why do heaters always fail in the "on" position?

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by bauder1986

Those pre-set temp heaters are dangerous. Had one a while back that cooked my tank and killed off half of what i had.

this one is no different from any of the other heaters I have, are there some that aren't pre-set (that don't cost a fortune because they have their own fancy external controller)? All of mine you dial to wherever you want it and it heats to that temperature (or close to it anyways).