# DIY External Heater (56k!)



## TAF CAF

Interesting... I take it this will be in-line with a pump of some kind?


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## Snazzy

Yep! ill pipe it into my new 40br tank for my turtle once i finish the stand for it


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## Nightshop

Wow, this is very inovative! I love it!

I'm sure you could tweak this deisgn to double it as a C02 reactor . . .


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## Hoppy

A few others have tried this, but I haven't heard lately how well they are working. For example: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/16002-diy-external-heater-housing.html?highlight=inline+heater
If anyone has done this, how about an update?


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## TAF CAF

I like your ideas Snazzy.

I am soon to be setting up a 70 gallon hex as kind of a show tank, and am very interested in keeping as little in equipment in the tank as possible.

You have inspired me to try it.


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## briandmiles

Yeah, that's my thread. I did it and it works great. Some disadvantages to what I did versus this. 1) My heater is siliconed in and so cannot be easily replaced or serviced. 2)That's pretty much it. My biggest concern with using the watertight fitting is that I use one to keep my pH probe inline and it has a tendency to not be all that water tight. Especially if it gets bumped at all. 

As far as performance goes I think having an inline heater housing is the best. I love not having to see it in the tank.

Brian


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## Snazzy

i forgot to say 1)that if you order the free samples you can order as many as you want...i ordered 10 of them so that if 1 fails i can swap it out 2)im wondering but is silicon greese ok for aquariums? if so you can put it around the little rubber seal inside the cordgrip


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## madman280

I built a heater into my DIY CO2 reactor top. The reactor itself is made from scrap 4" PVC about 18" long I had left over from another job. The large diameter reduces the water flow inside and increases the dwell time at the heater. Plus its what I had 

The bottom of the reactor is a 4" PVC cap the top is a 4" PVC cleanout that has a threaded cap for internal access. Everything was glued with PVC solvent cement. All glued joints were cleaned with PVC joint primer.

I drilled a hole in the center of the cleanout cap, threaded it and glued in the rubber compresion fitting that holds the glass heater. I sealed the glass heater into the compresion fitting with some silicone (not grease) sealant as extra insurance, before I carefully tightened it.

The inlet and outlet are electrical PVC 5/8 hose barbs (used for flexable plastic electrical conduit).

The inlet is glued into a drilled and threaded hole in the side of the cleanout fitting where it is thickest. The outlet is in the side of the cap in the bottom.

The CO2 inlet is a small lawn 1/8" sprinkler head and extention siliconed into a smaller rubber compression fitting. The compresion fitting is glued into a drilled and tapped hole in the cleanout 90 degrees from the inlet.

I filled the lower 1/2 of the reactor with 1" sections of 3/4 PVC electrical conduit left over from another job. (I figured the might help mix everything. It was free and cut up easily on my chop saw.) I picked everything I didn't already have on one trip to Home Depot.

I let it all dry for a week outside and flushed it with water with a garden hose for a 1/2 hour before I hooked it up.

It works great, no leaks, the tank stays warm and the plants are pearling. I unfortunatly don't have any pictures since its impossible to photograph under my show tank. I'll will be making another soon and will take some and post some then.

CJ


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## Snazzy

:biggrin: welp still its been a little while like to say no leaks and it still is working great! im thinking about using this tech to make a uv sterilizer? any ideas?


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## epicfish

Snazzy said:


> :biggrin: welp still its been a little while like to say no leaks and it still is working great! im thinking about using this tech to make a uv sterilizer? any ideas?


I don't have a UV sterilizer myself, but aren't they designed to be plumbed in-line anyways? If I'm wrong, please forgive this dumb comment.


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## slickwillislim

I think he means DIY sterilizer. I am not sure about the effects of UV on certain plastics but I assume it would be fine. I haven't heard of one being created but that doesn't mean it couldn't be done...


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## FelixAvery

the uv filter at my work is basically just 8 60w uv tubes plumbed inline into the massive filter


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## fishymatty

So I made this heater yesterday and when I put my nose up to the pvc I can still smell the glue. Does anybody know what the solubility of the glue is, if any?
Is there any other prep I need to take before I can run it inline with the tank. This is going in my discus tank so I will be very upset if something happens.


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## boasist

Its smell fades, there is normally a "safe" 24 hour cure time, then flush it out with some water and hook it up!

Other than that, you are good to go.


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## fishymatty

thanks man. I was really worried.


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## boasist

sure thing, let us know how it goes, I'll be pushing water through mine tomorrow night hopefully.


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## fishymatty

So its set up and running as of 1/2 hour ago. I also installed an o2 diffuser because I've had O2 problems because its a 45g tall and I've been trying to pump co2 in at a high rate. The only worry I have is the flow rate is quite high so how well can the heater heat the water if its flowing so fast? I guess I'll find out by tomorrow morning.
I'll post pictures as soon as my camera gets fixed.


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## boasist

i finished mine, and tested, seems I have a small leak, yet those heyco parts work great, heater went right in. Works great, though, I still let it run for an hour or so (its a 1 drip a minute leak) and the tank was already at 82 and holding, just like I wanted, very pleased....aside from the leak that is.


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## fishymatty

I'm noticing that I'm not getting the heat. I even turned up the heater all the way to see if that would help. I'm going to give it a few days to see if it can keep up with the ac.


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## tpl*co

What's the cost of the parts to make this unit? Just want to compare to the cost of a Pentair aquatics heater module.

Tina


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## boasist

I was able to purchase mine from the local plumbing supply store, $9 for all of the PVC, the heyco part was free, and the heater was $25

So $9 just for the unit

Then add the heater of your choice.

can't be beat.


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## kasslloyd

boasist said:


> i finished mine, and tested, seems I have a small leak, yet those heyco parts work great, heater went right in. Works great, though, I still let it run for an hour or so (its a 1 drip a minute leak) and the tank was already at 82 and holding, just like I wanted, very pleased....aside from the leak that is.


Where was the leak coming from? the heyco part? They shipped me 2 and I plan on assembling a similar unit myself soon...


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## boasist

no it was from the coupler I installed to join my two pieces of pipe together. They heyco part works very well.


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## Grubs

Just a thankyou for the idea Snazzy and briandmiles - and my little mod 

I added an optical prism to allow the heater light to be visible. By luck, the heater light in the Jager heater lines up exactly with the hexagonal collar of the Heyco fitting. I drilled a 5/32 hole through the hexagonal color and then used a vice to press in a short length of 5mm transparent acrylic rod ($1.30 for 1.8m at a plastics place). Its a VERY tight fit and won't ever move or leak.










I've chosen bigger diameter pipe (50mm) to keep the flow resistance low as I'm using a 1000l/h pump. I couldnt find white PVC bushes to go from the 25mm thread to the 50mm waterpipe so I had to use the black threaded poly "T" and reducing bushes. The bottom end cap is DIY (cut a hole in an end cap and glued in a threaded tap widget).


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## Wasserpest

Very innovative way of dealing with the heater light! Thanks for sharing. It's nice not to have the heater in the tank, and one less cable going up to the rim.


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## tropicalfish

Are you having the water flow in from the top?


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## cookingnerd607

Grubs, Where did you buy your acrylic rod? Im sure I could order it from usplastics. However - Id rather find some local. I was going to use a white 3/5mm led housing to view my heater light.


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## Grubs

Water flows in the side and exits the bottom so the thermostat is measuring the tank water. I did notice that pentair modules flow the other way but this seams wrong to me as heated water flowing upwards towards the thermostat is likely to prematurely trigger the heater to turn off so the heater will cycle more often (whether this matters or not is another thing).

I can't help you with a US supplier for the acrylic rod. I'm not in the US.


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## PRESTON4479

Sorry, I didn't realize how long ago that post was.



slickwillislim said:


> I think he means DIY sterilizer. I am not sure about the effects of UV on certain plastics but I assume it would be fine. I haven't heard of one being created but that doesn't mean it couldn't be done...



I would check into this. You do have to use uv approved plastics. Regular plastics will deteriorate. I only know this because I install whole house uv lights lights into duct work (HVAC). But we have to watch where we install them because of this. 

I have been to a cusomers home for a complaint of a bad odor only to find that a uv light was installed to close to a piece of plastic that was not uv approved. It causes the plastic to breakdown.

Brian


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## Snazzy

If anyone has had any doubts on the design even after this long, I still have not had any leaks and its been about 11months i think...i didnt ever try the uv ster. b/c was too lazy but i think conduit sch. 80 pipe might be uv resistent but may be wrong.

~snazzy

:thumbsup:


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## Treasure Chest

Does anyone know where is the thermostats located in Ebo Jager? I made one according to the plan on this thread but when I tested it, the thermostats seemed to be stuck open all the time. I used a powerhead pumping water from a pail to the enclosure then return to the pail. The temperature raised to 100 F shortly and still going up. I guess that there is something blocking the thermostats from measuring the water temperature. I am also quite sure there is no air trapped in the enclosure.


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## PDX-PLT

Most heaters have a line marked on them that indicates minimum water height. The thermostat is typically just below this line. it that area's not in contact with the water, you're not going to get good regulation.


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## Treasure Chest

PDX-PLT said:


> Most heaters have a line marked on them that indicates minimum water height. The thermostat is typically just below this line. it that area's not in contact with the water, you're not going to get good regulation.


I only see a max water line just below the dial on my Ebo Jager. Does anyone know where the thermostat is located on this paticula heater?


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## cookingnerd607

I would test it in a bucket outside of your module. sounds like something is wrong... I built mine a few weeks ago and it tested fine in a bucket.


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## Snazzy

its more then likely the pump heating up the water. what size/kind pump were you using? usually they overheat enough that they break their ceramic shafts or magnetic impeller. then heat up the water 100 degrees ++++

~snazzy


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## Joetee

Does anybody know of anything that we could do to lesson the risk of boiling our fish due to a broken pump etc?

Joe


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## Treasure Chest

I just used a brand new Maxi-Jet MP1200 power head for testing. I do not think it can generate that much heat to heat up a bucket of water to over 100 degrees...


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## cookingnerd607

I re-tested my heating module. I did the following tests:

Heater in bucket alone.
Heater in bucket with powerhead moving water.
Heater in module with powerhead pumping water thru it and back to the bucket.

My powerhead didnt heat up the water much, if any.

I would bet your heater is faulty.


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## Grubs

Something is wrong with your heater or installation. I'm wondering if you have an air pocket in the top of the chamber. It is easy to purge the air by just loosening the watertight fitting a tad while the pump is on (assuming your heater is on the pressure side of the pump). You should hear the air being forced out and when a few drops of water leak out just screw the seal tight again.

I have two of these using 250W Ebo Jager heaters and both work as expected. I do have the advantage of being able to see the heater indicator light (earlier in this thread).

I agree the pump shouldnt impart much heat at all.


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## Treasure Chest

Glad to hear it is working out for everyone, so there is no problem with the plan:thumbsup: I will double check the heater, that is all I can think of the problem is. It is a brand new 250W. I am pretty sure there was no air pocket in the module. I also installed a light indicator. It did turn on and off, but it turned on before the water temperature dropped to the set point. I am not sure if it was the fault of the heater or there was something wrong with the enclosure. I will test the heater alone later on. I only use this to heat up the water when I do water change so it is not a big problem for me, I am just curious of why it did not work as intended. I have a Hydor 300W inline plumbed in the system. Thanks for the help everyone.


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## fishscale

cookingnerd, when you say it didn't heat up your water much at all, does that mean that it is not effective? I am thinking about making one of these for a 55 gallon. How big is your tank and what heater do you have in this thing?


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## tazcrash69

Fishscale, His power head didn't heat up the water. 


cookingnerd607 said:


> My powerhead didnt heat up the water much, if any.


They are trying to figure out why TCs is raising the temp so high.

TC, I am curious to see where you had your problems. I'm willing to bet either the heater itself, or the fitting keeping the water from the thermostat.


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## fishscale

Oops, my bad. I am concerned, though, that the heater won't heat up the tank enough.


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## fishscale

I'm interested in this kind of setup and I'm wondering: how watertight is the heyco cordgrip? If you had the cordgrip at the bottom, would it leak? (imagine if you had just flipped your entire inline heater unit upside down


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## Grubs

Turning it upside-down shouldn't make much/any difference because the whole assembly is 3-4ft below water level in the cupboard underneath the tank to start with. Therefore its already under positive siphon pressure + the outlet pressure from the canister filter pump.


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## Badcopnofishtank

Just placed my order for free samples. Great find and description of build. Thanks Snazzy.


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## crazy loaches

Just saw this thread... nice DIY project! I was doing a search for DIY external heater since I new I had seen it before and might be building one. I am curious how everyone's heater who has built this or similar has been holding up long term?

I dont think its a huge deal, but my cold water coming from my auto water changer is dropping the tank temp a little more than I'd like. About a 2* drop now even thought its trickled in slow over almost an hour and is only about a 10% pwc. I am not quite sure how effective this will be at heating cold water up but for as cheap as this is to make its worth a shot. I have an extra 400W Theo that I can just put on the same timer as the wc solenoid, and with such low flow rates (<50gph) I think maybe the water will have enough contact time to warm up, at least half way there to reduce my max temp swing to less than 1* ideally.


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## Pen3

hmm that free heyco link doesnt work anymore ; ;


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## herosipet

I am so glad I found this thread I was planning to do something like this but now it is much easier to just copy and follow. 
There is only one more glitch. I have a 100gal tank with two 300watts heater. Should I build two parallel inline heater or will one 300watts be enough for my tank with plants and a 10" jardini in it?
Please give suggestion on what to do.
Thank you.


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## Gatekeeper

Pen3 said:


> hmm that free heyco link doesnt work anymore ; ;


try this one.

http://sales.heyco.com/tsamples/hc_smpreq.pgm


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## saint27

I use two heaters as well. I am planing on doing this for my 75g. I was going to run them parallel for the reason that the flow thought each reactor would be slower giving the heater more time to heat it up.


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## crazy loaches

I successfully made mine with that free Heyco sample  but it has little effect for what I wanted. I made an inline heater for cold water line for my autowater changer. Even though my flow rate is slow, and I used larger 2" pipe, it still makes only a minor difference (with a 400W heater mind you). Here are some pics:


All parts shown.


Assembled


Installed

I actually was going to face the wye in the opposite direction but wasnt paying attention when I glued it. No biggie. And those are 1/4 tubbing quick connects since thats what I run between my carbon/micron filter to my tank. One problem I had at first was getting the Heyco fitting tight enough. The line its in sees a lot more pressure (I dont know, >20psi?) and the first time it spit the heater right out and started spraying water everywhere. The next 3 or 4 tries at tightening it resulted in it slowly creeping out. Its been going a couple weeks now and seems good, but I check it regularly. 

Might just take it out of the loop though since it doesnt do much. I need to actually check the temperatures, but the resulting drop in tank temperature from the cold water fill is about 25% less using this heater. 

The only thing that would concern me for regular aquarium use, at least with the Theo heater (not sure about others) is the minimum water level for the heater seems to be right at the end of the glass. So inside one of the cordgrip fittings the actual water line is almost 2" away from minimum which might effects its temperature control. Apparently this isnt a problem for most, or someone would have mentioned it.

It was a quick and easy project to do!

FWIW Heyco seemed to limit the # of free samples to 2. The form will let you put whatever number you want, I put 5 I think, but they only sent me 2.


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## AndrewH

Here is the CO2 Diffuser I built for my tanks.


















Here's a concept I came up with for a CO2 Diffuser with Inline Heater.


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## kasslloyd

Thats what I plan(ed) on doing, combining the co2 with the heater, but instead of a wye I got T's. Kinda put off co2 injecting my tank, things grow nuts as it is without co2 with my lights :eek5:. Plus the only co2 supply I can find any where close to here only sells the big 50# tanks on lease. Which kinda put a stop in my plans. I do have all the regulator, hosing, pipes fittings everything ready to go if I decide to actually bite the bullet and get the 50# leased tank. :-\


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## swylie

crazy loaches said:


> The only thing that would concern me for regular aquarium use, at least with the Theo heater (not sure about others) is the minimum water level for the heater seems to be right at the end of the glass. So inside one of the cordgrip fittings the actual water line is almost 2" away from minimum which might effects its temperature control. Apparently this isnt a problem for most, or someone would have mentioned it.


You can pull off the black plastic part of the heater that's butting up against your Heyco fitting. Maybe you have to cut it off, I forget, but it's easy. Either way, that'll let you get the heater another inch into the fitting. You lose the arrow that points to the temperature dial, but the arrow is 180 deg. opposite the cord anyway.

I'd tell you how the Hydor Theo is working for me inline, but I can't. I built the thing but I haven't bothered to install it yet.


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## crazy loaches

swylie said:


> You can pull off the black plastic part of the heater that's butting up against your Heyco fitting. Maybe you have to cut it off, I forget, but it's easy. Either way, that'll let you get the heater another inch into the fitting. You lose the arrow that points to the temperature dial, but the arrow is 180 deg. opposite the cord anyway.
> 
> I'd tell you how the Hydor Theo is working for me inline, but I can't. I built the thing but I haven't bothered to install it yet.


Interesting, hadnt thought of that. But for me it wouldnt matter, since I am just trying to preheat cold water (doesnt matter if temp sensor is submerged, I cranked it to max anyhow and it'll never get there with 45* water or whatever it is).

Andrew & Kass - good idea on the combo roud:.


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## PDX-PLT

crazy loaches said:


> I successfully made mine with that free Heyco sample  but it has little effect for what I wanted. I made an inline heater for cold water line for my autowater changer. Even though my flow rate is slow, and I used larger 2" pipe, it still makes only a minor difference (with a 400W heater mind you).


Keep in mind the tremendous energy-absorbing capacity of water. What you're trying to do is similar to those tankless water heaters. They're typically wired to 100A circuits - that's 24,000 watts!!

In your case of course the flow is alot lower than the 5-10 gpm of the tankless heater, but 50 gph is still about 50 grams of water a second. Raising the temperature of that much water 36 degrees F (20 degrees C) requires 50 * 20 = 1000 (small) calories per second, or 4100 joules per second. 4100 joules per second is another way of saying 4100 watts. In other words, your 400 watt heater is about one tenth the size it needs to be, to do what you want it to do.

I was hoping to heat the incoming WC water from the cold water supply, too, until I ran these numbers and saw it was a non-starter. So I'm now planning on mixing in some from the hot water supply, too.



> FWIW Heyco seemed to limit the # of free samples to 2. The form will let you put whatever number you want, I put 5 I think, but they only sent me 2.


I was wondering when their Sales Dep't was gonna wise up.  Just order as many as you want from www.mouser.com ; they're not expensive.


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## kasslloyd

You could always fill a intermediary container with R/O water that you heat and pull from that for your water changes.... presuming that water can sit arround for a day or two you could drop in a couple 400 heaters into that and it would have a chance to heat up before you pull from it to do the change... donno if you would have the space for that or not. ;-)


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## crazy loaches

kass - yeah my entire original plan was for an aging tank actually, but determined to be easier to do just running straight from tap to tank and more reliable. I do not use RO, just carbon/micron. If they switch to chloramines here though then it will have to do RO and a holding tank.

PDX - yeah I never thought of running the numbers. Just dont forget the water running through the inline is dumping into my sump with 800W more heaters too, so 1200W total. I'm pretty sure my flow rate was a tad shy of 50gph too, I seem to have temporarily misplaced my notebook, I did test it a couple times since I need to stay under a certain amount for the carbon to be effective with chlorine. It takes about an hour total for 20g but the flow rate diminishes for the last20 minutes or so since the float is starting to pinch off the flow.

Its nothing critical anyhow, with a water change even with freezing temps outside now I still keep the temp within about 2*F without even using the additional inline heater (which was the goal). But I was getting close to the 2* drop so I threw this together quick to see what it would do. It appears to keep the lowest point the tank temp drops about .5* higher. On average my 800W in the sump raises the temp of the tank about .1*F per 15 min. So also .5* less it needs to come up equates to a little over an hour time shaved off the 'cold spike'.

I looked at the instant heat units like you mention before building my whole water change system. There was one link someone had a while ago to one that could be cranked down to 80*F (not all can even go that low apparently). But they where in the neighborhood of $100 (can't remember for sure) and a problem for me was circuit capacity, I am really pushing the limits of my circuits already.

BTW I am quite familiar with joules  this is what I use for stored energy in capacitors, and I build various magnetic pulse projects and can measure efficiency by taking how many joules were used from the caps compared to the resultant kinetic energy transfered. For example my biggest cap bank is 12kJ and can dump that in <1msec, so were well into millions of watts:bounce: railguns, induction launchers,you know... fun stuff roud: .

One solution if I really wanted to actually keep the temp up on the incoming water would be to stop the flow every so often to let the chamber warm up. Since I am using a solenoid and a controller, this would be easy to do, I just got to make sure the heater will stay full of water and that it wont siphon out once the solenoid is off. I was a bit concerned since it is at a much higher level than the sump, and when I pulled the line off no water ran out, but I would think there must be water in there, its just going up when I open the line instead of down. Will double check that sometime. 

{edit} Well actually, an easier solution - I can also reduce the flow down to nothing really since I have a flow valve in there since I needed to keep the flow under 80gpm (but wide open flow is much less anyways due to the long run of 1/4" tubbing I assume), so I can fine tune it later to get the flow down low enough for the heater to better keep up with it also.


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## rat49f6

tried to get free samples last night they are unavalible any help anyone???
ps only asked for 2


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## jbolinger

rat49f6 said:


> tried to get free samples last night they are unavalible any help anyone???
> ps only asked for 2


 
They have gray ones and black ones. They told me that one of them is not available as a sample but the other is. Don't remember which and the email was at work. Try ordering the other color as a sample.

Edit: Or you can order them from www.mouser.com (but not for free).
Jim


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## PDX-PLT

I picked up one of these mixing valves  off eBay:










For combining the hot and cold water. The lower range is 85 degrees F, about the temp I wanted. It's a thermostatic valve that mixes the water to keep the output at the set temperature.


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## kasslloyd

they make mixing "computers" for darkroom water supplies that have digital temperature readouts that output exact temperatures all the time. but those are a bit pricey.. hehe.

Wouldn't 85 degrees and it being non-digital cause problems? Cause the water flow initially will be colder until the pipe is purged with new water from the tank...


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## PDX-PLT

kasslloyd said:


> Wouldn't 85 degrees and it being non-digital cause problems? Cause the water flow initially will be colder until the pipe is purged with new water from the tank...


Well, this'll be a discus tank so the warm water is OK. Plus, it'll lose some heat travelling from the water source downstairs, the 30 ft or so to where the tank is.

I'll set it up to dump the first 30 seconds or so of water directly into the drain.


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## lemuj

PDX-PLT said:


> Just order as many as you want from www.mouser.com ; they're not expensive.


I have all the parts needed except for the Cord Grip... and decided i'm going to order it from them? The problem is i'm not sure which one to order...i'm gonna be using an eheim jager 150 watts.... help please:icon_ques :icon_redf


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## kasslloyd

lemuj said:


> I have all the parts needed except for the Cord Grip... and decided i'm going to order it from them? The problem is i'm not sure which one to order...i'm gonna be using an eheim jager 150 watts.... help please:icon_ques :icon_redf


Try getting free ones first....

If that fails you can buy them here:

http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=w%2b6LKBEmuY1ONMDuemVfoA==


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## Varnadoe

I've put together an external heater very similar to the design here. I used a heyco fitting to attach the heater. I tightened it down all the way and it seems to be very snug on the heater. It is leaking pretty good around the heater. I think I just used the fitting one size too big. I have the next size down as well, but they don't have the same thread size. Has anybody had an issue like this?


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## kasslloyd

you use the heater listed in this thread? maybe your heater is skinnier?


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## Varnadoe

No, I used a different heater, but it has a 7/8" diameter which I think is about the same as most heaters. I think the cord grip fitting I used is bigger. What size did you use?


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## kasslloyd

the one we use is the largest they make? up to .59" to 1", maybe you didn't tighten it enough? or maybe you need to use some plumbers goop or Teflon tape around the heater to get a better seal? Or maybe your cord grip is defective?


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## Varnadoe

I am pretty sure the one I used is bigger than that. Not sure though. I tried using some teflon tape but it didn't make much difference. I am going to try the smaller cord grip, the problem is getting an adapter for the different thread size of the two cordgrips. The one I have has 1 1/4" threads and the smaller one looks about one inch. I am assuming I can find a reducer that will work.


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## kasslloyd

http://pvcfittings.com/

I've used that place before, tons of selection of hard to find fittings. And mouser carriers the whole Heyco line

http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=yBEuiSRKJFVXMWvhusiXyg==

is the next smallest at .450" to .709" and it says its 3/4" NPT so you'd need a 1 Spigot x .75 FPT reducer bushing found here:

http://www.flexpvc.com/cart/agora.cgi?cart_id=9248492.4656*di8gQ3&product=PVC-Reducer-Bushings-FPT


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## Varnadoe

I don't think I explained myself well. I used the heyco cord grip at .865" to 1.260". It must be just a hair to big. I have the next size down already, but the problem is the bushing for the large cordgrip has already been glued in, so it is either start the project over or find a fitting that can reduce the thread size of the existing bushing. I found something at Home Depot this afternoon that I think will work as long as my guess on the new thread size is right. I assumed 1" since the fitting is at home. I hope that is right and I hope that fixes it.


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## kasslloyd

ahh, yes. The one we have linked and talk about in this thread is the .59" to 1" with 1" NPT fitting.


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## Aquamanx

I want to know how this has worked over time... I Love the idea of it! I read this when you wrote it. I just wanted to see the longevity of the construction with the heater going through the threaded seal.

Thanks,
Steve X.


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## Gatekeeper

Aquamanx:

People have been doing this for quite sometime. i use a similar fitting of a pH probe and have no problems at all. Other than someone screwing it up during installation, I think this is a great litle DIY to get some equipment out of the tank, especially the heater (with the nasty little yellow light)!


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## lemuj

i've tried ordering the free heyco fitting(part #8437) about two weeks ago and just realize that it's unavailable(been waiting for nothing). Does anybody know alternative part number i can get for free??? HELP please....


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## PDX-PLT

Come on, don't be such a cheapskate and order it from Mouser.  It's not like they're expensive.


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## lemuj

PDX-PLT said:


> Come on, don't be such a cheapskate and order it from Mouser.  It's not like they're expensive.



I was going to order it from mouser, and yeah you're right the product itself isn't that expensive, but shipping to Canada is what going to kill me. FOR DIY projects, cheapest it can be is what i'm trying to do, otherwise why not just get me the ready made if it's going to cost me almost same.


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## fishyface

AndrewH, i really like your design, could you give me any feedback as to how it performs? also, have you filled the reactor with any media to help dissolve the co2? 

thanks,
darryl


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## eyebeatbadgers

fishyface said:


> AndrewH, i really like your design, could you give me any feedback as to how it performs? also, have you filled the reactor with any media to help dissolve the co2?
> 
> thanks,
> darryl


I've been using an almost identical setup for about a year now, and it works perfectly. I used it to dissolve my CO2 for a while, and it did not need any media inside it to break up and dissolve the CO2 for my filter. If you are running a very powerful filter, you may need to increase the length of the PVC. The only thing that I would like to point out is that you may have to calibrate your heater once it's installed in the unit, as the way it is set up caused mine to overheat the tank by about five degrees. Once I recal'd the heater, it's held a steady 78* ever since.


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## c_sking

Lowes and Hometheftpot carry these fittings too. Although not all of them do. Mouser is a good bet.


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## AndrewH

fishyface said:


> AndrewH, i really like your design, could you give me any feedback as to how it performs? also, have you filled the reactor with any media to help dissolve the co2?
> 
> thanks,
> darryl


TYVM

I did build the reactors and I have all of the CO2 equipment (15# bottle, M3 2 gauge regulator, solenoid, needle valve, bubble counter, tubing), but I get such great growth with just lighting and refilling the evap water (no water changes) that I don't need to hook up the CO2.

One of my bulbs burned out on my 2 lamp T5HO fixture and for 2 months I left it with 1 bulb to see what would happen. Before with both bulbs I was trimming the tank twice a month (every other week). My tank was almost bare after the last pruning before the bulb bared out. I replaced the bulb 2 months later and there wasn't any change in the plants lengths or color within that time period, but as soon as I put in a new bulb the plants are now taking over the tank again - 7 days later . I didn't photo document the dramatic change when it happened, but plan to recreate the situation so I can document it. Should be pretty interesting. And if I'm getting this type of growth with just lighting (no ferts, no chemicals of any kind - no dechlor, but doubled filtered tap water), I don't think I want to increase that by adding CO2... I couldn't keep up.

But to specifically answer your questions: I did not fill the reactor with media material (like bio-balls or pillow stuffing) because I completely sealed mine. It being below the tank I didn't want to run the risk of a threaded joint not getting tight enough (as in cross threading it by accident) and it leaking all of my tank water onto the floor. Also, I feel the length of the reactor will allow the CO2 to be completely dissolved. It's sealed, so where else is it going to go besides into the tank? But the reactors I actually built (and in the pictures) are ~24" long. There's plenty of length to cut off the end and put in a female adapter, reducer bushing, and a hose barb so you could get into the reactor to clean the media.

Female Adapter----Reducer Bushing---Hose Barb























A friend of mine built some reactors that look kinna like my design (minus the heater part) and is reporting great success and lots of dissolved CO2. He's on these boards as "rolloffhill" (I'll send him a PM to see if he'll comment on his reactors and how he likes them).



eyebeatbadgers said:


> I've been using an almost identical setup for about a year now, and it works perfectly. I used it to dissolve my CO2 for a while, and it did not need any media inside it to break up and dissolve the CO2 for my filter. If you are running a very powerful filter, you may need to increase the length of the PVC. The only thing that I would like to point out is that you may have to calibrate your heater once it's installed in the unit, as the way it is set up caused mine to overheat the tank by about five degrees. Once I recal'd the heater, it's held a steady 78* ever since.


From what I calculated (mostly just guessing) a normal hang-in-tank heater will be much more efficient in this configuration. It's meant to sit in stagnate/slow moving water and keep the temp at say 75*, but if you put relatively fast flowing water over its surface in a confined space it should only take the same temp equivalent as say 70*. What used to take 75* is now taking 70* and probably not running as much/coming on as often since there aren't as many cold spots (I guess that really comes down to how well you're circulating the water throughout the tank = how often the heater as to come on).



c_sking said:


> Lowes and Hometheftpot carry these fittings too. Although not all of them do. Mouser is a good bet.


I found that the Home Depot and Lowes in my area didn't have the same stuff. In fact the HD had tons more options than Lowes (I was disappointed because the Lowes is close and the HD is a few miles away).


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## SpeedEuphoria

Quick question as I'm considering doing this as I need a CO2 reactor and plan on having both in 1 unit.

1: Has anyone used a Visi-therm stealth heater with the mentioned Heyco cord grip(8437)? If so did you put the main long heater body in the cord grip or use the 1st little step where its round? As the main body is not perfectly round.

I have very rough measurements on the 250w stealth, AFAIK all of there heaters are the same diameter just vary in length. I need to grab my digi calipers but so far I have estimated ~3/4" for the heater body and ~1" for that 1st step above it

Thanks in advance for opinions and info


Edit: Just wanted to add that Heyco gives away free samples, when i called them they suggested that I try some, lol. So I will let you know how it goes.


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## SpeedEuphoria

Just an Update, Heyco sent me 2 free cordgrips today as free samples. I asked for 4 but they only gave me 2(all I needed anyway).

I update when I try the Stealth heater in it and see how it seals and post a pic of the final project


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## Snazzy

Aquamanx said:


> I want to know how this has worked over time... I Love the idea of it! I read this when you wrote it. I just wanted to see the longevity of the construction with the heater going through the threaded seal.
> 
> Thanks,
> Steve X.


came lurking in on the forums again and i still have my original hooked up and running even has made it on a move in a uhaul fully hooked up lol, still no leaks 

~enjoy snazzy


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## Patchworks

Ok, just found this post and order my samples... I have a 150 Gallon and wondering about the efficiency that was mentioned by one of your guys. I'm wondering what wattage heater I shoud go with. I actually have 2 - 300Watt Heaters and I have heard of people incorporating 2 heaters, but I not sure what the design would be.

g


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## brohawk

You might be just fine w/ 1 300W heater. Though I haven't specifically dealt w/ such high wattage/size tank, my heater is much, much more efficient once enclosed, as it's now heating a much smaller quantity of water at a time. I had to turn mine down from about 75% full power to its lowest setting to keep the tank temp the same as before.


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## Patchworks

brohawk said:


> You might be just fine w/ 1 300W heater. Though I haven't specifically dealt w/ such high wattage/size tank, my heater is much, much more efficient once enclosed, as it's now heating a much smaller quantity of water at a time. I had to turn mine down from about 75% full power to its lowest setting to keep the tank temp the same as before.


Well, that is what I'm hoping...

Thanks,

g


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## madman280

Just wanted to update on how my inline combination heater/co2 reactor has been long term. 
I built mine long before the beginning of this thread. Its been running great with no problems for 3 about years now. I installed a larger heater and addied a 1/8" bleed line at the top when I had the tank down a week last year for a rescaping. 
Mine is made from 4" PVC pipe for the main body. (left over scrap from another project)Cleanout for a top and a cap for the bottom. The heater gland nut, the inlet, outlet and CO2 inlet were just drilled, tapped (threaded) and glued into the sides or top of the fittings.


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## cjp999

crazy loaches said:


> I successfully made mine with that free Heyco sample  but it has little effect for what I wanted. I made an inline heater for cold water line for my autowater changer.


I want to do the same. Can't use hot from the tap because it goes through a water softener. From the spigot it is about 63F. I figure with a 3x400w heater, I can heat 30 gallons of water about 10F over 45 minutes (30g is how much I need when doing changes in all my tanks).



crazy loaches said:


> Even though my flow rate is slow, and I used larger 2" pipe, it still makes only a minor difference (with a 400W heater mind you).


I don't think the pipe diameter matters. Keep in mind that the heat has to go somewhere. As long as the heater stays on, and you don't have stagnant area that result in heat escaping through the PVC, the heat will transfer to the water. In fact a smaller diameter probably would be better so you always get a good flow of water over the heater. With a big pipe, water could be somewhat stagnant and cause the heater to turn off.



crazy loaches said:


> Even though my flow rate is slow, and I The only thing that would concern me for regular aquarium use, at least with the Theo heater (not sure about others) is the minimum water level for the heater seems to be right at the end of the glass. So inside one of the cordgrip fittings the actual water line is almost 2" away from minimum which might effects its temperature control. Apparently this isnt a problem for most, or someone would have mentioned it.


Good question. I have 7 heaters in various tanks and storage. All have the min water line just below the temp control. Maybe this is a problem and is why yours wasn't working well.

It would great if anyone who has this working would mention which heater they are using. I want to use the Haydor Theo, since using 3 400w Theos is the cheapest way for me to get 1200w. I see some are using Jagers, but a 250w Jager is as much as a 400w Theo, and I'd need to deal with 5 heaters instead of 3.


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## curly01

Has anyone tried this design with the new updated jager heater that is fully submersible?
I ordered a heater to make this, when I got it in and opened it up i noticed that they moved the minimum water level line up to the head. Just checking to see if anyone else has ran across this. Thanks


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## zavikan

SpeedEuphoria said:


> Just an Update, Heyco sent me 2 free cordgrips today as free samples. I asked for 4 but they only gave me 2(all I needed anyway).
> 
> I update when I try the Stealth heater in it and see how it seals and post a pic of the final project


I used my 200w stealth. It sealed beautifully, and looked snazzy, as the top rubber is removable, you can slide the glass almost all the way in. 30 minutes later, it was shattered. I dont know what happened. 

I used mine upsidedown, to avoid a co2 bubble from making problems. I have not gotten a response anywhere to find if this was the problem.


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## Hilde

Any pictures of design? A list of pieces used?


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## Harry Muscle

zavikan said:


> I used my 200w stealth. It sealed beautifully, and looked snazzy, as the top rubber is removable, you can slide the glass almost all the way in. 30 minutes later, it was shattered. I dont know what happened.
> 
> I used mine upsidedown, to avoid a co2 bubble from making problems. I have not gotten a response anywhere to find if this was the problem.


A stealth heater is plastic, no glass on it at all.

Btw, has anyone tried this with a stealth heater? My only concern is that the stealth heaters have those four groves along the body. Would that prevent it from getting a perfect seal?

Thanks,
Harry


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## ClarkL

I'm looking to do the same but over here in the UK.

It's with a hydor 25w heater as I don't want it to be in my 12" x 10" x 8" tank.

I'm having trouble finding the end connectors, such as the cord grips? They might be called something else over there.

In addition, how do the filter hoses get connected to this?

I have a 40mm PVC tube with the tee and the bend section, it's just the rest!

Any help is appreciated.


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## gotfrogs

What are your thoughts on my setup? I am setting up a 58 gallon tank and want/need the heater to be external. I am using a Fulval FX5 and have it T-off into two return lines, one of which passes over a 200 watt jager heater. I have not glued everything together yet but want to do so tomorrow. My fear is that air is going to get traped in the top of the heater section and not provide enough water contact with the heater.


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## cjp999

gotfrogs said:


> What are your thoughts on my setup? I am setting up a 58 gallon tank and want/need the heater to be external. I am using a Fulval FX5 and have it T-off into two return lines, one of which passes over a 200 watt jager heater. I have not glued everything together yet but want to do so tomorrow. My fear is that air is going to get traped in the top of the heater section and not provide enough water contact with the heater.


I can understand your concern. The more flow capacity you add to your return line(s), the slower your flow will be. You still get the same volume of water flow (maybe a bit more), but at a slower speed, and this slower speed may not be enough to force air bubbles down the return tube and into the tank. However, I have no idea if it will be a problem with your setup.

BTW, where did you get the piece that seals your jager heater into the pvc T. I've seen them mentioned in old threads before, but could never find a link to merchant that would actually work.


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## Hoppy

One problem when you divide the flow into two parallel paths is that there is no guarantee that each path will get anywhere near 50% of the flow. The path with the heater might be restricted enough to get only 10% of the flow, for example. You almost have to use flow control valves in each line to equalize the flows.

You can add a bleed valve at the top of the heater path, and use that to bleed off any air bubble. Then occasionally you can bleed it again just to be sure no air is collecting.


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## gotfrogs

I ordered it from mouser PN 836-8438. They are out of the black one but have the gray (836-8438) in stock. I am not really concerned with having an even flow distribution. I am using a really big filter/pump so even if I only get 10% of the flow directed over the heater I don't think this will be a problem. I am concerned with air building up in the heater chamber. Adding a bleed valve may be the best option.


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## gotfrogs

I went ahead and added a bleed valve up near the top of the heating chamber.








Hopefully my heater and intake strainer get delivered today and I can start gluing everything together.


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## gotfrogs

I finished all of the plumbing and sliliconed the background in place. Hopefully I will have the tank full of water with no leaks this weekend!


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## gotfrogs

It all seems to be working. The tank has been running for a week now and I have not had any problems.


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## JennaH

heyco cord grips are backordered


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## accordztech

can we get some pic updates, they dont work.

I really want to do this but im a picture kind of guy.


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## crowndroyal

Heyco still takes sample requests so I ordered some samples and I ended up getting the wrong size I think. I used the same product id and it's a little small.

what is the size you need for this ? 

5. 1- Heyco Product *#8437* (Watertight Cordgrip) (Can be order FREE at http://ecommerce.heyco.com/dev/newsa...ample?OpenForm )


Here is the link to order samples
http://sales.heyco.com/hpiweb/OBW0112R.PGM


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## aquah20

What's to prevent the heater from melting the pvc is it touching the sides?


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