Hydor ATO sensor supposed to be so warm?

[Sana48]

First off, greetings to the community

I have been digesting post after post for months now. I have a very young (2 weeks) 28g JBJ nano- I couldn't be happier.

I recently purchased the Hydor Smart Level ATO. I love it, I love it, I love it.

However, I noticed the sensor prongs were very warm (cerca hot) and I became concerned. After much research I could only find one review on the web that mentioned this heat issue- the review implied that it was normal.

I emailed Hydor and they asserted that the sensor was not supposed to get hot and that I should return the item. The ATO will be returned tomorrow due to the advice of the manufacturer; my question is:

Do others with this ATO "not" have heat emanating from the 3 pronged sensor?

I am fearing that I will jump through all of these shipping/refund hoops only to find out that they all get warm, and that the manufacturer is simply telling me to return it because I mentioned "heat", and they want to cover themselves (liability).

If anyone owners of this ATO would like to chime in I would be grateful.

Thank you for your ear and thank you for providing such wonderful resources to people like myself

All the best,

Sana

 

[JamesHolt]

I have two of them and havent had any problems with either, never noticed any heat when cleaning them..

 

[Sana48]

James,

The heat is coming from the maximum and fill prongs when the waterline is below them and they are completely exposed to the air.

Yours are not hot at all?


Thanks

 

[toky916]

Mine get warm maybe hot but that's how the sensor uses temp to know where the water line is then to turn on the pump.

 

[scooter31707]

Never really paid attention to this. Good post, I will start paying attention now.

 

[robn70]

Both of mine do as what toky916 mentioned. Other then that i haven't paid much attention to them either.

 

[Sana48]

My replacement ATO arrives tomorrow; Ill report back regarding the heat.

I find it odd that Hydor would assert that the unit is not supposed to get warm, and others assert that this is normal.

If my new unit heats up Im guessing I will ignore the heat, since no major issues have been reported- that I am aware of. My main concern was that if the minimum prong was hot as well, under the water line, it would slowly be heating up my small tank.

I noticed a temperature rise in my tank after adding the ATO, which is what led to this discovery in the first place. I have subsequently eleminatated equipment as the cause to my temperature spike ( is was ambient air) but it still could contribute.

 

[Sana48]

Here is my correspondence with Hydor (verbatim)

Greetings, I have recently purchased the Hydor Smart ATO system . I set the unit up as instructed and it appears to be working fine. My water level is in between the minimum and fill sensors. After leaving the unit running for 36 hours i noticed that the sensor prongs were very hot. The heat is only coming from the sensor prongs, not the sensor body or any other part of the ATO system. Are the sensors supposed to get so hot? Or should i contact the retailer? Ive noticed a temperature rise in my small tank and I now have the unit off in an effort to isolate the culprit of the temperature rise. I truly appreciate any information/advice you can provide regarding this issue. Thank you for your time, All the best, Sana



Hello Sana,

The sensor for the ATO system should not be heating up. If you recently just purchased this unit, please contact the retailer for a return or replacement unit.


Hydor USA, Inc.
Customer Service
4740 Northgate Blvd #125
Sacramento, CA 95834

 

[Sana48]

So the new ATO came in and all is the same; the new unit heats up like the one in question.

Its apparent that this is intentional..

Im simply lost at why Hydor would tell me otherwise.

Curious...