Near Disaster

[mrcrab]

I was doing a water change today and dumb arse me forgot to unplug the heaters. Takes about 15 minutes for the water to gravity drain so I left the garage after I opened the valve. Came back about 30 minutes later and the garage was full of smoke!

I couldn't figure out what it was then thought of the heaters. The circuit breaker had already tripped at this point.

Here's the heaters:

The heat cracked the sump. Luckily Lowe's had some glass and aquarium silicone. If you look close you can see the styrofoam under the sump had started to melt.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to repair the sump I go.

 

[reefnfish]

Man oh man. I have done it as well. A HORRIBLE experience. Glad you are ok.

 

[cowboyswife]

Oh wow, talk about scary! I did that once, and I freaked out. Im glad youre ok too!

 

[sytanek]

Wow, barry I hope everything works out ok!

 

[Pterodactyl]

GEEEZ! Good thing that you walked back in when you did.
Glad to hear you are ok.

 

[mflamb]

I put heaters on the bottom of the sump, ever since the first time I heard of that.

 

[nauti1us]

Wow, Barry... you escaped a real disaster... glad to hear you're making a solid recovery.

 

[mrcrab]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10689108#post10689108 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mflamb
I put heaters on the bottom of the sump, ever since the first time I heard of that.

They were, flat on the bottom of the sump. Only problem, all the water had been drained out. :eek1:

Well, got it patched and here's hoping it doesn't leak tomorrow.

Thanks for all the kind words.

 

[chrisstie]

Wow Barry I'm glad you were able to avert disaster completely.

So some heaters get too hot for themselves without water and set themselves on fire? yikes. makes me wanna move mine a little

I can't recall off the top of my head but aren't there some brands that run okay partially in and out? I haven't had to worry too much about them but when something like this happens its always good to check and doublecheck your own system.

 

[mrcrab]

Hi Chrisstie,

Most heater directions I've ever read say to unplug them before tanking them out of water. most even tell you to wait a certain period of time before taking them out as to allow time for them to cool.

They were pretty cheap heaters Finnex I think. I got them at Aquatic Eco out of their discontinued room. I wasn't worried about them as I have them hooked to a ranco controller. The only probelm is my garage is airconditioned and I keep it at 76 degrees. Once the water ran out the controller showed 76 and kicked on the heaters. I usually unplug them when I do a water change, just had a brain fart.

Not completely averted yet. Still have to water test the sump. 120 gallon tanks aren't cheap.

 

[dugg]

If i were you i would contact Finnex about this. Thier heaters are supposed to have a fuse inside that stops this from happening. They should have blown the fuses inside the heaters as soon as they hit air. The heaters should be ruined, but they shouldn't have caught on fire or busted your sump. I would almost bet ya they will send you new heaters to makke up for the damage the heaters caused. The guys at Finnex are pretty good people from my experience.

 

[flfirefighter13]

Glad that didnt end really bad for you, Like dug said you should contact Finnex. IIRC heater should have a fuse to avoid that, the dont pull it from the water without letting it cool is to keep the glass form changing temps to quick and shattering on glass heaters.

Not sure about the ranco controler but I know I had my aquacontroller set to turn the heater of when I hit the feed cycle. I would use the feed cycle to shut the sump and skimmer off for an hour when i did water changes. I left powerheads that where lower in the tank running to keep circulation going while doing water changes or feeding, but it kept the food from the sump.

 

[mrcrab]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10691361#post10691361 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flfirefighter13
Glad that didnt end really bad for you, Like dug said you should contact Finnex. IIRC heater should have a fuse to avoid that, the dont pull it from the water without letting it cool is to keep the glass form changing temps to quick and shattering on glass heaters.

Not sure about the ranco controler but I know I had my aquacontroller set to turn the heater of when I hit the feed cycle. I would use the feed cycle to shut the sump and skimmer off for an hour when i did water changes. I left powerheads that where lower in the tank running to keep circulation going while doing water changes or feeding, but it kept the food from the sump.

The Ranco controller only contols temp devices. I have it hooked to 4 outlets 2 for heat and 2 for fans. when it gets to 79 degrees it kicks on the fan outlets. When it gets to 77 degrees it kicks on the heaters.

I'll do a bit of research on the finnex heaters and see if they shuld have shut down via their own fuse. If not, I'm not too worried about it as it was my screw up. As far as I'm concerned it wasn't the heaters to blame.

 

[mrcrab]

Well the patch seems to be holding and we're back in business.

 

[dugg]

I use a finnex heater, and they are supposed to have a fuse that will blow as soon as the heater hits air if it trys to kick on. It ruins the heater, but atleast you shouldn't end up with a near disaster like that.

 

[mrcrab]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10694213#post10694213 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dugg
I use a finnex heater, and they are supposed to have a fuse that will blow as soon as the heater hits air if it trys to kick on. It ruins the heater, but atleast you shouldn't end up with a near disaster like that.

Not even sure if they were Finnex. I threw the boxes away. The box was a brick red with silver writing on it. I'll have to dig out the reciept. I think they were 800 watts each.