Neat DIY Heater Malnfunction Protection

[AquaStudent]

A subscriber of mine posted this DIY. It's quite a good idea.

I remember reading a few horror stories (I think a recent one was from Holly) of heater malfunctions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJxdzr11uVg

 

[Avatar]

Simplicity is king

$30 per tank? Right. And does anyone really want an extra box and wire/probe adorning every tank? Think maybe the real answer is to make/buy better heaters...

Be easier if someone would just make a line of heaters with internal cut-out switches at 80° and 90°. Or perhaps make a heater with redundant (two) thermostats instead of one? Seems like the transition away from mechanical switches should have taken care of this issue already - the fact that it persists is a problem of bad design, as is most always the case with all technical problems.

 

[AquaStudent]

I don't think this is an option for people that have a gazillion tanks but if you have a single large show tank with some prize fish in it even expensive heaters can fail.

 

[Avatar]

Prize fish?

Anymore that describes almost all those in my possession (guppies excepted) but then most have been with me since infancy and none cost as much as/more than a homemade "heating controller", let alone a commercial one. Makes sense if one has spent hundreds on fish and can afford the extra layer of protection, but still maintain there's no good reason why someone couldn't manufacture/offer a reliable and essentially fail-safe heater.

 

[WendyFish]

Economics aside, I'm of the idea that lots of people are in various hobbies because of diverse passions that touch on enhancing the hobby. While maybe at the end of the day it's not cost effective, I think it's commendable that someone identified a challenge of fishkeeping, put some creativity to approaching it given their particular expertise, and shared what they found. That's really no more than I could ask or hope for, that people are thinking about doing things better. He should apologize less in his narrative.

If it doesn't make sense today, or isn't quite the right mousetrap, ok - in lots of situations I keep buying commercial solutions over DIY. Hopefully DIY innovations are the way to keep refining the best solution. Thanks for sharing, Tony.