Reef Angel Forum

So my heater failed of only being on the Reef Angel for about 3 days... is it bad for the heater to keep being turned on and off or was this maybe a fluke?

First, how old was your heater?

Second, think about it, what does the thermostat in a heater do. It turns the power to the heating element on and off, perhaps many times per day. The reef angel does the exact same thing.

So my conclusion for what it's worth, highest chance of heater failing is that it would have failed anyway

I have found it best to crank the lnternal Thermostat to max. Then you won't get a failure should it jam open for any reason, just let the RA do it's thing. The RA is using a relay to switch the heater and the contacts are rated much higher than the theromostats. All in all a better level ofcontrol.

I prefer to set the thermostat of the heater to about 83 degrees. That way, it will never activate but will provide a fail safe should the reef angel hang or have a relay fault. The reef angel controls the temperature but the heater thermostat won't let the heater cook the tank if the reef angel should fail.

Good point, and it is an individual choice.

My view is that heater thermostats tend to stick in the on position because the contacts are small and they weld together. IMHO the RA relays are rated high and the chances of them welding on, even with a 500w heater are extremely low. Likewise should the RA fail (die) the relays will go to the open state. If there is a logic fault then you may well have a bigger issue than the heater staying on.

As I said above it is an individual choice. Thanks for your view

I use a Ranco for heater control.

Your heater was destined to fail anyways just like any other electronic device. Some die sooner then later.

Get a ehiem.

I also set the heaters to about 83.

Cranking the thermostats up isn't doing anything extra for you. Every time the controller turns on the thermostat relay contacts anyways. Same amount of wear one way or the other. At least with the temp set at 83 you might have a second backup.

Thanks for the response the heater was only a week old so prob just a bad unit... my LFS replaced it so all has been good so far.