Heater Stuck??

Hey guys- At risk of asking a dumb question. How do a tell if my heater is stuck.. Camw home this afternoon to a tank that is 83 degrees. Looking back at my datalog from my ACIII my tank has never gone over 81.

Now I know the ACIII can shut the heater down.. Shame on my for not having the heater programmed yet.

 

You need some code in for that.

 

I know it. Had some medical issues the past 3 weeks so t has not been the focus.

Right now I shut down the MHL and the heaters and opened the door to my fish room to let out some heat. (opens in to the garage that is not heated.) The Temp is coming down slowly.

Do you think I should just yank both heaters and replace them to be safe?

 

I would replace them or send them in to get fixed. It's not worth losing your entire system over a $20-40 part. I would program your ACIII as a safety net. I haven't gotten around to programming mine yet either, but I'll have mine turn the heater off if it reaches 1ºF above what the heater threshold is set at (80ºF), then turn off the lights if it gets to 82ºF. An ounce of prevention...right?
Tank stuff aside, I hope you are doing better now.

 

No I would just put them in the code. You can have MH's shut off if tank gets too hot. With the money you spent on the controller I would be using it to it's potential.

If Temp > 82.0 Then DAY OFF / MH's
Max Change 090 M Then DAY OFF /Keeps MH's off for 90 min after temp high
If Temp > 83.0 Then ACT OFF /Actinics
Max Change 060 M Then ACT OFF /Keeps Actinics off for 60 min after temp high
If Power 000 Then DAY OFF / Shut MH's off if Power flickers or is off
Max Change 020 M Then DAY OFF /Keeps MH's off for 20 min after power goes off

If Temp < 78.3 Then HET ON / Heater
If Temp > 78.5 Then HET OFF
If Temp < 67.5 Then HET OFF


If Temp < 77.5 Then ALM ON / Alarm
If Temp > 81.0 Then ALM ON
If Power 000 Then ALM ON
If Time > 00:00 Then ALM OFF

 

So are you saying to keep the heaters I have and just use the controller to regulate the temp or should I get new ones.. My plan was to have the controller control the temp and set the heater 1 degree higher then the controller max so then the controller is shutting the heater on and off rather then relying on the heater thermostat.

What do you use for your alarm? I see the alarm but I have never heard it go off.. Is it something seperate you have to buy and attach?

 

You will need one of these: X-10 Control Interface Hardware and an alarm module: X-10 Alarm Module
Then you will be ready to add any x10 device you want.

Turn the heater to full blast and let the controller take care of turning it on and off. I just have a titanium heater plugged into the relay sections of my DC8.

 

I dont know if this helps, but I heard of a way to cool down a tank from a friend of mine that lives way out in the desert. (Nevada) They have air conditioning and power outage problems all the time. He said he got water bottles, put them in the freezer and floated them in the tank to keep the temp down. I know its a little redneck, but coolers arent cheap! Hope it helps.

 

Yup, this does work. I have used zip lock bags with ice in them to cool off my tank before. But, when you start getting above 75gal you should consider getting a chiller at some point, esspecially when running MH..