Cobalt neotherm heater just blew up!!!

[fixingstill]

The newer models don't have tags anymore. There's a stamp at the end of the cord instead.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here is the end of the cord (the plug):

How do you decode it?

I have the original boxes. No manufactured date or serial number on the box.

 

[125mph]

Cobalt neotherm heater just blew up!!!

Here is the end of the cord (the plug):

How do you decode it?



I have the original boxes. No manufactured date or serial number on the box.

Sorry I mean the cord, not the plug. It's a stamp. It's something like 9945/1720. It lets them know the production batch.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[fixingstill]

... Normally I wouldn't do fake receipt but they ****ed me off so bad with thier bad service I felt great giving them a fake receipt.

Never ever again will I buy from colbalt.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

:thumbsup:

 

[fixingstill]

Manufactured date is 08/16:

So, it is not some old batch. I bought 2 of these 150W's in Oct and Nov of 2016. Looks like Amazon does get them new from them.

AND THEY ARE STILL PROBLEMATIC.

I am pulling out my 2nd 150W that is still in use.

Post# 89 dated 03/07/2014 was directly from Cobalt Aquatics (and it is one and only one reply from them). It says:
"Cobalt has sold over 13,000 Neo’s with a grand total of 3 confirmed failures..."

Looks like it is way more than 3 now and they still have not addressed the problem.

Class action anyone?

 

[fifthtoe]

Can we please discuss about the clean up process? What chemical exactly is the tar-like epoxy resin that is on the glass and everywhere the water seeps thru and the smell that evaporated to the whole house? Is it (are they) safe to human? Would it eventually go away by, say, evaporation? If so, how long? Or it will be inside the pipes, the powerhead, the pumps and everywhere water goes thru forever (sand and rocks)? The resin doesn't look like water soluble. The smell does. How do you clean your tank so as to restart it and is it safe to the fish? Vinegar? Running carbon? Do you run the tank with full water and then drain it? My hands still smell burning plastic today.
Lucky me that this 150W heater blew up in my QT without sand or rocks, not in my DT.

I can't tell you what the resin is or if it's toxic but i found that it sticks really well to paper towels. i would just dip paper towels into the water to soak up all the free flowing resin. once it's stuck to something, it's hard to remove, but i used paper towels to rub what i could off. The smell took about a day to subside, with the help of carbon. i caught mine immediately, so i'm not sure if you'll have the same experience as me cleaning it up.

 

[fixingstill]

Mine was still on and heating for over 10 hrs after it exploded.
You can clean up the glass but when it is inside the plumbing, the powerhead, the pump, it is impossible to clean up. Even if it does (slowly) dissolve in water, I wonder what long term effect it has on the live stock.

 

[deputydog95]

Uggghhh.....

I had hoped you were going to say it was 3 years old or something.

So.... Clearly, we need to yank these heaters. Mine is a 2017 batch, but I still don't trust it now.

What should we replace them with?

 

[chgoblknazn]

Mine was still on and heating for over 10 hrs after it exploded.
You can clean up the glass but when it is inside the plumbing, the powerhead, the pump, it is impossible to clean up. Even if it does (slowly) dissolve in water, I wonder what long term effect it has on the live stock.

Are you serious? It's still in there?

 

[chgoblknazn]

Uggghhh.....

I had hoped you were going to say it was 3 years old or something.

So.... Clearly, we need to yank these heaters. Mine is a 2017 batch, but I still don't trust it now.

What should we replace them with?

I went back to Eheim Jagers. I've never had an issue with any of them and I have plenty. The only reason I gave the Cobalt a shot was because it was slim and fit perfectly in the bubble trap section of my sump. My Eheims are connected to the Apex and the heater's thermostat is set a hair over 82 which is the max I allow my tank to get. The Apex is set to 78. They have performed flawlessly. Always have.

 

[smatter]

The only place the few I have lying around go is in the mixing bucket, no where near my tanks anymore. Plastic + heater = bad idea.

 

[jason2459]

Uggghhh.....

I had hoped you were going to say it was 3 years old or something.

So.... Clearly, we need to yank these heaters. Mine is a 2017 batch, but I still don't trust it now.

What should we replace them with?

Sigh, this sucks really bad. I've been saying for years there is no place in this world for a heater that has its main heating element encased in plastic.

No heater is perfect and any heater will fail. These epoxy based one much more so and sooner then later.

I've been using some titanium heaters now as posted on the previous page.

 

[fixingstill]

Are you serious? It's still in there?

2am my wife noticed the smell. I woke up and could not locate and heater was still heating with the normal LED on and flash. Next morning 9am I finally found out it was the heater. Assuming it was 1am, so it was cooking for about 8 hours (not 10.)

 

[deputydog95]

Sigh, this sucks really bad. I've been saying for years there is no place in this world for a heater that has its main heating element encased in plastic.

No heater is perfect and any heater will fail. These epoxy based one much more so and sooner then later.

I've been using some titanium heaters now as posted on the previous page.

Which heaters are you using now?

 

[jason2459]

Which heaters are you using now?

I've been using finnex titanium with no built in controller. Using ranco, apex, and bayite controllers to back each other up. CAFCI/GFCI circuits for fire and shock safety.

 

[Mishri]

Eheim Jager here. I have one that is over 20 years old and still works great. (I use it in my saltwater mix though, not a tank.. I don't have that much faith).. but that is all I run now. Every other brand I've had failed, but never an eheim jager.

 

[ReefCowboy]

Wow, so lets throw out of the window Cobalts "defective old batch from 2014" and "only 200w models"... we got a 150w from 2016!
I own two of these, use them to warm coral dipping containers or other silly applications where not much can go wrong.
If one chooses to still run these bombs in their systems after all issues reported, you deserve to have Murphy's Law come knock on your tanks doors.

 

[fixingstill]

 

[ReefCowboy]

Wow, so lets throw out of the window Cobalts "defective old batch from 2014" and "only 200w models"... we got a 150w from 2016!
I own two of these, use them to warm coral dipping containers or other silly applications where not much can go wrong.
If one chooses to still run these bombs in their systems after all issues reported, you deserve to have Murphy's Law come knock on your tanks doors.

BTW, not directed at anyone! Too many issues with these heaters though. Not worth the risk

 

[deputydog95]

I'm going to order and Eheim today and manage it with my apex.

This thread is scaring the crap out of me.

 

[themummra]

I am glad I saw this thread!

I was just about to order a Cobalt 300w.

What is the recommended model to take its place? I need to heat ~60-65 gallons