Strange heater problems

[Koh23]

So, i run into something that is either very strange malfunction, or very very strange operation behavior.

I have two 300w hagen marina heaters. No matter what is tank water temperature, and no matter what temperature i set on heater, heaters work following this pattern:

1:15min ON (light is on)
6:30min OFF (light off)

Both heaters run identicaly, i guess this is maybe some overheat protection, or something, but, with that pattern, water is 22-23C, and i believe primary becsuse ambient temperature, if heater works only few minutes m per hour, it will never be able to heat water to any meaningfull temperature.

What i'm missing here? Always had heaters that are on untill temperature is reached....

 

[Garf]

So, i run into something that is either very strange malfunction, or very very strange operation behavior.

I have two 300w hagen marina heaters. No matter what is tank water temperature, and no matter what temperature i set on heater, heaters work following this pattern:

1:15min ON (light is on)
6:30min OFF (light off)

Both heaters run identicaly, i guess this is maybe some overheat protection, or something, but, with that pattern, water is 22-23C, and i believe primary becsuse ambient temperature, if heater works only few minutes m per hour, it will never be able to heat water to any meaningfull temperature.

What i'm missing here? Always had heaters that are on untill temperature is reached....

Have you got them on a controller that can manage 600watts?

 

[Koh23]

Controller, no controller, its all the same - 1min on, 6min off, no matter of temperature.....

 

[Garf]

Controller, no controller, its all the same - 1min on, 6min off, no matter of temperature.....

You tried just plugging one in, see what happens?

 

[Koh23]

Yes, directly into outlet, same thing...

I had various heaters trough time, from noname chinese heaters to jager, tetra, jbl, eheim, and really i newer saw anything similar to this.

Heater is on, untill water temp is reached. Or, if heater is too weak, then its always on.

But, this operational pattern puzzles me.....

 

[Malcontent]

This is the power consumption of a Fluval E heater during the winter. It's basically 3 min on, 4-5 min off. It does heat the water quite well (once the plastic guard is removed). It has electronic thermostats otherwise I'd be concerned that the numerous on-off cycles would fatigue a mechanical thermostat and cause it to fail...

Maybe Hagen/Fluval has some weird design philosophy when it comes to heaters...

 

[TheyGaveItToMe]

Are both heater close to each other in the same chamber? Have you tried setting the temperatures on the heater higher and the controller to temperature with the probe in a different location?

 

[Koh23]

I tried everything, believe me.....

No matter how or what - 1 min on, 6min off.... All the time....

 

[TheyGaveItToMe]

What about if you unplug one?

 

[Koh23]

Same.... Each heater independent in wall socket (no controller or anything) works on same scheme.....

 

[TheyGaveItToMe]

Same.... Each heater independent in wall socket (no controller or anything) works on same scheme.....

Yeah, I'm lost. Might be time to throw them in the trash?

 

[EricR]

Definitely sounds weird -- 1.25 minutes seems way too short if it was some kind of "max run time" setting like I think you were suggesting (which I've never seen on just a heater anyway).

Only other thing I would do is stick one of the heaters in a bucket of COLD water and see if it only runs the same 1.25 minutes or not. (The only thing that would prove is whether or not it really is some kind of maximum run time for the heater)

EDIT -- I might leave one running in the bucket for at least a full day without unplugging it to see if the behavior changes at all after time with constant power. (No basis for this but some new heaters I've had seemed to kind of "settle in" and stabilize after a couple of days)

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Hopefully you didn’t submerge it. I was Aquarium sitting, and had weird problem with his heaters. I had to unplug, put them in a cold water bath, to speed along the reset. Put the heater back in the Aquarium. Hold the Dial Down, and plug and unplug the heater, to default set. Then I could set the heater. I don’t remember if they were Fluvals. Fluval just makes things too complicated, as indicated by my G3 and U2 Filters.

 

[Koh23]

I tried that, its all the same, water temperature dont affect runing time.

I guess this is just way they are protecting from overheat, really dont have any other explanation.

Yes, maybe i didnt mention, in that 1 minute on time, heater gets hot to touch....

 

[EricR]

I still think the HARD 1 minute ON, 6 minutes OFF just doesn't sound right.
I'm a newbie(ish) but feel like that isn't a good plan to sufficiently heat the tank in cold weather,,, but what do I know?

 

[Koh23]

Not sure what to tell...

First time for me, too