How to reset heater

drtito

drtito

Member
i have a heater the has the numbers written and the dial turns to the desired temp. But its heating more then it should be(or what i have it set at).
How do I reset the heater so it will produce the right amout of heat for the setting? Set at 78 want 78-80 temp. Goes to 84 some times.
Note: I got a new heater today to help the old one now that its colder. I read the directions and am letting it sit for 24 hours before i dial it in.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by DrTITO
http:///forum/post/3167300
i have a heater the has the numbers written and the dial turns to the desired temp. But its heating more then it should be(or what i have it set at).
How do I reset the heater so it will produce the right amout of heat for the setting? Set at 78 want 78-80 temp. Goes to 84 some times.
Note: I got a new heater today to help the old one now that its colder. I read the directions and am letting it sit for 24 hours before i dial it in.

If it is 2 degrees too high, lower it two degrees....EXAMPLE: if you set it at 80 and it goes to 84...set 4 degrees lower on the dial to 76.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
I would get a new heater.....sounds to me like it is not working properly...why take a chance that you come home one day and it's at 90....
I just replaced 2 for that exact reason....
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3167309
I would get a new heater.....sounds to me like it is not working properly...why take a chance that you come home one day and it's at 90....
I just replaced 2 for that exact reason....

That makes better sense..LOL ..He did buy 1 already.
 
drtito

drtito

Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3167309
I would get a new heater.....sounds to me like it is not working properly...why take a chance that you come home one day and it's at 90....
I just replaced 2 for that exact reason....
I added another heater B4 to help the old one and it would turn off once the temp rose, so I belive it can be taken care if i reset it.
the B4 was the heater from the water change mixing bucket. :) now in there for good.
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3167313

That makes better sense..LOL ..He did buy 1 already.
hi flower
, ya dont want to spend more if i can fix it.
*********************************************
I am gonna unplug and remove it for a day ,then set it up as if new.
Let sit for a 1/2 hour then plug. 24 hours then adjust. hope it works, i will have to do a search i swore someone said it was easy to reset them.
thanks
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
I have never heard of resetting heaters...I'd be curious about that...so if you find the post or article, let me know.....ok...:)
 
lukeist1

lukeist1

Member
I would be very careful with it if it was me. i had a heater go bad and I lost almost everything in my tank! a little canned milk and some potatoes and i would have had a nice mixed seafood chowder...lol... if i was unsure about it I would check it out in a pail or anything but my dt!
 
drtito

drtito

Member
Originally Posted by lukeist1
http:///forum/post/3167336
I would be very careful with it if it was me. i had a heater go bad and I lost almost everything in my tank! a little canned milk and some potatoes and i would have had a nice mixed seafood chowder...lol... if i was unsure about it I would check it out in a pail or anything but my dt!
good point I will use a bucket.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3167309
I would get a new heater.....sounds to me like it is not working properly...why take a chance that you come home one day and it's at 90....
I just replaced 2 for that exact reason....
True dat! Don't mess with heaters! They pack some power.
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
Some heaters can be calibrated. Jagers are one type that are known for this. Let's wait and see what kind of heater he has.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
All mine were the All Glass Aquarium heaters...I bought 3 new ones last year. 2 for the 225G, and one for the 54G ...The Marineland Stealth heaters...
and the 2 I just bought last week are also the Marineland stealth....one for the 29G, and one for a 16G FW tank I have..
I have too much money in these tanks to worry about a heater malfunctioning.....I felt more comfortable spending the $25 on the new ones
That is just me....:)
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
What we're talking about here is a calibration issue, which while technically constitutes a less than perfect functioning of the unit, doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to run amok and cook a tank.
Such is akin to saying that if the window in your car doesn't work, you should replace the car lest it explode.
One heater is as likely to malfunction as the next one, unless a malfunction has occured to raise the chances of a lead to catastrophic failure, which IMO a calibration issue is not.
Frankly, I'm distrustful of any heater's built in thermostat. I would rather run an external controller such a Ranco and use my heater's builtin thermostat as a backup to the Ranco. If the Ranco fails "on", the chances of the heater's builtin thermostat failing at the same time is about 0. When you come down to it, yeah, $25 is a small price to pay for peace of mind, but $25 to me can't buy the kind of reliability you need in a piece of equipment that can so easily destroy your whole system.
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
I would replace it, that's just what I would do. It's a small investment. I use rancos because I have a lot of chillers.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3167412
I would replace it, that's just what I would do. It's a small investment. I use rancos because I have a lot of chillers.

I just looked up what a Ranco is...would do nothing for me :)
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
When you say "ranco" in the fish world you are talking about a Ranco controller fitted with a plug and receptacle. Basically you plug them in, and plug whatever you want to control into them - usually a chiller or a heater.
They are incredibly versatile gadgets... a few applications...
- Controlling a chiller...
- Controlling a heater that has no thermostat built in
- Controlling one or more heaters with thermostats as a redundant backup
- Hooked up to your lights to cut the lights off if the tank's temperature rises too high...
In this case, I'm talking about hooking one up to your heaters. In an example, you might set your heater's built in thermostats to 82 degrees, plugged into a Ranco set to 78. The Ranco would control the temperature all the time, but should it fail, and the tank's temperature rises to 82, the heater's builtin thermostats would open up at this point, stopping things. Or, you could do the opposite, with the heater's thermostats doing the day to day work and the ranco being a "high temperature cutout."
I have yet to find a heater that I 100% trust the builtin thermostat on. One failure of one can cost me so much money... it's worth it. That said, Rancos are not cheap. However, they are industrial grade devices designed for maximum reliability. You can't say that about just about any aquarium heater.
But Ranco is a brand name of thermostatic controls that are used all over the place, so if you googled, that might be where you saw non-aquarium usage.
 
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