contacted us for loss of livestock or property damage. We have been able to get a heater back with this failure and have had our engineers and quality departments examine the unit and have determined the cause of failure has to do with water getting into the casing and is a isolated issue and not a design or large scale production flaw. In the last 18 months, Cobalt has sold over 13,000 Neo’s with a grand total of 3 confirmed failures (someone on this thread said we told them 5, but the true # that have contacted us and have been confirmed is 3). That being said, we strive to build the best aquarium products for the money and take these isolated issues very seriously. We have thoroughly examined the failed sample and from the learnings, are making slight changes to our manufacturing process to decrease the likelihood of this failure even more in the future. All of us at Cobalt are hobbyists and every employee's and all of our office tanks are using Neo’s with no issues. The Cobalt Team remains completely comfortable in recommending the Neo-Therm heaters to hobbyists. I hope this addresses your concerns. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us directly at info1@cobaltaquatics.com or calling us at 803-591-9500. Although we try to watch the web for comments and threads like this, it is next to impossible to track everywhere and encourage people to contact us directly for the best customer service. Thank you for your interest and support of Cobalt!

[Squidward5]

Originally Posted by Cobalt Aquatics

Hello, This is Les from Cobalt Aquatics. First off, we want to apologize for the failures of our heaters that you are reporting on this thread and thank you to everyone for the kind comments about our customer service.
As far as the heater failures,
We have had a few isolated incidents with heaters that have leaked epoxy, and although very dramatic with stinky smells and epoxy oozing from the casing, to our knowledge there have been no reports or claims that have contacted us for loss of livestock or property damage. We have been able to get a heater back with this failure and have had our engineers and quality departments examine the unit and have determined the cause of failure has to do with water getting into the casing and is a isolated issue and not a design or large scale production flaw. In the last 18 months, Cobalt has sold over 13,000 Neo’s with a grand total of 3 confirmed failures (someone on this thread said we told them 5, but the true # that have contacted us and have been confirmed is 3). That being said, we strive to build the best aquarium products for the money and take these isolated issues very seriously. We have thoroughly examined the failed sample and from the learnings, are making slight changes to our manufacturing process to decrease the likelihood of this failure even more in the future. All of us at Cobalt are hobbyists and every employee's and all of our office tanks are using Neo’s with no issues. The Cobalt Team remains completely comfortable in recommending the Neo-Therm heaters to hobbyists. I hope this addresses your concerns. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us directly at info1@cobaltaquatics.com or calling us at 803-591-9500. Although we try to watch the web for comments and threads like this, it is next to impossible to track everywhere and encourage people to contact us directly for the best customer service. Thank you for your interest and support of Cobalt!

Well I guess my 200w feb 2013 heaters are now the 4th to go bad, after hooking them up to my new sump "them being the only thing plugged in" I reached in the water to adjust the setting and had my hand thrown back about 2 feet, I had forgot what being electrocuted felt like. These heaters only have about 40 hrs on them, anbody that has these heaters should be checking there system for stray voltage. I will be contacting them tommorow.

[MonkeyFish858]

Originally Posted by Squidward5

Well I guess my 200w feb 2013 heaters are now the 4th to go bad, after hooking them up to my new sump "them being the only thing plugged in" I reached in the water to adjust the setting and had my hand thrown back about 2 feet, I had forgot what being electrocuted felt like. These heaters only have about 40 hrs on them, anbody that has these heaters should be checking there system for stray voltage. I will be contacting them tommorow.

Well, I guess this makes me the 5th. My 150W has been spewing a tar-like material into my tank. Unfortunately, it happened at night and wasn't caught until the terrible smell woke us up. At least one fish down. I'll be contacting customer service once I see how much livestock is lost. Has anyone had success getting the stuff out? It's still all over my sand and I've changed about as much water as I'm comfortable with.

[RocketCityNano]

Originally Posted by MonkeyFish858

Well, I guess this makes me the 5th. My 150W has been spewing a tar-like material into my tank. Unfortunately, it happened at night and wasn't caught until the terrible smell woke us up. At least one fish down. I'll be contacting customer service once I see how much livestock is lost. Has anyone had success getting the stuff out? It's still all over my sand and I've changed about as much water as I'm comfortable with.

When was yours made? Can you post pics of the stuff that is coming out of the housing? I have 3 new stealths (2x150s and 1 50) and am now considering returning them.

[MonkeyFish858]

Originally Posted by RocketCityNano

When was yours made? Can you post pics of the stuff that is coming out of the housing? I have 3 new stealths (2x150s and 1 50) and am now considering returning them.

Mine was made August 2013. He's a little bit of the junk coming out of the bottom of it. Smells like electrical fire mixed with rotten eggs.

[newlyreefd]

It looks to be only the 200w versions of this heater are having this problem. Has anyone experience any other wattage with a similar problem? Or any problem that should concern us for that matter?

[mixedreefjunky]

I was thinking of moving to these but my Eheims have been underwater running for 6yrs with accuracy. Oh and one running in my fuge above water line for 6yrs as well. So I think I'll just stay with these.

[Calcifer]

You guys can add me to the mix of those having issues with 200w Cobalt neo-therms, although not as catastrophic.

I bought two Cobalt Neo-therms for my 90gal tank about 1.5 months ago. Initially, one clicked very loud, I assume when it was cutting off the heat, and so much that I could hear it a few rooms away. I called my supplier and they sent another. Both heaters worked great and quiet for about a month, until one simply stopped heating the water. It would show the LED, but no heat. My supplier, Kensfish.com, replaced it without question, and now my 4th new heater is making the loud clicking noise again.

At this point I'm scared if this ticking is practically a time bomb for an explosion.

[snowdude10]

that's surprising that you're heater blew up, people say these heaters supposedly don't blow up.

[Scorpius]

Was thinking of these for my tank, but I'll stick with the tried and true glass tube style.

[Calcifer]

Guys, I spoke with Cobalt about my issue. They've been very responsive. While they are stating they've had very few occurrences of the heaters failing per the quantity sold, they're re-engineering the manufacturing process. They're currently out of 200w heaters and will be getting more in another month or two. They offered to replace mine with two 150w and food, but I need the 200w models for my application. Just a heads up, I wouldn't recommend the 200w version until the new ones come out. My Ebo Jager from 10 years ago still works fine, and quiet.

[Sugar Magnolia]

So it's only the 200w version that is the problem? I just bought a 50 watt for my son's tank.