# Eheim Heater Questions



## latchdan (Sep 7, 2007)

Ive mounted mine horizontally was a jebo jager eheim.


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## Bushkill (Feb 15, 2012)

The air in my basement is pretty stratified. I'd bet 5 degrees diff. with the top being in the high 60's low 70's.

I have a 65G sitting on the floor with a vertically mounted 300W Eheim and it has no trouble holding high 70's in the dead of winter. It does, however have full glass covers. I can tell you that makes a world of difference in heater efficiency.

By contrast, I have a 150W Eheim in the corner of a 40B that's also on the floor and only 50% covered and they are definite cold spots in that tank.

So.....If you can put glass covers on it, the 200W should be fine. Open-topped it will have to work hard and evaporation will be significant.

If you decide to use the 300W, you can mount it diagonally. The darn thing is the size of a broom handle.


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## Fish_wiz (Dec 20, 2015)

I agree with Bushkill, glass covers help. But back to your main questions, I've mounted Ehiem Jager's horizontally and at angles with no issues, not sure what's behind what the manual says. Also, 300 watt shouldn't be overkill but does pose a threat if there is any failures (I have had one Jager out of 6 fail on me). Best is to either split the 300 watts into 2 heaters of 150 watt or do an inline heater if you're using a canister or sump. Best way to eliminate cold spots is constant water circulation hence the inline heater recommendation.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Several questions and some will take your personal choice to decide. 
The size is depending on how cool the room, what other equipment provides heat like filters, powerheads, lights, etc. so that may take some looking at what happens on YOUR tank. In general, unless the room is really cold, I find 300 is near killing range for a 40. 
The question of overworking and how the heater is set is a different question that gets into heater design. I find that it does not overwork a heater to come on and stay for a longer period but actually makes it last longer. Some background thinking to explain? When the heater comes on, the coil heats to glowing red in a very short time. It reaches that temperature whether on for 30 seconds or 30 minutes so the stress on the heating coil is the same. It expands and contracts the same amount and that movement is what breaks the wire. We call it "burnout" but metal fatigue is more often the true cause of the coil failing. Much the same as light bulbs which fail. They rarely fail when they are left on and stay on. In warehouse situations they may stay on for years. But when we often see bulbs fail is when they are switched on and go pop or just never come on. they fail when heating or when they cooled, not due to "burning out".
The controls are another cause of heater failure. When you hear a heater "click", it is a relay with contact points opening or closing. Each time they cycle, there is a small arc of electricity and that arc will eventually weld the points or corrode them so that they won't make contact. One of the prime reasons for more expensive brands lasting longer is that they put more electronics into cutting down the arcing but it is still there, just less of it. 
Each time the heater cycles, the heat from the coil is designed to go up where the controls sense that heat and open or close. The combo of these makes higher wattage heater cycle more often than a smaller wattage heater in the same situation. More cycles means quicker wearout. In the horizontal position, the heat from the coil transfers to the controls but not the way they are designed to work so you may get funky operation even when it is not noticed. 

I also always recommend using some form of backup temperature controller to cut off the power to the heater if/when the controls stick closed.


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## jeffh129 (Jan 24, 2004)

What you say about how it is better for the heater to be vertical to have it work best with its internal sensor makes sense. That's probably why Eheim says to mount it vertically and makes no mention of horizontal. So it will work horizontally but will measure its own temperature better vertically. Your comments about the heater lasting longer by staying on longer also seems valid. Thank you

And thanks to all. I've learned a lot.


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

Part of my discovery on heaters is based on the basic design being something I don't really like but all the common heaters have. The controls are inside the heater tube and isolated from the water. So while we think we are setting the temperature of the water, the controls are really only able to sense the temperature of the air in the tube. The air in the tube is changed by the water temperature of course but that leaves some slop in the measurement. We see the metal coil get hot enough to glow in heaters we can see through so that is like300-400 degrees, maybe? So getting water as warm as 70 degrees makes the controls get 200-300 degrees inside the tube? Since electronics don't really work as well when they get hot, I sometimes wonder why they work as long as they do at those temperatures. 
The higher priced ones I've torn down do have better insulation between the controls and the heat but still pretty close to the fire.


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## jeffh129 (Jan 24, 2004)

Have you ever heard of the Eiive brand that I a running now? What are your thoughts on the Aqueon Pro Heaters?


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

I had not heard of the brand but that is not unusual with so many new ventures, swaps and changes. 
I did do a look and it has some things I might like but some not so good. The good being that is does specify that it is fully submersible and can be run horizontal. Those sound like they have done the work to make them water tight and the controls designed for horizontal. 
But then the cynical side might also look at the warranty and the way it defines "lifetime warranty". We tend to think of that meaning forever nearly but they go further to define "lifetime" to mean the life of the product! So does that mean it is expected to last a long time or just till it dies? I tend to downgrade companies who try to trick me, even when I have no firm reason to know whether it is good or bad product. 
A good product will stand on it's own merits so why do they try to trick me ? 
No real experience with either heater mentioned. Sorry. Perhaps you can let us know how the heater works out? If you come back in six months with a failure we will be disappointed! 
We can hope for six years, maybe?


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