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Heater in soil (just a bit)

jsiegmund

Member
Joined
15 Nov 2014
Messages
167
Location
Netherlands
I was wondering if any of you have their heater sticking in the soil a bit. I'd like to place my heater alongside the intake of my filter, but it's just a little bit too long do properly do that. If I stick it into the soil just a little bit (2 or 3 cm at most, like 5% of the total length) it would fit. Would I run the risk of damaging the heater like this? I understand it would be best not to do it and I'm gonna see if I can DIY it into an inline heater, but in the meantime...
 
Thanks for the comments. I placed it where I wanted it to find out that it only sticks in the soil about 1 centimeter. So I decided not to care, it'll be fine like this. Thanks for the tips.
 
I've had a heater in a superfish 20 that sticks into gravel over soil by about an inch.

We may be united in error but mine has also been fine for the past six months.
 
Heater can be placed on it's side near the substrate and behind wood,rock's,or plants and can be sort of hidden in this way.
Does not need to be vertical .
 
In my case the superfish 20 has a little compartment to mount the heater and filter in. Within that it is designed sitting vertically, with a removable blanking plug at the base if your heater is too long to fit. Seems to work vertically in this set up. Juwel heaters sit vertically.

However I agree that diagonal or horizontal is supposed to be better for heat control.

Has anyone actually had an issue with a vertically placed heater?
 
In my case the superfish 20 has a little compartment to mount the heater and filter in. Within that it is designed sitting vertically, with a removable blanking plug at the base if your heater is too long to fit. Seems to work vertically in this set up. Juwel heaters sit vertically.

However I agree that diagonal or horizontal is supposed to be better for heat control.

Has anyone actually had an issue with a vertically placed heater?
I'd say most of them are placed vertically with the top sticking out of the water so you can adjust the temperate when needed. Or am I missing something?
 
I think the reasoning behind it is the thermostat is at the top so when the warm water rises it can switch it off too early, being horizontal means the thermostat gets the temp of the surrounding water not the warm water rising past it from the element. Not so important if you have good flow around the heater. Not sure about sticking it in the gravel, the risk would be that the element gets very hot but the surrounding water keeps it cool by absorbing the heat. I suppose under the gravel is still underwater in a way but the gravel could insulate the element making it get hot. The risk being it could either crack the glass if it is glass or some have a built in thermal cut out for when the element gets too hot in case you plug it in out of water so it doesn't break so it could cut out in the tank without actually reaching the desired temp.

I would always make sure it's unplugged when putting hands in tank, if it's glass and the end shatters in the substrate you got live wires and water which is never a good mix.
 
It's since they have been combined into heaterstats that it's become a problem. Heaters are most efficient and long-lived if used horizontally, thermostats are most accurate and long-lived when used vertically. Putting a heaterstat at about 45° is the best compromise.
 
I have a really old brandless chinese heater. I got it 2nd hand from a closing down fish shop about 9 years ago...For the last 4 years its been in tank with very fine sand, the heater being too long for the tank so it ended up with its bottom glass part sort of buried in the sand. Its still working...

Modern heaters are made way worse, fancier look but lower quality parts used than the older heaters,, and tend to fail, no matter what you do...
 
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