Big Al's e'lcheapo Heaters
 

So I figured I'd buy one of the $11.99 100w heaters that big al's sells, for heating my saltwater mix.

I'm waiting for some used powerheads from another member, so I've been using a pump/airstone to mixup my water. So I hooked on the heater over a cable which would keep it situated in the middle of the water, about 2" above the water line.

I woke up this morning to find the water brown. The splat from the water bubbles ended up getting on the screw on the top of the heater, which ended up rusting. Water also ended up dripping into the heater itself, and the entire inside of the glass heater is rusted!

I couldn't believe my eyes. Talk about el-cheapo. Hopefully they'll take it back, and I'll spend the extra on ebo's from now on. Lesson learnt.

Won't take a chance on any electrical equipment that wasn't designed to be fully immersed, from a safety standpoint.

you do know that there is no such thing as a submersible heater in Canada. CSA won't allow them to be sold as submersible so in the US they are but in Canada there not. (just a useless tidbit of info for ya)

Steve

Of course they're submersible. I know this because mine are submersed.

They just come with that little line that says "do not submerse below this line". They had to put that on there to get the CSL rating for Canada. Although I've heard the new Ebo-Jagers with the blue ring on the top shouldn't be submersed. I don't have one so I dunno.

Christy :)

Spot on Christy. You will see that same line on Visi-Therms, and I think on Hagen heaters too. That is CSA for you, ever so careful (not that there is anything wrong with that) :mrgreen:

I'll just add I love the new "guaranteed for life" visitherm with the visible heat setting and CSA submersible rating.

Canada takes special care of its peeps. :mrgreen:

Oh you're so down with the hizzle, Em! :razz:

heheheh :wink:

Interesting, because I exchanged the heater for a Marineland Dual Temp heater. The thing that caught my eye (and this was after reading your post) was that it says on the front FULLY SUBMERSIBLE and is stamped on the back with CSA.

Maybe things are changing?