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Anyone using Hydor External Heaters ?

A

Antipofish

Guest
Hi I have a 200w Hydor external heater on my current heater, its second hand and only got it yesterday, (and a 300w one on the way to go with my new filter).

I have noticed that it clicks on and off a fair bit (well I noticed this at 5am today after getting up to use the bathroom, lol). The light seems to stay on all the time regardless of how many clicks (presumably on/off cycle).

Is this normal ? Your advice will be welcome in case I have ended up with a duff one. I got home earlier this morning to the RCD for the whole fuse board having tripped and the only new loads are the heater and also a christmas menora light (which i have been naughty and wired into another appliances plug but they are both low current items). The power thing could just be coincidence of course.

Cheers
 
Antipofish said:
I have noticed that it clicks on and off a fair bit (well I noticed this at 5am today after getting up to use the bathroom, lol). The light seems to stay on all the time regardless of how many clicks (presumably on/off cycle).
They do tend to turn on and off frequently, which is a good thing to give a stable temperature, but the light should turn on and off with it.
 
George Farmer said:
Antipofish said:
I have noticed that it clicks on and off a fair bit (well I noticed this at 5am today after getting up to use the bathroom, lol). The light seems to stay on all the time regardless of how many clicks (presumably on/off cycle).
They do tend to turn on and off frequently, which is a good thing to give a stable temperature, but the light should turn on and off with it.


Right, Im thinking there may be an issue there then cos I could hear the thing clicking at silly o clock this morning and when I went and sat by the cabinet to check it was the actual heater and not the filter pipe gradually working itself out of the joint and about to flood my room, the light remained on all the time.
 
thingymajig said:
What actually have you wired up causing the rcd to trip?

Lol as an Electrician in training Im not sure I want to reply to that, thought electrically speaking there is no reason I am aware of that what I did would cause a problem. But, I will 'fess up anyway. I utilised the same plug that the computer uses to wire in a Christmas menora light. The computer was not demanding any power, even standby power, and the cable was therefore essentially redundant. In addition, both the heater (being the latest stand alone equipment to be added to the circuit) had been running ok for at least 12 hours, and so had the light. I just came home to the main RCD having tripped and not allowing me to reset as it just immediately tripped again. I turned everything off in the house, reset the RCD and systematically turned everything back on again and the darn thing is working fine. My mother said she had the washing machine and tumble dryer on at the same time, but the WM is on a separate ring main for the kitchen and the tumbler is in the garage on a radial main so I don't see a conflict there. Furthermore none of the MCBs went. I am wondering perhaps if there is a hairline crack in the heater that is so fine it does not always register as an earth fault ? Do you think thats a possibility ? I guess I should check the dual purpose plug I mentioned and smash that idea into oblivion and do it right. There could be a very fine crossover, but Im pretty sure there isnt.
 
OK Heater has been on again since the RCD trip for about 14 hours and seems to be fine. ALSO, I am a dork ! The light that was on constantly was the amber illumination of the multibar extension and NOT the heater. God I feel stupid, hahaha.
 
foxfish said:
Mine used to click quite loudly if fact I stopped using it because of that reason!

LOL I was hoping for a different answer.... :crazy:
 
This is not good news! I'm planning on changing to these heaters but all my tanks are in my living room. A bevy of loud clicks would drive me nuts!! I think I'll just try one for starters - I hope the clicking isn't too intrusive!!

Viv
 
Viv said:
This is not good news! I'm planning on changing to these heaters but all my tanks are in my living room. A bevy of loud clicks would drive me nuts!! I think I'll just try one for starters - I hope the clicking isn't too intrusive!!

Viv
Lol you will have your own aquatic percussion section :)
 
been googling to try and find a solution for the clicking noise and came across this.

it sounds more like it may be related to the flow through the heater. If the flow is slow, the heater will cycle quickly. The heater turns on, rapidly heats the small amount of water in the heater casing, and turns off. Once the warm water leaves the casing and cooler water enters, the heater cycles back on. Keep in mind that any "in-line" accessory will reduce the flow of our filters. BTW, if it has been a while since you cleaned your filter/ strainer you could try cleaning the filter which may increase your flow and reduce the amount of cycling the heater is doing.

hope this helps....
 
foxfish said:
Like I say, it seems only a few folk notice the noise or perhaps only a few heaters make the noise?

I was kind of getting used to the clicking mine made and within a week I will not have an issue. In fact, now I have drained my tank down for my re substrating, and the filter is off, I notice the silence ! LOL
 
My Hydors don't click either, though theres a pretty fast flow through them too.

As an aside, its worth using some tape on the temperature dial of Hydors, to stop it being accidentally rotated. There have been quite a few stories on here and elsewhere of folks finding their fish dead having accidentally moved the dial when doing something else near the heater :(

Tony
 
Tony Swinney said:
My Hydors don't click either, though theres a pretty fast flow through them too.

As an aside, its worth using some tape on the temperature dial of Hydors, to stop it being accidentally rotated. There have been quite a few stories on here and elsewhere of folks finding their fish dead having accidentally moved the dial when doing something else near the heater :(

Tony

Thats a good hint Tony, thanks.
 
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