Cobalt neotherm heater just blew up!!!

[fifthtoe]

I just had a cobalt neotherm heater blow up in my sump!!! I heard a loud noise, and thought it was my dogs. I walked out into the living room where the tank is and my dogs were smelling that area. I got closer and smelled smoke. Then I could see smoke!!! A lot of it! I opened up the cabinet to the sump and smoke come billowing out! I looked at one of my heaters and saw that it had exploded under water! Fortunately, I just got home from work or this could have been worse. I also just have two shrimp, a crab, and one chromis. They should be okay... I hope. My gfci didn't even trip though.

[Fishmommy]

whoa! what the heck?! I hope that never happens to me.

[fifthtoe]

Heater couldn't have been in use more than 3 months.

[Tzwizzle]

Whoa that's crazy. Did you have it completely submerged? How do you have it positioned?

[fifthtoe]

It was completely submerged vertically. It was in the refugium part of sump with consistent water level.

[fifthtoe]

I'm still trying to clean up the mess! It released all this melted plastic greasy goo into the water. It's not sticky to the glass, but it will to paper towels and my skin. It doesn't was off either. I have carbon running now but I can't do a water change until later tomorrow. I had two 200 watt heaters for about 75g of water. Right now, I'm running on one neotherm but I'm paranoid now. I have two dogs and I can't imagine if this happened with me not home. I'm gonna be looking for a new heater that won't crack, melt, explode, etc.

Looking at the amp readings on my apex, there was nothing unusual today. Although, starting last week, the amp fluctuation changed a little. Since I started the system about 3 months ago, it always fluctuated about 1.5-5 amps. Last week it started fluctuating about 2-4 amps. I thought it was odd and checked the heaters yesterday to see if they were functioning.

[Maximus]

Uh oh, this isn't good. Hopefully your tank will be ok and good idea on running carbon ASAP. I also run a pair of Neotherms and this is the first time I've heard of anything like this.

[Tzwizzle]

I've never taken one of these heaters apart but I feel like it may help to not fully submerge them. This is all speculation but if the cord goes in the top there's got to be a gasket there to prevent water from getting in. Over time the gaskets may be susceptible to wearing out with salt water. Especially if theres regular movement on the cord. You could have had a faulty gasket and water was slowly leaking inside and you were boiling water inside the heater. You could call the manufacturer and find out more. I like all my submersible heaters cords just a smidge above water level.

[Squidward5]

Have any Pics?.....

[FlyPenFly]

It smoked out of the water?

[fifthtoe]

I'll try to post a pic later

[fifthtoe]

It smoked out of the water?

Yes! The smoke was bubbling out of the water. It was crazy!

[d2mini]

This sucks.

Mine is in the filter compartment of my nano and i keep the top of it above water. From the very top of the dial on up.

[FlyPenFly]

Literally the first report I've heard of it failing but thanks for posting. I guess there's no such thing as a perfect heater.

[Reefer82]

First I've heard as well. I have neo therms on all 3 tanks in my house. I'll take my chances still. I've had every other brand fail as well and destroy lots of life in the process. That stinks to hear about the cleanup. I wonder what's in there that causes that.

[fifthtoe]

Here's a pic of the heater. All that stuff oozing out smells really bad and is impossible to remove from your skin. Along with smoke, that junk exploded all into the water getting everywhere.

http://i1279.photobucket.com/albums/y535/fifthtoe1/image_zps346d3c83.jpg

[fifthtoe]

First I've heard as well. I have neo therms on all 3 tanks in my house. I'll take my chances still. I've had every other brand fail as well and destroy lots of life in the process. That stinks to hear about the cleanup. I wonder what's in there that causes that.

I'm guessing that stuff is from the plastic melting.

[chadfarmer]

Another plastic heater?

[Maximus]

Hopefully Cobalt Aquatics can tell you what that is. Have you called them yet? I would call them asap and ask them what happened. If you could post the results, that would be great.

[Maximus]

I'm guessing that stuff is from the plastic melting.

That's what it looks like. Is it brittle and hard now? I bet it is the actual plastic that was melting.

[fifthtoe]

That's what it looks like. Is it brittle and hard now? I bet it is the actual plastic that was melting.

No, it's not brittle or hard, it's a very sticky charred greasy like substance. Like a residual from the melted plastic.

Edit: actually, it's a mixture of both brittle platstic and sticky goo.

[fifthtoe]

Hopefully Cobalt Aquatics can tell you what that is. Have you called them yet? I would call them asap and ask them what happened. If you could post the results, that would be great.

I called them today and told them what happened. They said they would get back with me. We will see how soon they do.

[Squidward5]

Wow, I would also send them that pic, please keep us updated on there response. I am now a little concerned as I have the exact same ones. They claimed they were practicaly bullet proof. :(

[Jone]

Apperantly they did not learn from the Marineland Stealth heater problems..A Nation wide call back on all of them..Alot of unhappy people out there because of that Stealth heater..Seems the hplastic heaters will get a little water/condensation inside of them then the heater will get hot and build pressure and the problems start like you have here....possibly the DT/Glass sump tank might get damaged in the process

[fifthtoe]

....possibly the DT/Glass sump tank might get damaged in the process

Yeah, I was worried about that too. I checked the side of the sump and didn't see anything. Hopefully it didn't weaken the glass.

[Jone]

All glass heaters for me..broken glass heater,tripped breaker verses the negative possibilities with these plastic sheilded heaters..Be happy you were home when this happened..Wish the best for your situation..

[FlyPenFly]

Shattered glass heaters is pretty bad news.

[AaronReeph]

I'm anxious to see what Cobalt says/does for you.

[clay12340]

Sorry to hear that. Hope the cleanup is going well.

I'd suspect the goo is some sort of thermal grease to help transport heat from the element to the outside of the heater. Cobalt should be able to tell you exactly what it is, but who knows how timely or forthcoming they'll actually be.

If they don't get back to you quickly point them to this thread. Failure reports on busy boards are bad for business.

[saltydog07]

i'm anxious to see what cobalt says/does for you.

+1

[d2mini]

Shattered glass heaters is pretty bad news.

+1
Nothing but titanium heaters in the big tank, controlled by my Profilux.

I like this neotherm for my 8g nano, though.

[FlyPenFly]

There was recently a thread about a titanium heater on fritz cracking the glass of a aquarium.

[RocketCityNano]

Did you hear back from the manufacturer?

[HurricaneSystem]

I own two of these. From the looks of your picture, something burned it inside of your sump. Then it was exposed to water possibly?

Could you have had a low water level in your sump and let the heater sit outside of the water, then poured water on top of it?

[fifthtoe]

So far I haven't heard from cobalt.

[fifthtoe]

I own two of these. From the looks of your picture, something burned it inside of your sump. Then it was exposed to water possibly?

Could you have had a low water level in your sump and let the heater sit outside of the water, then poured water on top of it?

Heaters are placed in an area of sump that always has a constant water level even if flow stops. What you are seeing are the melted insides of the heater that blew out under water. There's nothing in my sump that could have burned the heater.

[HurricaneSystem]

Hmmm ok, sorry to hear.

I do know that my 200w act strange at times. I have had each of them just stop working and refuse to turn on. Then after a day or so, they just start working again. I wonder if that isn't some type of safety mechanism if they get too hot?

Let us know what Cobalt says, you have me a bit worried now.

[fifthtoe]

I actually had two 200 watt neotherm heaters but after the first one failed, I took the second one out and replaced it with two glass heaters. I was worried that the neotherm could fail when I'm not home and fill my house with toxic smoke and harm my dogs.

Something I did notice a couple of weeks ago is that my amp readings on my apex changed a bit. It used to fluctuate around 1.5 - 5 amps and then suddenly changed to about 2 - 4 amps. Not sure what that means if anything.

[Squidward5]

any news?

[Reefvet]

any news?

The only news in this thread is ONE guy has had one fail and nobody else has had a problem or heard of anyone else having a problem.

Of all the things that break heaters and pumps are number 1 and number 2. If this was a common problem we'd all have read about it.

[shifty51008]

The only news in this thread is ONE guy has had one fail and nobody else has had a problem or heard of anyone else having a problem.

Of all the things that break heaters and pumps are number 1 and number 2. If this was a common problem we'd all have read about it.

but the question we want to know is why it failed this way. We know heaters do fail, and I have heard of a few of these heaters failing but only on the off postion, which is a good thing and what they are designed to do. but to have it melt like that is what we wanna know.

[cdmclaug]

Hello, joined the forum because I had to share that this happened to me tonight as well. About 30 min ago I noticed a burning smell in the house and pinpointed it to my aquarium. First thought maybe it was the motor on the canister or even from outside since the windows were open, but then saw the crack lines on the heater. I pulled it immediately and began my internet search to see if this was a new issue as I had only seen positive reviews when I bought it back in November. I found this thread in a search I made of "neotherm 200 watt cracked." I did not have the stuff oozing out, but I had been by the tank about 20 minutes before without the smell. I think I was lucky to catch it so quick, but the smell was over powering right above the water. So far the smell has subsided rather quickly and the fish/shrimp are acting normal. Hope everything stays normal and I hope this is not the beginng of a bigger problem since I have a 25watt in the nano.

[cdmclaug]

Here are the pics. Cracked in two places. One crack one each side.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8tyxDrCemaEOXpZUUw3V2xUUGs/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8tyxDrCemaEdkZnb1FMSlBlMTg/edit?usp=sharing

[cdmclaug]

Try again maybe...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8tyxDrCemaEOXpZUUw3V2xUUGs/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8tyxDrCemaEdkZnb1FMSlBlMTg/edit?usp=sharing

[Tzwizzle]

Was yours also fully submerged? I'm superstitious about fully submerging any heater.

[Squidward5]

The only news in this thread is ONE guy has had one fail and nobody else has had a problem or heard of anyone else having a problem.

Of all the things that break heaters and pumps are number 1 and number 2. If this was a common problem we'd all have read about it.

I really think you should try reading the thread before posting in it. If you had you would have seen that most of all of the people responding here are wanting to know how Cobalt will deal with this, and what there response will be. This forum was created for reefers to discuss there experience with the equitment they use good or bad.

[Silvergryphon]

I had the same thing happen with a Cobalt Accu-therm heater that was glass. I happened to catch the flash out of the corner of my eye while working on my computer and found it blown in half.

[Squidward5]

Hello, joined the forum because I had to share that this happened to me tonight as well. About 30 min ago I noticed a burning smell in the house and pinpointed it to my aquarium. First thought maybe it was the motor on the canister or even from outside since the windows were open, but then saw the crack lines on the heater. I pulled it immediately and began my internet search to see if this was a new issue as I had only seen positive reviews when I bought it back in November. I found this thread in a search I made of "neotherm 200 watt cracked." I did not have the stuff oozing out, but I had been by the tank about 20 minutes before without the smell. I think I was lucky to catch it so quick, but the smell was over powering right above the water. So far the smell has subsided rather quickly and the fish/shrimp are acting normal. Hope everything stays normal and I hope this is not the beginng of a bigger problem since I have a 25watt in the nano.

Welcome to Reef Central :) These are starting to remind me of the stealths that were over heating. I am now thinking of going back to my Ehiems for the time being.

[Reefvet]

I really think you should try reading the thread before posting in it.

I agree. If you read the thread you'll see my first post is the second one posted here.

[shifty51008]

I agree. If you read the thread you'll see my first post is the second one posted here.

Actually you only posted twice on this thread, you didnt even post on the 1st page, the post i quoted was your 2nd :p

[fifthtoe]

So far, I have not heard back from cobalt. I'm about to give them a call.

[fifthtoe]

Hello, joined the forum because I had to share that this happened to me tonight as well. About 30 min ago I noticed a burning smell in the house and pinpointed it to my aquarium. First thought maybe it was the motor on the canister or even from outside since the windows were open, but then saw the crack lines on the heater. I pulled it immediately and began my internet search to see if this was a new issue as I had only seen positive reviews when I bought it back in November. I found this thread in a search I made of "neotherm 200 watt cracked." I did not have the stuff oozing out, but I had been by the tank about 20 minutes before without the smell. I think I was lucky to catch it so quick, but the smell was over powering right above the water. So far the smell has subsided rather quickly and the fish/shrimp are acting normal. Hope everything stays normal and I hope this is not the beginng of a bigger problem since I have a 25watt in the nano.

So I bought mine in September. What's your production date? Mine is 02/2013. It's located on a tag at the end go the cord.

[fifthtoe]

Just got off phone with cobalt. They were very apologetic about the heater and about not getting back to me. They are sending me out a new heater and some free stuff. Their customer service is good and there was probably a communication break down somewhere. It happens sometimes. I give them a thumbs up for customer service.

So I was also told that there is a safety shut off at at 200 degrees. There is also epoxy in the heater that can withstand the 200 degree temp. To me, it sounds like the heater safety failed and melted from inside out. I'm sending the failed heater back to them so they can figure out what happened.

[d2mini]

Awesome. Thanks for updating us!

[cdmclaug]

Was yours also fully submerged? I'm superstitious about fully submerging any heater.

Yes, it was fully submerged. The manual said that is fully submersible and I had it about 4" under the water surface.

So I bought mine in September. What's your production date? Mine is 02/2013. It's located on a tag at the end go the cord.

My date of production was also 02/2013.

[tkeracer619]

I was going to try one of these out until I saw that they looked like the old stealth heaters that exploded like clockwork. Can anyone confirm that?

[fifthtoe]

Cdmclaug, did you just recently report your failure to cobalt? When I was speaking with them, they told me they had another failure that was recently reported. I was just wondering if that was you. I think he said it was about a week ago.

[fifthtoe]

I was going to try one of these out until I saw that they looked like the old stealth heaters that exploded like clockwork. Can anyone confirm that?

So far, it appears there are only two reported cases of this (on this site). The neotherms have been out for a while. However, the 200 watt heater is relatively new.

[Reefvet]

I was going to try one of these out until I saw that they looked like the old stealth heaters that exploded like clockwork. Can anyone confirm that?

Mine work just fine. Including a 200W. Great heaters based on my 40 years of keeping aquariums with Jaeger's most of those years and now the NTs since they came out

[cdmclaug]

Fifthtoe, I've not contacted them yet since their CS hours are when I was at work this week. However, I will be calling them on Monday. It's good to know that your experience with their customer service went well. Hopefully mine will be the same and can also get a replacement. I really liked the heater due to the accuracy and slim profile.

[David Grigor]

Here is another one from our club......

http://www.tcmas.org/v4/forums/showthread.php?55717-Cobalt-Neotherm-Heater-blew-up-in-sump!-help!&highlight=cobalt+heater

[81Shaun]

sorry to hear that was going to buy one of these for my nano 24 but after seeing that I probably will get another brand.

[fifthtoe]

Here is another one from our club......

http://www.tcmas.org/v4/forums/showthread.php?55717-Cobalt-Neotherm-Heater-blew-up-in-sump!-help!&highlight=cobalt+heater

Can you tell us what happened? You can't look at link without registering. I tried to register but it's been hours and I still am not allowed access. I'm interested in hearing what happened?

[shifty51008]

Can you tell us what happened? You can't look at link without registering. I tried to register but it's been hours and I still am not allowed access. I'm interested in hearing what happened?

from the site

"I woke up to a burning smell throughout the entire house at 2am. I couldn't find the smell but, found it was it's strongest at my 180 reef. I found that my cobalt neotherm heater I bought from rays reef this past summer, had cracked and spewed something into tank. I've been all over the cobalt website, and forums on google. I don't know whats inside it. I IMMEDIATELY put a huge canister of carbon hooked onto the sump, and killed my skimmer (to protect skimmer). I don't have time to do a water change tonight, but will do one in the morning and probably one a day this weekend.

can anyone tell me whats inside the neo therms? they're supposed to be heavy duty/ indestructible. I've never ever had it out of water, and it sits completely flat on the bottom of my sump. I'm really nervous this might be the end for this tank if it wipes everything out."

[fifthtoe]

Thanks shifty!

[fifthtoe]

So I spoke with Cobalt Friday afternoon, and received my new heater Sunday morning. They were actually out of 200 watt heaters so they sent me a 150 watt and will send me a 200 watt when they get them in.

[Squidward5]

So I spoke with Cobalt Friday afternoon, and received my new heater Sunday morning. They were actually out of 200 watt heaters so they sent me a 150 watt and will send me a 200 watt when they get them in.Thanks for the update.

[David Grigor]

But the bigger question, why would you put another back in your tank unless they acknowledge that a manufacturing flaw in a batch that has been corrected or a new design. While I agree with others that all heaters will eventually fail none should shatter without being exposed to air.

[fifthtoe]

But the bigger question, why would you put another back in your tank unless they acknowledge that a manufacturing flaw in a batch that has been corrected or a new design. While I agree with others that all heaters will eventually fail none should shatter without being exposed to air.

I actually will not be putting these in my tank. I already removed the second 200 watt heater I had and replaced with Jager heaters. I'm fine if a heater fails and the damage is contained within the tank. When this one failed however, it affected the whole house. I'm not fine with all the smoke from burning plastic this thing released. I can't believe how much smoke there was in a matter of a minute. I had just got home from work when this happened. If I wasn't home, it could have really poisoned my dogs from all the smoke. The heaters were underwater too, bubbling smoke.

[jcdeng]

wow, and I was about to replace my jager with 2 200watts of neothermal... I guess I will put that on hold until this is all cleared up, or just return them to fostersmith.

[David Grigor]

So now second failure in our club since Jan, this one just 2 months old. Didn't blow up or anything just stopped working.

Perhaps there are more reliability issues than originally thought.

http://www.tcmas.org/v4/forums/showthread.php?55929-Narrowly-Avoided-Disaster

[shifty51008]

heck, my visi-therm heaters are guaranteed for life but that don't mean I trust them completely, I don't think there is a heater out there I would trust full out.

I'm glad no one got hurt from any of these malfunctions, but just goes to show you that even the spendy stuff can fail.

[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......

[Reefvet]

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......

You put a 200W heater in your Betta tank ?

The only reports of failure have been a couple of the 200W.

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

[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......

You put a 200W heater in your Betta tank ?

The only reports of failure have been a couple of the 200W.

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

No. If you reread my post, I specifically indicated that I purchased a 50w heater.

[shifty51008]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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. :sad1: 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]

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. :sad1: 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]

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.

[shifty51008]

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

looks like MonkeyFish858 had a 150watt version do the same thing

[tkeracer619]

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!

Thank you for responding and actually taking the time to bring the defective devices back in for inspection. Too many companies would just ask for a pic with the cord cut off and just keep pushing them out.

I do still have concerns with this and wonder how you will be addressing the issue of customers not having faith in the product, particularly those who have purchased heaters manufactured in that time frame. Heater failures are nothing new but from what I gather most if not all of these failures happened when the owner was home. This situation could have been much worse and while these failures resulted in minor issues they would likely have smoldered and introduced heavy metals into the tank until everything was dead if the user was not home.

How many heaters were made during that period and are you going to allow customers to exchange them for the new post modification product? Because right now if I owned those heaters they would be replaced by another brand, no questions asked. I like Cobalt stuff but in regards to melting heaters you might want to take a more active and radical approach. If those 3,5,or 7 heaters that failed suddenly become 300 you are going to have a real problem on your hands.

I have no idea why heater manufactures haven't installed moisture fuses in their heaters. Instead all heaters just keep on going even full of water. It should be pretty simple. 2 year element warranty, limited lifetime moisture warranty. Can't offer that, don't offer heaters. Resistance heating has been around since electricity was created yet we still have a marketplace full of soso heaters.

[Fishtitious Per]

I bought a 200 watt Neo-Therm April, 2013. Was very happy until a couple of months ago when I noticed a burning plastic smell from the sump. I looked first at the heater and saw it still with its light on, so I thought it good. Lost about $100 in acro frags by the next day. When I did a major water change and sump cleanout, I pulled the heater out and found it cracked and melted. I contacted Cobalt and received great customer service and a replacement heater which I finally installed a week and a half ago, after a bit of hesitation. Nine days later, I woke to the familiar smell of burning plastic from the sump. Sure enough, a crack and melted plastic. I emailed them yesterday and currently waiting for response.

[Tyronius]

I just came home to find that my cobalt failed in the same way. I filled my reactor with carbon and hope not to loose too much. Most corals are closed up and SOME have lost color.

Manufactured 10/2013 and have been using it since November.

This SUCKS!!!!

[Tyronius]

Correction, I have used it since mid Feb.

[Wings6010]

I love cobalt I had one of their glass heaters explode a while back I called talked to the owner and ended up with a new 200W neo therm heater and a few years worth of Fish food A++++ for customer service.

[aleithol]

I'm sorry to hear about this latest 200W incident.

I too have had great success with Cobalt products -- Cobalt Powerheads, 2 75W Neo-Therms in my QTs, and 2 150W Neo-Therms for my mixing stations (and DT emergency backups) which I'll likely replace with similar Cobalt products when the time comes one day.

...but I must admit when the second report of 200W-heater problems was reported here, I took it as more than a coincidence. I appreciate forums like this tend to receive more negative than positive reviews many times, so one must always try to apply their own balance to comments made. Personally, I've waited months longer to save-up before starting my build, as I'm going to as many extremes as I can to build redundancy using the highest quality products I can afford into my tank to ensure the future health of it's inhabitants. Given my past great Cobalt experiences, I had new dual 200W Neo-Therms (also manufactured 10/2013) sitting in their boxes for use in my new 150G build. Fortunately, my online retailer allowed me to return them unused earlier this year, as I had decided it was important enough to me if I had to, to simply dispose of the Cobalt 200W Neo-Therms and write-them-off, rather than take a chance with what could be two ticking time bombs in my thousands-of-dollars new reef environment. I now have another brand of heaters I'll be using in my 150G when it begins it's cycle next month.

I appreciate that Cobalt jumped into this forum a while back, has taken action to improve future manufactured-heaters, and their customer service is dealing with failures as they arise ...but for me, I'll remain cautious considering their higher wattage heaters until a new positive track record (or at least a long-term lack of negative reports) is established. Even then, I'll forever likely open the Cobalt box before I purchase in the future to ensure the manufacture date is not before now.

[Fishtitious Per]

I took Cobalt's offer of a 150w neotherm replacement and fish food. Apparently, the 150w has not had the issues of the 200w. They sure look the same, identical housing, so time will tell.

Again, great customer service.

[Quintis]

I have one of these heaters as well with no problems as of yet, but I am worried slightly now. For people replacing these with other heaters, which brand are you switching to? It seems like almost all the major brands have had failures before, some more than others of course.

[Jchris896]

I was on the fence about purchasing one of these for my new 40 breeder. I think I'll research a bit more.

[aleithol]

I have one of these heaters as well with no problems as of yet, but I am worried slightly now. For people replacing these with other heaters, which brand are you switching to? It seems like almost all the major brands have had failures before, some more than others of course.

Yes, agree that all heaters have failures -- IMO the point we personally wager on is which one has less potential issues for the money while it lasts and we make use of it in our tanks. I personally had great success with Jager for many years, but had an issue in my teenage days with a glass heater (can't remember now if it was a green Ebo-Jager or not) becoming cracked for an unknown reason and coming home from a long weekend away to 90 gallons of boiled fish -- I can still picture it and the smell in my folks house (boy, were they understanding parents, so any glass heater is personally out for me these days since there have been other options in the consumer market. It's my personal paranoia. That left me with options like the Cobalt and Finnex I had on my short list when doing my build design. I prefer the prior brand as I said, given great past experience, but will have the later in my DT given it's titanium housing, digital control and higher wattage (200W, 300W) availability that not all makes provide. I also split the heating requirements for my DT between two heaters so in theory one heater running a-muck can't fry my whole tank again, and my Apex does independent temperature monitoring beyond what each of the heaters digital controls do as a last line of defense that will turn off power to both heaters should temp go way out of parameters, then notify me via email and text what action it took.

...and yes, for the people that live to shoot holes in other people's logic like this, there could perhaps still be issues with whatever is inside my newly selected heater housing should it ever open up like the 200W Cobalt issues (I didn't find any references to issues like that in a lot of searching), or maybe some other electrical issue in the heater could still occur with any brand, but hopefully my dual dedicated GFCI circuits running my DT would deal with that possibility instead of something terrible occurring... Got that too... For me, it's all about which risks each of us prefers to take and our personal experiences that lead to those decisions, along with how much redundancy and contingency planning we desire and can affordably put into our builds. Fortunately, there are a lot of options for each of us to consider.

Good luck in your search.

[FlyPenFly]

Is there a serial number range and specific models to not use?

[aleithol]

Is there a serial number range and specific models to not use?

IIRC, the 200Ws do not have serial numbers. My 75W and 150W do not. My 200Ws did have a manufacturing date on them. My 75W and 150 do not.

This thread has discussed problems with only 200W heaters that I remember, but you're welcome to double-check me. I've kept up with each entry to this thread since it was created, but have not gone back to reread it in some time. 200W heaters are relatively new in the Cobalt line-up being introduced early last year. Again, IIRC, references to failures here are to the ones produced in 2013. The Cobalt post you'll find in this thread indicates they instated a change in manufacturing process earlier this year to address any possible future issue -- but I've not seen specifics and would not personally expect Cobalt would provide that or say when all their 200W batches have been or are being made.

[dodgerblew]

I started a thread just an hour or so ago regarding this same issue. Someone responded with this link so I will move my commentary to here. I will start with the bad and end with the good.

I also have the 200w and experienced this same issue. Unfortunately I came home to the electrical smell so don't know how long it went on for. I had no idea what went wrong or if it was even related to my tank, I had no smoke, but I unfortunately had current in my tank and it wasn't pleasant to find this out. I went thru the protocol of unplugging everything and then plugging until finding the problem. When I removed the heater I found a 2.5" crack in the body. I called C.A. today and told the person what happened and she acknowledged that there are issues with the 200w and that they are working to correct issues but wouldn't elaborate on what they were. She forwarded it on to the warranty dept. the rep, Erin, was very apologetic and also said there are issues but they are working to fix the issue and the new production should be completed in a month or so. I was offered two 100w heaters as a temporary fix until they could send me a new 200w. I declined due to space and plug issues and I made it clear I was quite frustrated with the company not putting out a bulletin thru ************ or any of the vendors so we, the buying public, could have a heads up on potential issues they know exist and instead choose to not do that at the possible expense of more of us experiencing the problem if and when they do occur. She asked me for contact info and was going to immediately contact the owner to notify him of my frustration from start to finish. She made me aware that he was at an expo on business and it might take some time for him to get back to me but that she would be available to keep the lines of communication open and thanked me for being honest as I told her I had given out the warning myself over RC AND BRS as this is who I purchased it through.

Now for the good...
I was called back within 30 minutes by Randy, who is the owner of Cobalt. He is at a conference but felt the need to handle this right away. He did explain that there has been problems with only the 200w and it has to do with the epoxy expanding from the high temps potentially causing cracks in the bezel/body as mine had experienced. He asked me to check the production date on the plug...mine is 10/2013 and he told me that these problems have occurred on production that show 2 and 10/2013. They have been assured by engineering they have figured out the issue and new models will be out in approx 3-4 weeks. He made it clear he is a hobbyist first and his concerns over my complaint and my overall satisfaction as a hobbyist is first and foremost for him and asked me what I would like regarding a solution to the heater issue as far as temporary replacement followed by the final replacement when it is fixed. I told him that my concern isn't the heater but I want the purchasers of these heaters to have the accountability of his company to put out a product alert thru ************ and/or the vendors to notify people who bought from these batches to have heads up and to honor there product and offer replacement for these batches if that's what the consumer desires before the potential for damage occurs. He accepted. I told him of my postings and displeasure and he didn't fault me at all and only wants to make things right by me.

Bottom line...Randy showed the integrity to me I am looking for in a company. I will accept the replacement upon completion as I know he will stand behind it and not run away from it, blame me for it or pass it on to someone else to deal with. If he can stand up the way he has, he gets my trust. I appreciate him handling this personally and I appreciate Erin for taking the matter seriously and immediately dealing with it in a proactive way. That's the CS I am looking for and seriously is lacking from some other companies.

So if your production dates are month 2 and 10, please be aware of the potential problem

[eschulist]

It seems like something like this should have a recall. They do it for baby cribs, strollers, or even cars if lives could potentially be at risk. I see it no different if fish and corals are at risk of death and maybe even people's living rooms or homes if smoke and fire became severe.

[cali9dub]

Add me to the list. Bought 2 200w neo-therms. Got them Wednesday and hopped out of the shower this morning to a terrible smell. One cracked and was smoking in my sump. I pulled both of them out and put back my trusty Eheim. My place stinks like hell !! The heater lasted a whole 2 1/2 days. Manufacture date on both heaters is 11/2013. No bueno !!

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/cali9dub/9AEC0837-4558-466B-ABDD-6561CD59E23A_zpsdemjc3gi.jpg

[Maximus]

Damn, looks like it's time to pull my 200w Neotherm off my tank.

[cali9dub]

He asked me to check the production date on the plug...mine is 10/2013 and he told me that these problems have occurred on production that show 2 and 10/2013.

So if your production dates are month 2 and 10, please be aware of the potential problem

And now 11/2013. Sounds like they don't have a good handle on the ACTAUL scope if the problem.

[dodgerblew]

And now 11/2013. Sounds like they don't have a good handle on the ACTAUL scope if the problem.No argument.

[Ahanix]

Add me to the list - 150w Neotherm, I'll have to look at the manufactured date.

I called Cobalt today and left a voicemail, will see how soon they get back to me.


I came home to a very weird smell on my tank, turned off my return pump, heater.etc and turned it back on to have the heater start smoking and bubbling. I quickly turned everything off and then ripped the heater from the tank


Did a 10g waterchange (25g overall) and drained all the water out of the back chambers where the heater was, bought a ViaAqua Titanium heater and some cuprisorb. Thankfully everything looks just fine

[cali9dub]

My sump area still stinks and I have an exhaust fan running. Totally disgusting smell !!

[cjfishbone]

Add another one.

I came home today to a house full of smoke and an awful smell. After searching the house I realized it was coming from our aquarium. Our 200W NeoTherm heater had exploded sometime after I left for school this morning. It has been a nightmare. I just finished an 11+ hour cleanup and rescue effort trying to save what I could, although the death toll is still climbing.

So far we have lost our kole tang, six-line wrasse, tail spot blenny, firefish, clown goby, mated pair of twinspot gobies, tricolor bta, tangerine mini carpet, cleaner shrimp, two sea cucumbers, fighting conch, most of our cerith snails, and all our hermit crabs, trochus, astrea, nerite, and stomatella snails. All our SPS have lost their color now and our tubb's birdsnest, tyree undata and rainbow montis, miyagi tort, and ora shortcake have bleached completely. Our zoas, palys, favias, blastos, fungia, and torch seem to be doing okay but we're in wait and see mode right now. Our mated pairs of black ice clowns and red mandarins were in bad shape but appear to be improving and the only inverts that survived were three ceriths and all our nassarius snails.

As if that wasn't enough, our vortech is not turning on, our brand new Apex probes are gummed up and the conductivity and orp probes are no longer working, and our tunze ato and skimmer are gummed up with whatever oozed out of the heater. The only equipment that made it through undamaged was the radion and dosing pump.

Our whole family is devastated right now. We had a beautiful Nuvo SR-60 that was finally completely stable and automated to the point that all we had to do was test the water once a week and enjoy watching everything grow. Now it's empty, what's left is in 5 gallon buckets, and my wife and kids are staying with my parents because the smell in our house is still overwhelming.

I called Cobalt and left a message but they're not available on the weekends. I also emailed them hoping to find out how to clean the ooze off of everything so I can set it all back up. The heater had only been in use for a month and the date on the tag is 12/2013.

[spoon671]

ViaAqua Titanium. Done.

[Dapg8gt]

Aren't they all made the same way just different element sizes? I'd be concerned if I owned one for sure considering I'm sure they all have the same material, gaskets and tar/epoxy inside..

It's great that the company is standing behind it but the range of dates they believed were bad have been expanding and also model types. I wouldn't be able to run one and feel comfortable. I know all heaters can go south but at least my Jager will only release heavy metals lol.. I came searching rc for issues with these heaters not expecting to find much due to the reviews on the sellers sites. I was going to buy a few 200's for my tank to save some room but I'll stick with the Jager that uses less wattage and replaced one that was about 8 years old that's still in use I might add.(we will see if longevity stays though now since ebo is now eheim=). .

[cali9dub]

These heaters are turning into disasters! I'd pull them out of my tank if I was reading this forum. It definitely isn't worth it at all !

[cjfishbone]

Here is a photo of our failed heater and its date tag.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p208/fathomtheunknown/NeoThermFailure_zpsa988d8c2.jpg

[Ahanix]

Add another one.

I came home today to a house full of smoke and an awful smell. After searching the house I realized it was coming from our aquarium. Our 200W NeoTherm heater had exploded sometime after I left for school this morning. It has been a nightmare. I just finished an 11+ hour cleanup and rescue effort trying to save what I could, although the death toll is still climbing.

So far we have lost our kole tang, six-line wrasse, tail spot blenny, firefish, clown goby, mated pair of twinspot gobies, tricolor bta, tangerine mini carpet, cleaner shrimp, two sea cucumbers, fighting conch, most of our cerith snails, and all our hermit crabs, trochus, astrea, nerite, and stomatella snails. All our SPS have lost their color now and our tubb's birdsnest, tyree undata and rainbow montis, miyagi tort, and ora shortcake have bleached completely. Our zoas, palys, favias, blastos, fungia, and torch seem to be doing okay but we're in wait and see mode right now. Our mated pairs of black ice clowns and red mandarins were in bad shape but appear to be improving and the only inverts that survived were three ceriths and all our nassarius snails.

As if that wasn't enough, our vortech is not turning on, our brand new Apex probes are gummed up and the conductivity and orp probes are no longer working, and our tunze ato and skimmer are gummed up with whatever oozed out of the heater. The only equipment that made it through undamaged was the radion and dosing pump.

Our whole family is devastated right now. We had a beautiful Nuvo SR-60 that was finally completely stable and automated to the point that all we had to do was test the water once a week and enjoy watching everything grow. Now it's empty, what's left is in 5 gallon buckets, and my wife and kids are staying with my parents because the smell in our house is still overwhelming.

I called Cobalt and left a message but they're not available on the weekends. I also emailed them hoping to find out how to clean the ooze off of everything so I can set it all back up. The heater had only been in use for a month and the date on the tag is 12/2013.

Man, I am terribly sorry for your loss. In comparison i feel extremely lucky for the brief inconvenience and smelly hands, I can't even imagine how it would be to have lost all of that, keep it all documented so you can get Cobalt to reimburse you and get you taken care of.

[FlyPenFly]

Why aren't they doing a recall?

[Maximus]

Just curious but when your heaters exploded was the light on the dial solid green or blinking? Or, was the green light out?

[cali9dub]

Just curious but when your heaters exploded, was the light still on the dial still on or blinking?

I, for one, didn't stop to look. My first priority was to shut it down and get it the hell outta my sump !!

[Maximus]

Yeah, I would have done the same thing Cali9.

[Ahanix]

I, for one, didn't stop to look. My first priority was to shut it down and get it the hell outta my sump !!

Yeah I was focused on the smoke and how fast I could get the heater out of the tank.

[theoregonian]

I would be curious to know if all the cracks in the plastic are on the same side of the unit? I don't have one of these units but if the housing is plastic injection molded and the crack is always on the same side of the heater it could be a welding issue. When plastic fills a mold the last spot to fill where the plastic joins can have a weak spot because of trapped gasses. The weak spot is usually on the opposite side of the gate. If the plastic cracked at the weak spot because of thermal expansion water could enter causing failure? I have not seen these heaters and don't know how they are manufactured so this is just a guess on what could happen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weld_line

[ReachTheSky]

My god man, the timing of me stumbling upon this thread is horrifying. I have a 25w Neo-therm in my nano and I did notice a burning smell yesterday in the room that came and went away. I dismissed it, thinking it came from outside (window was open). As soon as I'm home, I will take the heater out and inspect it thoroughly.

[cali9dub]

My god man, the timing of me stumbling upon this thread is horrifying. I have a 25w Neo-therm in my nano and I did notice a burning smell yesterday in the room that came and went away. I dismissed it, thinking it came from outside (window was open). As soon as I'm home, I will take the heater out and inspect it thoroughly.

Better make it snappy !!

[fifthtoe]

Add another one.

I came home today to a house full of smoke and an awful smell. After searching the house I realized it was coming from our aquarium. Our 200W NeoTherm heater had exploded sometime after I left for school this morning. It has been a nightmare. I just finished an 11+ hour cleanup and rescue effort trying to save what I could, although the death toll is still climbing.

So far we have lost our kole tang, six-line wrasse, tail spot blenny, firefish, clown goby, mated pair of twinspot gobies, tricolor bta, tangerine mini carpet, cleaner shrimp, two sea cucumbers, fighting conch, most of our cerith snails, and all our hermit crabs, trochus, astrea, nerite, and stomatella snails. All our SPS have lost their color now and our tubb's birdsnest, tyree undata and rainbow montis, miyagi tort, and ora shortcake have bleached completely. Our zoas, palys, favias, blastos, fungia, and torch seem to be doing okay but we're in wait and see mode right now. Our mated pairs of black ice clowns and red mandarins were in bad shape but appear to be improving and the only inverts that survived were three ceriths and all our nassarius snails.

As if that wasn't enough, our vortech is not turning on, our brand new Apex probes are gummed up and the conductivity and orp probes are no longer working, and our tunze ato and skimmer are gummed up with whatever oozed out of the heater. The only equipment that made it through undamaged was the radion and dosing pump.

Our whole family is devastated right now. We had a beautiful Nuvo SR-60 that was finally completely stable and automated to the point that all we had to do was test the water once a week and enjoy watching everything grow. Now it's empty, what's left is in 5 gallon buckets, and my wife and kids are staying with my parents because the smell in our house is still overwhelming.

I called Cobalt and left a message but they're not available on the weekends. I also emailed them hoping to find out how to clean the ooze off of everything so I can set it all back up. The heater had only been in use for a month and the date on the tag is 12/2013.

Wow! That's terrible that you lost so much! I'm thankful that I had just got home from work when it happened to me. As bad as your losses are, thank goodness there were no fires or anything. It sounds like yours was burning up for quite a while.

[fifthtoe]

Just curious but when your heaters exploded was the light on the dial solid green or blinking? Or, was the green light out?

I didn't even think to look. Actually, there was so much smoke, I wouldn't have been able to see it anyway.

[fifthtoe]

My god man, the timing of me stumbling upon this thread is horrifying. I have a 25w Neo-therm in my nano and I did notice a burning smell yesterday in the room that came and went away. I dismissed it, thinking it came from outside (window was open). As soon as I'm home, I will take the heater out and inspect it thoroughly.

Something I never really thought about until just now... I smelled a burning smell around my tank before the heater blew up. I looked everywhere but couldn't find it. The smell eventually went away. Then my heater exploded. I can't remember if it was within days or weeks.

[kellerexpress]

Add another one.

I came home today to a house full of smoke and an awful smell. After searching the house I realized it was coming from our aquarium. Our 200W NeoTherm heater had exploded sometime after I left for school this morning. It has been a nightmare. I just finished an 11+ hour cleanup and rescue effort trying to save what I could, although the death toll is still climbing.

So far we have lost our kole tang, six-line wrasse, tail spot blenny, firefish, clown goby, mated pair of twinspot gobies, tricolor bta, tangerine mini carpet, cleaner shrimp, two sea cucumbers, fighting conch, most of our cerith snails, and all our hermit crabs, trochus, astrea, nerite, and stomatella snails. All our SPS have lost their color now and our tubb's birdsnest, tyree undata and rainbow montis, miyagi tort, and ora shortcake have bleached completely. Our zoas, palys, favias, blastos, fungia, and torch seem to be doing okay but we're in wait and see mode right now. Our mated pairs of black ice clowns and red mandarins were in bad shape but appear to be improving and the only inverts that survived were three ceriths and all our nassarius snails.

As if that wasn't enough, our vortech is not turning on, our brand new Apex probes are gummed up and the conductivity and orp probes are no longer working, and our tunze ato and skimmer are gummed up with whatever oozed out of the heater. The only equipment that made it through undamaged was the radion and dosing pump.

Our whole family is devastated right now. We had a beautiful Nuvo SR-60 that was finally completely stable and automated to the point that all we had to do was test the water once a week and enjoy watching everything grow. Now it's empty, what's left is in 5 gallon buckets, and my wife and kids are staying with my parents because the smell in our house is still overwhelming.

I called Cobalt and left a message but they're not available on the weekends. I also emailed them hoping to find out how to clean the ooze off of everything so I can set it all back up. The heater had only been in use for a month and the date on the tag is 12/2013.

Wow! Sorry for the loss

[Ahanix]

Something I never really thought about until just now... I smelled a burning smell around my tank before the heater blew up. I looked everywhere but couldn't find it. The smell eventually went away. Then my heater exploded. I can't remember if it was within days or weeks.

Yeah man, I smelled the same thing the morning of it happening. I thought my dog had sh** in the house. I looked everywhere and couldn't find anything and then the smell went away. When I got home that night the smell was back and turning the heater off and back on made it hit it's breaking point.

[ReachTheSky]

Heater was still on and working. No weird smell. I took it out, dried it and thoroughly inspected it. No cracks, warps or any sign of damage. I practically shoved it up my nostril and sniffed as hard as Tony Montana. No smells at all. Not sure what I smelled yesterday - maybe it really was from outside.

The manufacture date on mine is 02/2013 - same as the ones that have been failing. I'm not feeling very confident in keeping it though, given the horror stories here. I know there hasn't been a 25w reported to have this problem but I'd hate to be the first one. I have a 50w Jager that I may start to use and shelf this one for emergencies.

[Ahanix]

Heater was still on and working. No weird smell. I took it out, dried it and thoroughly inspected it. No cracks, warps or any sign of damage. I practically shoved it up my nostril and sniffed as hard as Tony Montana. No smells at all. Not sure what I smelled yesterday - maybe it really was from outside.

The manufacture date on mine is 02/2013 - same as the ones that have been failing. I'm not feeling very confident in keeping it though, given the horror stories here. I know there hasn't been a 25w reported to have this problem but I'd hate to be the first one. I have a 50w Jager that I may start to use and shelf this one for emergencies.


You may not smell anything now, the only time I did was the day it blew up. Have you felt any stray voltage in the tank? A few times I felt a current in my tank but when I would go test for it, it went away almost every time.

[cali9dub]

Cobalt just offered to send me 2-100w heaters for the one 200w heater that blew up. No mention of my second 200w heater like I am supposed to still use it because it didn't blow up? Maybe their solution will be for me to use 4 - 100w heaters?? That would be so practical ! ...... Not !

[dodgerblew]

My heater has a 2.5" crack on the right side, one inch below the dial.

[spoon671]

Cobalt just offered to send me 2-100w heaters for the one 200w heater that blew up. No mention of my second 200w heater like I am supposed to still use it because it didn't blow up? Maybe their solution will be for me to use 4 - 100w heaters?? That would be so practical ! ...... Not !


Did you request from them that they replace your second working 200w unit?

[tkeracer619]

I would advise anyone with any model Cobolt Neotherm heater from any manufacture date to discontinue use, contact the company, and ask for a refund.

Heaters are too cheap to play games with. This product needs to be discontinued. If they won't issue a refund cut the cords and post a photo of them in a trash can. It may not get the point across but it may save your livestock.

Heaters have no business being made out of plastic.

[cali9dub]

Did you request from them that they replace your second working 200w unit?

I told them I took both out for fear of the other (with the same production date) of blowing up as well. Apparently they need to be clubbed over the head if they think I was actually going to use the other one I removed !

[Reefvet]

These heaters are turning into disasters! I'd pull them out of my tank if I was reading this forum. It definitely isn't worth it at all !


I've had a 200W and a 150W running without issue and plan to continue to run them. The heaters are not a disaster. They had a production problem and a few people are affected.

In the forty years I've been in this hobby I've had many heaters fail. Original EBO Jagers that ran for years, re-designed Eheim Jagers the failed a day out of warranty. I've been shocked when reaching into a tank by several different brands.

[spoon671]

In the forty years I've been in this hobby I've had many heaters fail. Original EBO Jagers that ran for years, re-designed Eheim Jagers the failed a day out of warranty. I've been shocked when reaching into a tank by several different brands.


I'm interested to hear your thoughts about titanium heaters?

[cali9dub]

I've had a 200W and a 150W running without issue and plan to continue to run them. The heaters are not a disaster. They had a production problem and a few people.

Ok. Good luck with that. They acknowledged there is a problem within a certain scope which has since been proven wrong and too narrow to pin down the actual quantity of faulty heaters. There has been no indication when it started, what the problem is or what has changed to remedy the known issue. Just because a company has a good track record does not mean they they don't encounter quality issues, nor does it relieve them from not knowing the scope of the encountered quality issue. Don't put your head in the sand. But if you want to risk your set up over a $75 heater. More power to you ! These 200w neo-therms are turning into a disaster. Maybe not for you YET, but I'm sure others who have already dealt with these might agree about their disasters !

[dodgerblew]

The problem is known and is discussed. The problem is with the epoxy expanding under heat. They told me they have identified and solved it and the new production of these heaters will be reintroduced in a few weeks approx. the owner himself told me the problems had only arisen with the 200w. The 150w had not been an issue...at least until I saw the previous post.

[tkeracer619]

The heaters are not a disaster.

Unfortunately they are and the proof is on this thread.

What happened to the last company who released a plastic heater? If I recall correctly...

Cobalt can solve this problem by providing a no questions asked return or IMO become irrelevant. A few tanks have been effected out of how many heaters sold? How many ticking time bombs are out there? This is the kind of thing that can come back to haunt a company after they have corrected their startup issues.

Source: I am a R&D Engineer with a focus on manufacturing. I deal with manufacturing problems all day long. Some of this is going to boil down to product confidence.

[cali9dub]

The problem is known and is discussed. The problem is with the epoxy expanding under heat. They told me they have identified and solved it and the new production of these heaters will be reintroduced in a few weeks approx. the owner himself told me the problems had only arisen with the 200w. The 150w had not been an issue...at least until I saw the previous post.

At first they said it was a small run from February of 2013, then they claimed it was isolated instances of water intrusion that were not a result of the manufacturing process, yet in the same statement they made minor changes in their manufacturing process to "decrease the likely hood of this failure even more in the future". Decreasing the likely hood sure doesn't sound resolved. Sounds like they hope not as many suffer this problem in the future but they will still suffer the same fate.

[ReachTheSky]

Oh come on. Decreasing the likelihood of failure is about all they can do. They can't make a perfect product that will never fail - no one can. Not fair to expect that.

I am with tkeracer619 on this one though. The scope of the issue is a lot bigger than Cobalt makes, but that was a while ago. Since a lot more issues have been reported since then, I'm very interested in hearing what they have to say. A full blown recall is quickly coming closer to becoming a necessity.

[cali9dub]

Oh come on. Decreasing the likelihood of failure is about all they can do. They can't make a perfect product that will never fail - no one can. Not fair to expect

The point I was making was directed towards the statement that the problem was identified and solved. Also directed at the statement that it wasn't a manufacturing issue, yet they changed their manufacturing process. And a statement that it's resolved followed by one that says they hope to decrease the likelyhood even more isn't cool. If it was resolved then they should have 100% certainty that this particular event won't happen again. That is fair to expect. Granted some other failure may occur but this one should never happen again if it has been researched and resolved like they claimed. If the car you owned spontaneously blew up and the manufacturing company said that they identified the problem and it was resolved....wouldn't you expect it to be as such or would you live with "it's not fair to expect" them from keeping their vehicles from blowing up. That's not the way quality control works.

[Dapg8gt]

I look at it like if they changed the manufacturing process ALL of them can be at risk and treated as such. Just my opinion but I would not keep that heater in my system at all.

[cjfishbone]

Thank you for the comments. My wife and kids are really upset about what happened. I have to say that I'm a little disappointed by the customer service. The only thing they did was offer to send us 2 100W heaters because they're out of 200W heaters. I have asked repeatedly for help with how to clean up whatever oozed out of the heater and have not received any response. Meanwhile, the smell in our house is still really strong so my wife, kids, dogs, and cat are still at my parents. I was able to move everything to a brute trash can that the owner of my LFS loaned to me. I guess I will set everything up again tomorrow and hope for the best.

[mgrmax]

Thank you for the comments. My wife and kids are really upset about what happened. I have to say that I'm a little disappointed by the customer service. The only thing they did was offer to send us 2 100W heaters because they're out of 200W heaters. I have asked repeatedly for help with how to clean up whatever oozed out of the heater and have not received any response. Meanwhile, the smell in our house is still really strong so my wife, kids, dogs, and cat are still at my parents. I was able to move everything to a brute trash can that the owner of my LFS loaned to me. I guess I will set everything up again tomorrow and hope for the best.

You might want to contact your homeowners insurance company. Many times, the smoke from a fire (especially plastic) can become quite a pain to clean from walls, soft furniture, curtains etc. There's a chance you could be covered for such an event. In return, the insurance company will most likely subrugate (sp?) against cobalt. That would send them a message.

[cjfishbone]

You might want to contact your homeowners insurance company. Many times, the smoke from a fire (especially plastic) can become quite a pain to clean from walls, soft furniture, curtains etc. There's a chance you could be covered for such an event. In return, the insurance company will most likely subrugate (sp?) against cobalt. That would send them a message.

Thanks for the tip. I contacted State Farm this morning and they had someone contact me right away. They suggested washing all the curtains and wiping down the walls with bleach/water.

On a sad note, we lost our mated pair of red mandarins overnight and our black ice clowns aren't looking too good this morning. They were the first fish we bought and now they're the last ones left.

[cjfishbone]

A friend of mine who owns an LFS came over this morning to offer more help. We were concerned about the substance that leaked from the heater and wanted to find a way to clean up everything and get the aquarium set back up. After a little trail and error, we found a solution that works and I wanted to share it just in case this happens to someone else.

We went to the grocery store and picked up some pure orange extract and distilled vinegar to make our own citrus cleaner. First, we mixed 1 tbsp of orange extract and 1 cup of water to make a cleaning solution. Next, we dipped a scrubbing pad in the solution and gently scrubbed the contaminated surface. It took some time but the sticky stuff came off and the smell with it. Last, we soaked the contaminated part in a vinegar bath to remove any trace of the orange extract then rinsed it with RO water. This is the only method we found that worked on the sticky residue. We also found out the hard way that once it hardens it's difficult to scrape off without damaging plastic surfaces.

Unfortunately, while we were experimenting I had to helplessly watch as our black ice clowns passed away and I couldn't do anything to help them. It was by far the worst thing I've ever experienced in 30+ years in the hobby. Our aquarium is finally clean now and set back up but isn't the same without all our fish. I can handled equipment being damaged but not losing beautiful living creatures this way.

[dodgerblew]

I'm very saddened by your losses and very sorry to hear your news

[spoon671]

A friend of mine who owns an LFS came over this morning to offer more help.

Unfortunately, while we were experimenting I had to helplessly watch as our black ice clowns passed away and I couldn't do anything to help them.





I wish he could have done something to help you save the fish. I wonder why he didn't just take them in his care until your system was rehabilitated.

Really sorry for your losses.

[aleithol]

A friend of mine who owns an LFS came over this morning to offer more help...

Also offering my condolences to you and the others that have lost their inhabitants. I also take it hard and personally when things in my care loose their lives.

On at least a more technical note to get our minds somewhat off that, good idea about the citrus cleaner to get the residue off and then vinegar to remove that. Not knowing how far the epoxy visibly made it through your system, are you comfortable though that things like your tubing and internal PVC lines, internal pump and skimmer workings, etc are all cleaned-up good enough as well? I would have to think removing the visible sludge is one thing, but does that residue tend to get everywhere else too especially with the turnover rates some of us have in our sumps, and then how long until the last remnants are really purged from your system without breaking it down 100% and starting over? Sorry to be thinking worst case, but am trying to be helpful and was trying to think what I'd be worried about if I was in your position -- and that would be like you -- everything!

Best of luck getting your tank back into shape very soon and happier days in the future.

[cali9dub]

Well Cobalt said that they would send me 4-100w heaters for my 2-200w ones. I cannot accommodate 4 heaters. ***?? They said if I didn't like that then I should seek a refund from who I bought them from! What a crock ! Maybe I should try talking to Randy instead.

[shifty51008]

Well Cobalt said that they would send me 4-100w heaters for my 2-200w ones. I cannot accommodate 4 heaters. ***?? They said if I didn't like that then I should seek a refund from who I bought them from! What a crock ! Maybe I should try talking to Randy instead.

my guess is they don't have the new 200 watt heaters ready to ship yet which is why they are offering the 100 watters, I'm sure they could send you 200 watters again that haven't been corrected yet but that would most likely make ya even more angry if they explode again. what else do you want them to do?

[cali9dub]

I would expect them (In the very first communication) to say "we currently no longer have any 200w neo-therm heaters available however, on such n such a date we will have certified 200w neo-therms available. In the meantime we can offer 100w heaters as replacements or we have other lines of heaters that you can choose from. If this does not meet your needs we will happily offer you a refund for your faulty heaters. If that is the option you choose please return your 2 heaters to us and we will reimburse you for them. Sorry about the trouble with your 200w neo-therms.

Something along those lines would be much more palatable !!

[dodgerblew]

my guess is they don't have the new 200 watt heaters ready to ship yet which is why they are offering the 100 watters, I'm sure they could send you 200 watters again that haven't been corrected yet but that would most likely make ya even more angry if they explode again. what else do you want them to do?
This is what I was told. And they said 200w were not available.
I would expect them (In the very first communication) to say "we currently no longer have any 200w neo-therm heaters available however, on such n such a date we will have certified 200w neo-therms available. In the meantime we can offer 100w heaters as replacements or we have other lines of heaters that you can choose from. If this does not meet your needs we will happily offer you a refund for your faulty heaters. If that is the option you choose please return your 2 heaters to us and we will reimburse you for them. Sorry about the trouble with your 200w neo-therms.

Something along those lines would be much more palatable !!They told me just that and they told me 3-4 weeks on the new heater. As for who you get refund from, that I cannot respond to but a refund is a refund wherever it comes from. I am in no way minimizing your frustration. Please keep in mind, I was the one who brought this back to life after my incident.

[cjfishbone]

I wish he could have done something to help you save the fish. I wonder why he didn't just take them in his care until your system was rehabilitated. Really sorry for your losses.
Thank you. He actually mixed me a special medicated bath he uses and we set up a makeshift holding tank using water from the 1,600 gallon lagoon in his shop. The 4 "survivors" were in pretty rough shape when I got home Saturday and we had serious doubts they would make it as long as they did.

Also offering my condolences to you and the others that have lost their inhabitants. I also take it hard and personally when things in my care loose their lives.

On at least a more technical note to get our minds somewhat off that, good idea about the citrus cleaner to get the residue off and then vinegar to remove that. Not knowing how far the epoxy visibly made it through your system, are you comfortable though that things like your tubing and internal PVC lines, internal pump and skimmer workings, etc are all cleaned-up good enough as well? I would have to think removing the visible sludge is one thing, but does that residue tend to get everywhere else too especially with the turnover rates some of us have in our sumps, and then how long until the last remnants are really purged from your system without breaking it down 100% and starting over? Sorry to be thinking worst case, but am trying to be helpful and was trying to think what I'd be worried about if I was in your position -- and that would be like you -- everything!

Best of luck getting your tank back into shape very soon and happier days in the future.
Thank you. We are concerned about the same thing. The director of RND is supposed to be calling me Thursday night to talk about what happened and that is one of the first things I will be questioning him about.

[theoregonian]

Well Cobalt said that they would send me 4-100w heaters for my 2-200w ones. I cannot accommodate 4 heaters. ***?? They said if I didn't like that then I should seek a refund from who I bought them from! What a crock ! Maybe I should try talking to Randy instead.

Ask if they will send 2-200w eheim jager heaters

[cali9dub]

Thank you. We are concerned about the same thing. The director of RND is supposed to be calling me Thursday night to talk about what happened and that is one of the first things I will be questioning him about.

After my heaters have been sitting for a few days I noticed this by the LED area. This might be where water is getting in, running down that side and splitting the heater

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/cali9dub/10A8BE84-D53C-41A1-8E36-045C40474A17_zpsnqwmhcrn.jpg

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q21/cali9dub/0586993B-463C-413D-92C0-8D0098B8C93A_zpsjazi30fi.jpg

[tkeracer619]

Bummer that's all they had to offer. I would take their advice and try to return it to the store. They can easily RTV it at no loss to them. See if they take care of you since Cobalt won't.

I cannot in good faith recommend cobalt as a brand anymore to anyone given that response. Investigate your rights to small claims action, they have admitted knowing about a manufacturing defect and have not issued a recall. Stick it to them. Shame, I really liked some of their stuff but I like my fellow reefers more.

[dodgerblew]

Ask if they will send 2-200w eheim jager heaters

Classic!

[Gibbnal]

Add my 200w to the list. It was in service for about 5 months, positioned vertically and fully submerged. It happened in the evening when I was home, so I noticed the smell pretty quickly. The heater cracked along the edge and exuded some black rubbery goop. Nothing dead 12 hours later. Going to do a water change today.

[alton]

Where any of these heaters that blew up protected by a GFCI circuit and a grounding probe? I am asking because of a continuing study of 120v items we place in our tanks. I would like to see manufactures place GFCI's and a grounding means on every item that is submersed for the protection of man and animal/fish.

[cali9dub]

Where any of these heaters that blew up protected by a GFCI circuit and a grounding probe? I am asking because of a continuing study of 120v items we place in our tanks. I would like to see manufactures place GFCI's and a grounding means on every item that is submersed for the protection of man and animal/fish.

Yes and yes

[Gibbnal]

Mine was plugged into an Apex controller. That at least prevented the heater from running continuously as it was stuck on in addition to being ruptured. No stray current that I noticed when I snatched it out of the water, but I was in a hurry. I'm officially in the "aquarium controllers are the best investment you can make in your tank" club.

[dodgerblew]

Well Cobalt said that they would send me 4-100w heaters for my 2-200w ones. I cannot accommodate 4 heaters. ***?? They said if I didn't like that then I should seek a refund from who I bought them from! What a crock ! Maybe I should try talking to Randy instead.
This is interesting about seeking the refund from the retailer. I contacted BRS first and was told by them that I had to go directly to C.A. to seek refund as they can only cover when it's in warranty. I bought mine in January '14 and contacted BRS in April.

[FlyPenFly]

This has class action written all over it.

[tkeracer619]

I sent Cobalt an email expressing my concern of the impact this issue may have on their future reputation. I hope it isn't ignored.

The last company who dodged my warnings about a cheap product ended up killing a bunch of livestock, discontinuing them anyways, and still won't talk or return my messages. I still recommend their products because the ones they still sell are top notch... even if the owner intentionally ignores me.

[dillct]

Stumbled upon this thread, I have a 200 watt cobalt (tagged 2/13). Pulled it from my tank tonight. Too big a risk. Jager on order.

[spoon671]

Stumbled upon this thread, I have a 200 watt cobalt (tagged 2/13). Pulled it from my tank tonight. Too big a risk. Jager on order.


I mean, enough folks complain about it. The chances that it will be you next is greater than 0%, right? I would have pulled it out as well.

:thumbup:

[cjfishbone]

Where any of these heaters that blew up protected by a GFCI circuit and a grounding probe? I am asking because of a continuing study of 120v items we place in our tanks. I would like to see manufactures place GFCI's and a grounding means on every item that is submersed for the protection of man and animal/fish.
Mine was plugged into an APEX energy bar which is plugged into an APC battery backup which is plugged into a GFCI wall outlet. I was extremely surprised that not one of them was tripped. I was also surprised that my water temp was at 77.9 degrees and the heater was set at the default 78 degrees. I didn't have a grounding probe and really wish I did. I'm certain there was stray current in the aquarium since I got shocked when I stuck my hands in the water even after I unplugged the heater.

[Ahanix]

I received an email back from Cobalt asking me to send them pictures along with warranty information - Still waiting to hear back. Wouldn't mind a replacement at least so I can have a heater for water changes. Extremely disappointed in the company so far, won't trust the heater again in my tank - glad i was lucky enough to not have lost anything. For those of you who lost everything in their tanks, they better take very good care of you.

[cjfishbone]

I finally talked with the director of RND today. The conversation went far better than expected and he was extremely apologetic for our losses and the way everything was handled from the moment I first contacted them. We talked for more than an hour and he has promised to help us we get our aquarium right again.

He assured me that they are thoroughly investigating the problem and currently testing a strong theory they have about what is happening. He explained it in detail and it makes prefect sense and would account for the failures that have occurred. If the theory holds true then it is not a design flaw but rather a production problem that can and will be corrected before any more are produced. As a side not, production on the 200W heaters had ended and they were already out of stock before the first reported failure about 6 weeks ago.

Updating our recovery progress, we're running carbon in a reactor to remove as much of the organics as we can so we can start skimming again. Our ora bellina and joe the coral are finally done but it looks like they may be the last ones and everything else is doing much better.

[RocketCityNano]

I finally talked with the director of RND today. The conversation went far better than expected and he was extremely apologetic for our losses and the way everything was handled from the moment I first contacted them. We talked for more than an hour and he has promised to help us we get our aquarium right again.

He assured me that they are thoroughly investigating the problem and currently testing a strong theory they have about what is happening. He explained it in detail and it makes prefect sense and would account for the failures that have occurred. If the theory holds true then it is not a design flaw but rather a production problem that can and will be corrected before any more are produced. As a side not, production on the 200W heaters had ended and they were already out of stock before the first reported failure about 6 weeks ago.

Updating our recovery progress, we're running carbon in a reactor to remove as much of the organics as we can so we can start skimming again. Our ora bellina and joe the coral are finally done but it looks like they may be the last ones and everything else is doing much better.

Based on what you were told, is there any reason not to trust the 150w? I have a couple of them...

[cjfishbone]

Based on what you were told, is there any reason not to trust the 150w? I have a couple of them...
I actually have a 150W in my aquarium now and our talk did make me feel very comfortable using it. His primary concern seems to be with the 200W heaters and not the 150W models.

[RocketCityNano]

I actually have a 150W in my aquarium now and our talk did make me feel very comfortable using it. His primary concern seems to be with the 200W heaters and not the 150W models.

Okay, thanks.

[Mad Mantis]

Great, I did tons of research and everyone was raving about these 200w. Then I come across this thread (among others) several days after ordering. Do I have a ticking time bomb?

MPN:
31006
Model:
31006
UPC:
847852002130

I though the deal was really good, too good to be true? I am supposed to look at the sticker but they haven't come yet.

[ThisGuy12]

Hmm, now I'm not sure what to think, I have the 150w version.... Wondering if I should consider swapping it out now.

I thought these were originally marketed as ceramic plate heaters?

[jfingers8]

I had a 150w also blow up on me. Customer service was good, but the new one they sent me makes a loud noise when it goes on and off. Its the relay inside making the noise. They sent me another one and same issue. 3 150w heaters, 1 blew up and 2 makes a loud clicking noise everytime it goes on and off. I'm done. Not worth me losing my tank over these expensive heaters that fail.

[tkeracer619]

Great, I did tons of research and everyone was raving about these 200w. Then I come across this thread (among others) several days after ordering. Do I have a ticking time bomb?

MPN:
31006
Model:
31006
UPC:
847852002130

I though the deal was really good, too good to be true? I am supposed to look at the sticker but they haven't come yet.

Return it. Not worth the risk. Nobody should be buying this brand heater regardless of wattage.

I never did get a reply from them but I am sure i'll get some hate mail after a while. :thumbdown

[cali9dub]

Anyone hear anything else on these? Are the lower wattage ones holding up ?

[Scorpius]

BRS just posted a video saying how great these heaters are. They even beat one with a hammer.... :lol:

[MonkeyFish858]

Well I posted a little while back about my failed 150 watt version. Lost some livestock and coral but not everything. I did get a hold of Cobalt and they really have been a pleasure to work with. Granted we never hope things like this happen but when they do not every company is willing to work with you. I've been interfacing with one of their reps Erienne and can say nothing but good things. Excellent communication! I have another 150 watt on its way and they also purchased me a generous gift certificate at my LFS to help cover costs associated with livestock, etc. Very classy service. I am inclined to give them another try and chance at redemption. Really did get the sense they cared about the customer which is not always the case for other individuals/companies. Needless to say though I will be keeping a close eye on the new heater!

[ThisGuy12]

Well I posted a little while back about my failed 150 watt version. Lost some livestock and coral but not everything. I did get a hold of Cobalt and they really have been a pleasure to work with. Granted we never hope things like this happen but when they do not every company is willing to work with you. I've been interfacing with one of their reps Erienne and can say nothing but good things. Excellent communication! I have another 150 watt on its way and they also purchased me a generous gift certificate at my LFS to help cover costs associated with livestock, etc. Very classy service. I am inclined to give them another try and chance at redemption. Really did get the sense they cared about the customer which is not always the case for other individuals/companies. Needless to say though I will be keeping a close eye on the new heater!Now THAT's customer service! Kudos to them for doing it right in a not so ideal situation. Most companies would give you the run around to the point that you give up and move on.

[GQuinn]

BRS just posted a video saying how great these heaters are. They even beat one with a hammer.... :lol:

Did you notice in the video there was no 200 watt heater in the display. 150 watt was the highest they showed.

[risin]

That is exceptional customer service, but I feel it's borderline unethical to sell this product in the first place. As with all plastic heaters you're basically putting something in your tank that has a chance of spewing toxic sludge. I can't think of any other aquarium component with the same risk. I had one plastic heater fail on me but luckily it was in a water change station, never again.

[Scorpius]

Did you notice in the video there was no 200 watt heater in the display. 150 watt was the highest they showed.

I sure did. :dance:

[nbcreef]

I have a 200w neo-therm and it is definitely leaking current and shocking me when reaching in the tank. Helpful thread, thanks for reporting these issues

[Mad Mantis]

Return it. Not worth the risk. Nobody should be buying this brand heater regardless of wattage.

I never did get a reply from them but I am sure i'll get some hate mail after a while. :thumbdown

Turns out the guy sent me USED ones when he labeled them as new. Luckily he gave me a full refund even on shipping.

I urge everyone to be careful buying these things because it looks like people are trying to offload them onto unsuspecting customers.

[Eliphion]

Hello everyone,

Add my 200W to this list. Made in 2/2013. I was doing a water change in my 40B, something Ive done weekly for the past 3 years. I put the 200W neotherm in last July and didn't have any issues until I smelled burning plastic and noticed smoke coming from the tank today. I quickly removed the heater and found the crack. Same as everyone else here. Hope my 50w glass and 50w neotherm can keep my tank around 78F since it's Memorial Day Weekend. :) Ill be calling Cobalt Tuesday morning!

[cali9dub]

Welcome to the club

[malady]

I think I am going to just unplug my 75 watt for the summer... >_<

[cali9dub]

I think I am going to just unplug my 75 watt for the summer... >_<

From what I understand it's only been the 150w and 200w heaters....unless someone had a 100/75/50w ones fail ??? Anyone ??

[RocketCityNano]

I have a couple of 150s but they are getting replace with Jagers soon. Just placed the order. I've emailed Cobalt several times and they assure me that there are no problems with their 150's, but that's a chance that I'm not willing to take!

[SW_nOOb_SC]

I have a 50W in my tank that was a production model pre Jan 2013 and its been running strong for more than a year in my nano, no issues, no stray voltage, no smells. It hasn't given me any reason to not trust it, actually been one of the most consistent heaters I've ever used. With an earlier production date and a lower wattage maybe I escaped the problems? I also run mine partially submerged with the top never going below the water.

I love Cobalt, local company, great guys tons of good products but If given the opportunity I probably wouldn't purchase another Neotherm right now of any model given the issues. Just un-necessary risk really for under $100 which is a drop in the bucket and cheaper than some of the frags in my tank. Hard to trust these later production runs especially in the larger wattages.

[Spyderturbo007]

From what I understand it's only been the 150w and 200w heaters....unless someone had a 100/75/50w ones fail ??? Anyone ??

I have a 50w in my Betta's 12g Fluval and haven't had any problems. I was going to remove it, but haven't read any reports of the lower wattage heaters having this problem.

[Tzwizzle]

Well it happened to me while I was on a 10 day vacation. 200w cracked and Luckily I only had 2 dead fish. Black clown is a trooper and corals seem to be ok. Needless to say I'm swapping my back up 200W out. Worst case scenario

[Long Islander]

Well it happened to me last night. I woke up to everything dead in my tank and the smell is very bad in the house.

I will be contacting an attorney regarding this. It has killed over 3k worth of coral and livestock.

[Dapg8gt]

Can't believe they let these stay out without a nation wide recall.. I wouldn't buy any model of these regardless..I don't understand how some people know and still risk it. I get brand loyalty but common sense should come into play here just sayin.

[cjfishbone]

I just wanted to post an update for everyone. To summarize just in case someone didn't read my earlier posts, we had our 200W NeoTherm heater fail more than 10 weeks ago and it devastated our aquarium. We have just as much, if not more reason to be angry with Cobalt for what happened.

I admit I was very upset and frustrated at first, but then I got a phone call from Les at Cobalt. We talked at length that day and he was completely honest with me and took the time to explain the how and why of what happened. He was remorseful for the way it affected our family and vowed to make things right so we could enjoy our aquarium again. He helped us through the whole ordeal by staying in touch with us on a regular basis and always treated us as more than just customers. He helped us through the cleanup process and offered advice when needed. He showed great interest in how things were going and how we were doing. Once our aquarium was clean and stable again, he kept his word to us and made things right.

Because of Les, we are once again able to sit back and enjoy our aquarium and the hobby as a family. He earned our respect from the first time we spoke and we have enough confidence in Les and the people at Cobalt that we will continue to use and endorse Cobalt products.

We are currently using a 150W NeoTherm heater and it has worked as flawlessly as the 75W model that has been keeping the temperature in our BioCube stable for almost a year. I have been asked many times if I would put another 200W model in our aquarium once they're available again and the answer is simple, yes.

[fifthtoe]

I would be scared of adding any plastic heater to my tank now. The amount of smoke was insane. However, I really have nothing but good things to say about their customer service.

[frankabagnale]

My Cobalt heater just cracked and exploded last night. We woke up at 4 am to the smell of smoke. Afraid our house was on fire, I checked the house with fire extinguisher in hand. Found the culprit in the sump. All the fish are dead. All the shrimp are dead. The coral looks really bad. Currently running carbon and am about to do some water changes.

[frankabagnale]

It is awful! I can't believe they didn't try to send out some sort of bulletin or recall.

[NYR]

My Cobalt heater just cracked and exploded last night. We woke up at 4 am to the smell of smoke. Afraid our house was on fire, I checked the house with fire extinguisher in hand. Found the culprit in the sump. All the fish are dead. All the shrimp are dead. The coral looks really bad. Currently running carbon and am about to do some water changes.

What wattage model was yours? I just came across this thread. I have a 100w in my tank now, going to check the production date when i get home

[frankabagnale]

Mine was a 150w.

[theoregonian]

Would be cool if this was a sticky in the more popular forums so others can beware and possibly prevent a future tank crash.

[spoon671]

There's nothing wrong with these NeoTherm heaters. All brand heaters are bound to blow up sometime.

[dodgerblew]

There's nothing wrong with these NeoTherm heaters. All brand heaters are bound to blow up sometime.

Really? Where did you come across this info. I've been into raising fish, both fresh and salt for about 45 years and never did I have a brand heater blow up until this one.

[fifthtoe]

I agree that all heaters have the potential to blow up or fail. However, not all heaters will will release burned up plastic and epoxy into the tank along with filling the whole house with smoke from these burned up materials. I think people that have pets that stay inside should be slightly concerned. If this heater were to fail while the owners were at work and the pet was left home to breathe it in all day, that could be bad. Fortunately, I had just gotten home from work when mine failed so my dogs were ok.

[aleithol]

There's nothing wrong with these NeoTherm heaters. All brand heaters are bound to blow up sometime.

Not to start a war of words here, but I see you've been following this thread for some time from your previous posts. I grant you, we could debate ad-infinatum as to how many failures makes something a big deal or not. It certainly is a huge issue to those that have had losses. Some of us also acknowledge that more people tend to post on forums with problems or sometimes to just stir up controversy, than they do reporting likely more every day good experiences -- so at least for me, the way I consider feedback from all online forums and social media is always tempered along those lines.

As I suspect it is to many others, especially those that have now encountered failures, it's clear to me there is an acknowledged issue with some number of the original 200W versions of these heaters from the mfgr (see post #89). There are also multiple people that personally encountered failures that have reported back here on discussions they've had with the mfgr about the failures and changes being made to future models to reduce repeated failures.

I've had good experience with smaller wattage Neo-Therms for many years. After reading of the first problem here, I also thought the report may be an anomaly, and went ahead and purchased 2 200W Neo-Therms for what was at the time my future 150gal build. After seeing the second failure report, I became more concerned, and returned the heaters still sitting in their boxes. I replaced them with alternative titanium heaters for the piece of mind. I don't have to now wonder if I have two ticking time bombs in my family room that may effect the thousands of dollars I spent on my new reef setup, it's inhabitants, or having potentially worse damage of some sort to my home or my Retriever. Yes, of course the alternative heaters could fail as well, as could other components, but I've done my best with research on each one to avoid reported problematic devices, go with quality devices, and build in safety or secondary systems where I could. I continue to use smaller wattage Neo-Therms in both of my QTs and water mixing station without issue -- I simply won't consider the larger wattage varieties until a lot of time has gone by to flush-out potentially problematic models Cobalt (unfortunately) seems to have decided to leave in the supply line, and a new positive track record is established with their design changes.

[frankabagnale]

My problem isn't just that the heater blew up, but I feel like the customer service is also lacking. The response I received seemed heartless and scripted. They offered to send me a 100w and a 50w heater to replace my 150w heater. They didn't explain what may have happened with the heater or offer any advice on steps to help clean up the tank. Do I really want to put two Neo-Therm heaters in my tank when the one I had to begin with blew up? When I contacted Cobalt, they were more apologetic about their "contact us" feature on their website not working than they were about the heater blowing up.

[spoon671]

Really? Where did you come across this info. I've been into raising fish, both fresh and salt for about 45 years and never did I have a brand heater blow up until this one.


I was just playing around man. These heaters suck and I would never recommend them to anyone I know.

[dodgerblew]

I was just playing around man. These heaters suck and I would never recommend them to anyone I know.

You got me lol. Well done!

I really hated losing what I lost and guess I'm still on edge about it

[Ztrain]

I was planning on getting one for my 25g tank but now I'm hesitant unfortunately. So the JBJ Titanium (http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/titanium-heating-system-with-jbj-true-temp-digital-controller-1.html) is an okay alternative? A little pricier but I'd much rather spend more to have something more reliable. The lowest one is 30g+ can I use that with a 25 or will it cook the fish?

[rk_tek]

I pulled my 200w Neotherm today bc it was leaking stray voltage into my tank. I've Had very bad experience with heaters in the last year, blown up Stealth, a hydor that exploded and killed a lot of coral, and now this. I purchased the Neotherm bc of its durability and stable temp. I had noticed a shock like feeling when putting my hand in the tank but I am a carpenter and constantly have small cuts and scrapes that burn/sting from saltwater and the tingling was almost always around my fingernail cuticles.

I finally pulled out my multimeter and found ~120VAC in the aquarium. The heater was contributing over 100VAC and after pulling it I found the power head also leaking ~20VAC. after removing both of these, my tank only reads a few millivolts potential which is perfectly acceptable.

[Ztrain]

Did you have a GFCI setup?

[Ztrain]

Have there been anymore of these going up? I am thinking about buying the 50 watt one for my new 20 gal. Was the verdict it was only the 200s going up with a rare 150? Did they do a recall finally?

[Dapg8gt]

I personally feel it's a design issue with the entire line of the heaters and wouldn't risk any one of them in any of my tanks.. That's just my thoughts though.. Good luck

[cjfishbone]

It was a production issue, not a design issue, that affected only a small number of the 200W heaters that were made. The other models were not affected and are fine. The problem occurred when the internal components were being inserted into the outer body of the heater. They have since changed the process to prevent it from happening again. These are extremely accurate and reliable heaters and I am still using them in both our aquariums despite what happened to us.

[Ztrain]

It was a production issue, not a design issue, that affected only a small number of the 200W heaters that were made. The other models were not affected and are fine. The problem occurred when the internal components were being inserted into the outer body of the heater. They have since changed the process to prevent it from happening again. These are extremely accurate and reliable heaters and I am still using them in both our aquariums despite what happened to us.

That's awesome to hear and gives me a lot of confidence. I talked to my LFS about them and they didn't know anything about them blowing up. They also have heaters from the dates listed in this thread as being bad ones. But as long as it only affected the 200s I should be fine getting a 50. I love this companies pumps and was looking forward to getting the heater but this gave me a huge moment of pause.

[aleithol]

I've had no issues with my 75W Neotherms in both of my existing QTs, and as previously described, they appear very accurate. I have 2 150W Neotherms for my mixing stations without issues in nearly 5 months of use in water for a few hours, then out for a week or two and being somewhat tossed-and-turned between times when I have them stored away. As previously posted, I did however return my 200W Neotherms still in their boxes and replaced them with another brand for use in my 150G DT build earlier this year. I wouldn't touch the 200W versions with the 2013 build dates for any reason -- IMHO some number of them are simply potential ticking time bombs from the unfortunate results described here and I wouldn't take that chance.

[theoregonian]

Just wanted to bump this so anyone unaware can get the heads up.

[Ztrain]

I just got a 100w Neo-Therm. It had some blue liquid smeared on it when I took it out of the box at first I thought it may have been burned or melted plastic. But after rinsing it under water and rubbing at it all of the residue came off was guessing it was manufacturing oil. Happens on a lot of new stuff. Then after trying it off and inspecting it closely I noticed that there was a gap that I could see inside of the unit from on the top back part by the button.

My local fish store allowed me to exchange it no questions asked. Didn't want to put it in the tank with that gap up there on the top.

[anoriega211]

I just came across this thread and wanted to add my experience as well. Just a couple days ago my wife, kids, and I noticed the same very nasty burnt electronics and rotten egg smell that some of you have described and it was mainly around the tank. Sure enough, after cutting power and pulling equipment out of the sump I found my Neo-Term 200w was the culprit. It had a crack running almost the full length of the heater, it was all corroded around the crack and even around the circle of LED temps. I'm guessing that either the heat or stray electric current in the water was frying something in the water, or it was just the stuff oozing out as other reported becuase I spent a while afterwards scrubbing black gunk off of some plastic parts that were in the sump.

I've contacted Cobalt via email and they said they are currently out of stock of 200w's and offered to send me 2 x 100w's or I could wait for when 200w's are back in stock. I'm limited on sump space so I opted to wait, but am not sure if I'll actually put it in my sump or sell it and buy a different brand. I did ask if this was a known issue, and if it's fixed in later production runs but that email was just sent a bit ago so I haven't heard back just yet. Speaking of, my production run was 11/13.

It's pretty disappointing as I bought the heater after seeing the BRS video someone in this thread had mentioned. It's not cold in my area yet so I can survive with no heater for a while, but not forever.

[frankabagnale]

I felt very let down by their customer service and just decided to stop talking to them. I won't every buy from them again.

[moblur]

Add me to the list of cracked and smoking 200w cobalt heaters. My wife woke me up at 5am when she smelled something that seemed like an electrical fire. The whole house smelled like chemicals and rotten eggs. We finally narrowed it down to the sump where I saw the heater was making a buzzing noise and bubbles were coming from the middle emitting smoke when they reached the surface. I immediately ripped it from the sump where it had been installed horizontally fully submerged. The smell was so nauseous that my wife has been throwing up for the last hour. Who knows how long we were breathing that before it woke her. So far nothing dead in the tank but this just happened a couple of hours ago. The manufacture date is 02/2013. The unit has a 6+ inch crack running over the front face with a black gooey substance being discharged.

[seattleslackers]

I also have a 6+ inch crack in my Cobalt Neo-Therm 200 Watt. This was also in my sump flat on the bottom and doing a great job. I did have a tank power issue with the GFCI popping one night but no horrible smell or bubbling. Instead I could not figure out why I was causing an electrical shock and popping the GFCI every time my arm in the tank and elbow would touch the overhanging light fixture to complete the circuit.

Eventually I could feel the current in the water on my finger cuticle as I started turning things off. When I got to the Cobalt Neo-Therm 200 Watt heater the tingling on my finger went away. I pulled the heater from the sump and found a two thick cracks in the heater.

I have to say that I am very glad I installed that GFCI plug for the tank as I could have gotten seriously injured due to this defect.

I will be contacting Cobalt immediately.
Thanks
Seattle Slackers (WA)

[Jeshon]

Hey thanks for sharing this. I was thinking to buy this heater and use it for tank.

[BryanS4]

I ordered 2 150's last week after seeing the BRS video on them. Figures I find this thread by dumb luck this morning. I can't believe BRS would endorse this product after all these problems.

I bought mine off Amazon, so not sure if I can return, but regardless I'll be looking for some new heaters this morning. After reading some of these horror stories I'm not taking any chances.

[dodgerblew]

You can return to amazon. You will probably have to pay for shipping it back or can't you refuse the pkg?

[BryanS4]

You can return to amazon. You will probably have to pay for shipping it back or can't you refuse the pkg?

They have already arrived, but pretty sure I can return as well and for the piece of mind I'm not worried about the shipping costs.

I'm just grateful I found this thread before plugging them in next weekend.

[dodgerblew]

Did you open them up and check the tag above the plug for production date? I also would return it anyway but just curious. I still have the 150w sitting in the sealed box sent to me from Cobalt when my 200w cracked. Just can't bring myself to risk it

[dodgerblew]

It was a production issue, not a design issue, that affected only a small number of the 200W heaters that were made. The other models were not affected and are fine. The problem occurred when the internal components were being inserted into the outer body of the heater. They have since changed the process to prevent it from happening again. These are extremely accurate and reliable heaters and I am still using them in both our aquariums despite what happened to us.

This post is interesting. I personally spoke with one of the owners of CA after my 200w blew up and he told me it was an issue with epoxy expanding from the high temps and the bezel not being able to potentially withstand it. Would this statement lean towards a production issue or a design issue?

[BryanS4]

Did you open them up and check the tag above the plug for production date? I also would return it anyway but just curious. I still have the 150w sitting in the sealed box sent to me from Cobalt when my 200w cracked. Just can't bring myself to risk it

I just did, both are marked 8-2013.

[Ztrain]

It's been a while since reading this thread but I think that there was only one or two 150s that went up reported in this thread. When I talked to Cobalt they said that only the 200s were having the issue I got a 100. AWESOME HEATER. But me personally wouldn't use anything bigger then 100. I would go with a titanium of some sort.

[BryanS4]

It's been a while since reading this thread but I think that there was only one or two 150s that went up reported in this thread. When I talked to Cobalt they said that only the 200s were having the issue I got a 100. AWESOME HEATER. But me personally wouldn't use anything bigger then 100. I would go with a titanium of some sort.

Yeah, I don't know much about the titanium heaters, but will be doing some research later today. Not to get off topic, but if anyone can suggest something please send me a pm. Thx.

[BeanAnimal]

You really not submerge ANY of them... Place the heater in the intake side if your sump, where the water level does not fluctuate. Attach it so that the head is OUT of the water. No seals to leak means no exploding heaters or leaking current...

Secondly (as, or more important), use a dedicated temperature controller (Ranco, Love, etc) and set the thermostat of the heater just a touch higher (by feel) than the controllers set point. This will prevent the heater's internal thermostat and contacts from wearing out but will allow them to act as a fail-safe.

To lazy to post a link.. but by website has a fairly lengthy heater article with more than you ever wanted to know about aquarium heaters.

[dodgerblew]

My heater wasn't submerged

[dodgerblew]

I just did, both are marked 8-2013.
Guess they're not selling that quick. Was Amazon selling them for cheap?