Opinions on heater reliability vs performance vs warranty please

[harley3]

So after a few heater problems recently I have been researching heaters. My LFS guys who I trust a lot like the Finnex heaters. I have always had Marineland heaters for no reason other than familiar name. I do have Finnex Controllers on both tansk. My question is that with Marineland's lifetime warranty and great customer service, doesn't it make sense to stick with them over Finnex, Eheim Jagger or others since their warranties are 1 year or less? Please give me your pros and cons and/or tell me where my thinking is wrong.

in the past 5 weeks or so I have had 3 heaters die. 1 250w was in my 40 gal QT and luckily I was home to hear the temp alarm so I could throw in a backup. I replaced it with a Finnex. 2nd one, a 300w, was in my RODI barrel in the garage and it died a few days after I forgot to unplug it after using the water in the barrel. It ran for about 10-15 minutes out of the water. The third one was my oldest, a 300w, and it just died the other day but I think it was being overworked trying to heat a 50 gal of water in a garage that get very cold in the winter. All have been replaced by Marineland under warranty without question.

 

[Waters]

I gave up on buying expensive heaters.....they have all died on me at some point (Finnex included). I now pretty much buy Aqueon Pros and just use them with a controller. If I was going to go with a higher end heater it would probably be the Cobalt Neo-therm....I have also had good luck with those (so far).

 

[Supurderek]

I always feel that it is a hit or miss. I have used finnex titanium for years with no problems. Also same with my eheim jagers for heating mixing containers.

Hve had 1 neo therm fail on a fresh water tank and 1 marineland.

 

[mcarroll]

in the past 5 weeks or so I have had 3 heaters die. 1 250w was in my 40 gal QT and luckily I was home to hear the temp alarm so I could throw in a backup. I replaced it with a Finnex. 2nd one, a 300w, was in my RODI barrel in the garage and it died a few days after I forgot to unplug it after using the water in the barrel. It ran for about 10-15 minutes out of the water. The third one was my oldest, a 300w, and it just died the other day but I think it was being overworked trying to heat a 50 gal of water in a garage that get very cold in the winter. All have been replaced by Marineland under warranty without question.

I would not switch. I've been using Marineland's glass heaters since they were Aquarium Systems VisiTherm heaters and they are great. (I will say that Finnex is a question mark and Eheim should be safe too.....but I still wouldn't switch.)

If there were any mystery about why they were dying, then I'd consider doing something different – like hiring an electrician to figure out what was blowing up your heaters!

But there's no mystery.

One you fried and the other two I'm not sure if these heaters are even rated for outdoor use. Plus you're using a gigantic heater in a tiny little tank of water.....I don't know if those issues may even be compounding on each other. (Call Marineland and ask then this question too.)

Maybe think about some garage insulation or moving some tank-space into the house?

 

[harley3]

I would not switch. I've been using Marineland's glass heaters since they were Aquarium Systems VisiTherm heaters and they are great. (I will say that Finnex is a question mark and Eheim should be safe too.....but I still wouldn't switch.)

If there were any mystery about why they were dying, then I'd consider doing something different – like hiring an electrician to figure out what was blowing up your heaters!

But there's no mystery.

One you fried and the other two I'm not sure if these heaters are even rated for outdoor use. Plus you're using a gigantic heater in a tiny little tank of water.....I don't know if those issues may even be compounding on each other. (Call Marineland and ask then this question too.)

Maybe think about some garage insulation or moving some tank-space into the house?

Nothing is outdoors and only the RODI/water mixing station is in the garage. I do agree with the insulation and will be doing that this spring. If anything it will help with the overall temp downstairs.

Yeah, I definitely fried one and was surprised that Marineland replaced it even after I was straight up with them. I think the other two were just coincidence.

It is hard to change when they have worked well over the few years I have had them and their customer service is great. Plus today my LFS said to just bring them in to them and they will replace them for me even after a year. So I won't have to wait to get a replacement. Can't beat that.

 

[GoVols]

I gave up on buying expensive heaters.....they have all died on me at some point (Finnex included). I now pretty much buy Aqueon Pros and just use them with a controller. If I was going to go with a higher end heater it would probably be the Cobalt Neo-therm....I have also had good luck with those (so far).

Cobalt =

 

[cmcoker]

Eheim jager is a 3 year warranty. I've had to have one replaced, and when setting up my current build I couldn't see using anything else because I'm comfortable with them.
if your using a controller I don't think it really matters too much just keep a back up handy.