Recovering a heater

[Elricsfate]

Long story short...

I have a Finnex 800w heater that my wife moved around until half of it was above the water level in the sump. After tracing the source of the smoke in the house yesterday, I discovered that the heater had melted a portion of the plastic housing.

Can I simply remove the plastic, clean it up, and continue to use it? Common sense says yes, the plastic is there to prevent fish from coming into contact with the heater...and there are no fish in the sump. But, I thought I'd check, since what makes sense to me is not always correct.

 

[WatDatThing]

Buy new one. The last thing you want is coming home to a tank of dead fish because the heater malfunctioned. I actually have a separate device with a temperature probe to turn the power on/off rather than depending on the heater setting alone.

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[chaudhry]

One piece of equipment that makes me uncomfortable in my sump is a heater.
Just recently there was a story of a reefer, on RC, whos heater exploded in the dump. Cracking the sump wall and flooding the floor.
I would get a new one if i were you.


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[chaudhry]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1834202


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[Elricsfate]

I did go ahead and order another one. However, just to be clear, this is the Finnex titanium heater. There is no thermostat. Best I can tell, it can't explode. It's just a hunk of metal with a wire running to it, surrounded by a plastic shroud. What melted was the shroud, which serves no purpose other than to prevent critters (including you) from touching the hot metal below it.

 

[mcgyvr]

yes the guard can be removed

 

[Sk8r]

At the risk of your house and all you own, buy a new one, and get Eheim Jager. Heaters have caused fires, ruined tanks, etc.

 

[Elricsfate]

At the risk of your house and all you own, buy a new one, and get Eheim Jager. Heaters have caused fires, ruined tanks, etc.

TBH I wouldn't mind so much if the house burned down...but all my stuff I would miss.

I did order another one, but I got the exact same model. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this heater model. It didn't malfunction. My wife just left half of it exposed above the water line, and it melted the plastic that was in contact with it.