Ebo heaters

[Delphinus]

There is a CSA-approved heater labelled "submersible." It's made by Rena. Or Rena-Cal ... I forget the exact brand name offhand.

It has the dubious honor of being the only heater I've ever had to completely fail (and, of course, fail in the "stuck on" position) within two months of purchase. I fried my 75g tank with it last month. Luckily I hadn't yet stocked it due to that I was still cycling it.

So ... CSA approval isn't everything.

Stick with the EBO's. Yes, they're more expensive and they're not labelled "submersible". But in my view there simply isn't another heater that is superior to these guys. Just take a look at how they're built. It just looks way more solid and those coils are way less wussy looking than any other heater I've ever looked at. I'm totally sorry I ever strayed from them. I never will again. I fell prey to the "*** The first CSA-approved fully submersible heater in Canada ***" tag line on the box of the Rena ... and boy what a fool I was.

As far as using EBO's submersible ... they are not "labelled" submersible so if you have it completely submersed and your house burns down because of it (or you electrocute yourself) ... you can't sue them. Or you can't sue Underwriters Laboratory, or the CSA-approval governing body (whatever it's called). Which puts you in the same boat as the rest of us who are using these heaters submersible! [img]images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img] Basically use your common sense. If you have any reason to suspect a device (a heater ... or a pump ... or ANYTHING) may be faulty, or is somehow weak, or leaking voltage ... just chuck it and replace it. The way I look at it ... basically we're on our own.

So with that in mind ... it's probably a good idea to periodically check your tank water for stray voltage. If you find any, find the cause and eliminate it.

And of course, a grounding probe and a GFCI protection on the circuit is a good idea.

We should probably be looking at an equipment replacement schedule. As equipment ages ... it stops being a question of "if" a particular widget will fail, it becomes a question of "when" it will fail.

And of course, with that last point in mind, look at fail-safe scenarios. For example ... Two slightly-underpowered heaters is better than a single overpowered heater. Because if one fails on (and trust me Murphy's Law dictates that if it's going to fail, it's going to fail in the "stuck on" position), it will take longer to overheat the tank (if it does at all). Thus you have time to address the issue before anything dies of heat stress.

And so on ... personally I think it's a case of "common sense should prevail."

...

Sheesh .. babble babble babble. Sorry -- I know I'm bad for this. I think the original question was whether it is okay to use EBO's submersible. Yes go ahead. The "non-submersible" label is a CSA-approval thing.

[ 19 February 2002: Message edited by: delphinus ]</p>