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]

Originally Posted by FlyPenFly

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.

[fifthtoe]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by fifthtoe

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]

Originally Posted by Maximus

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by Jone

....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.