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EHEIM Jager Heaters

5K views 22 replies 13 participants last post by  VinceIII 
#1 ·
I ordered one today for the 40B that is sitting in my living room. I usually buy Aqueon Pro, but I was feeling adventurous.

Anybody know what the warranty is on these heaters and what has your experience been with them if you use them.
 
#2 ·
The Eheim Jager heater would be my choice among the typical aquarium heaters available today. I use them on my own tanks. I yhink you'll be very happy with yours.

As for warranty, I don't worry about that too much because it's usually almost as expensive to ship the bad one back for replacement as it is to just buy a new heater.
 
#7 ·
Funny how this topic comes up as I look at my box of broken heaters. I'm beginning to think that they just don't make things like they used to. Back in the 70's I never had the problem I do today with heaters. They last a few months to a year, then poof...dead. They can put a man on the moon, but they can't make a heater that will last? I know, 'Planned Obsolescence'. They can't make money unless you keep buying new ones. I remember a type of womens hose that was made that would never run. Well, that won't make money. So they went off the market. This morning my 55g was at 70 degrees. The heaters were a rebranded store heater from Pet Supplies Plus. Both of them dead. Light on, no heat. The fish are quiet in the corners. I don't have time to order online, so back to the store to buy what will probably only last a few months.

I'll look into this heater now, and purchase about 4 of them for the future, when the cheapo stuff I'm forced to buy today dies....or....well, I could always take them back when the online order comes in???? (I'm bad and immoral, I know.)

P.S. Why don't they sell these Jager heaters at the LFS? Petsmart, petco, etc.
 
#10 ·
The last time I had to replace a heater was a couple of years ago. It was a regular Aqueon that made a obnoxious clicking noise that drove my fish and I crazy. They weren't getting zinged from current as far as I know, but I got rid of it. The fish were happy with the change and I didn't spend all night listening to click...click...click every 5-10 minutes.

I haven't had any issues with the Aqueon Pro line, Like I said, I just felt like trying something new. I don't trust reviews, so I asked here.

My Pet Co doesn't carry squat and my local Pet Smart is getting just as bad. I asked a cashier from another Pet Co recently why they stock stores differently. I was told that it has to do with sales. Stores stock what sells. This makes sense to keep overhead down, but I don't think keeping things around such as bottles of Prime is that big of a deal.

They frown at me if I say I ordered something from Amazon, but they don't stock what I need, so what am I supposed to do? Damned if I do, damned if I don't.
 
#12 ·
Jagers are real nice.
That is almost all we run.
-Possibly due to the sale we found last year.
The yearly seasonal sales have good price drops to catch if you know where to shop.

We may have been in the beer and reef tank forums a bit too much.
We're gadget geeks.

A heater is known to mess up the guys with their beer batches and reef coral guys.
The heaters get wonky and temps sail their projects into the heated unknown.
The freshwater heat issue is not so bad I'd think, but we like gadgets and accuracy.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
I'd say some plants surely will melt or do something negative depending on the species.

The gadgety Inkbird ITC 306T is heater controller that lets the user digitally control the Jager heater or combo of two (2) heaters.
It does not have to be a Jager, but they sure work well.
I'm still using some old Ebo-Jagers from 2003 too.

Our Jager heater gets dialed to about 86F to make sure it is working on the way up in temps.
As long as it is pugged in, the controller now controls the Jager heater and tells it what to do digitally and is had for about $34 online.

It is very easy to use.
It can pick up on the temp dropping 1.0F and send the Jager heaters into action.

** use two heaters for redundancy.

Our situation-

The one tank in the room a few moments ago was reading 82.0F
The tank water temp on this white certified stick tester stated 81.7F.
The certified stick tester stated the room air was 81.9F.

All in all "one does not need these", but if inspector gadget had a freshwater planted tank, he may just go-go gadget Inbird 308T.>:)
 

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#13 · (Edited)
Aqueon Pro is essentially a Marineland Stealth heater.

Now, my experience in buying and selling used tanks has taught me Aqueon fails (I don't care which model), Petco/Petsmart brand fails, Odyssea fails, Tetra Fails, Penn Plax fails, basically they all eventually fail.

Here's the difference.

For every 10 bad Aqueons I have "maybe" 1 bad Jager. Unlike Aqueons that are heating incorrectly I can recalibrate the Jagers.

Out of all the jagers I'm running in my garage (8 of them total and intending to add 7 more in the next 2 months) I've only had one bad and that was because it was cracked when I got it and I didn't realize it (used).

I have seen Aqueon heaters everywhere from not heating to holding 80 while set at 68 to shocking the hell out of me.

I've seen the same with most brands of heaters.

From a used perspective Jagers seem to hold up better than any other brand.
 
#14 ·
Well, my experience may not be what you want to hear but,,,,I bought two Eheims last year, both were crap.

They would not recalibrate and one never shut off right out of the box. The old green Jager ones were the cadillac back in the day, but the new blue and black ones, just seem to have gone the route of everything else these days....no quality!

Your best bet with heaters these days is to set them so they are ON all the time and run them through a separate temperature controller.
Generally it is the on/off cycles that tend to kill the cheapos so if you leave it ON all the time and let the separate Temp. controller do the work you save on the contacts in the cheap heaters.
 
#15 ·
So I just bought online 4 Eheim Ebo 50 watt submersible heaters for 22 bucks each, free shipping. 2 for the 55g, and 2 for spare. It looks like a nice, simple, well built heater. Eheims and Aqueons are built in Germany and Italy. Everything else is crap from China.

I should buy four more at this price. :}
 
#20 · (Edited)
For every 10 bad Aqueons I have "maybe" 1 bad Jager.



I must be just unlucky..Replaced a cheap "kit" heater (2 yrs old) w/ a Jager.
6 months later couldn't set temp. Temp dial broke. If I wanted a 77 degree tank forever .. fine.. ;)
Actually got a replacement direct from Eheim. Couldn't calibrate it. Was out of range.
Completely useable and well function but dial is useless. Tanks at 77 dial is at 81 1/2,,That is at "full" adjustment..You can only change it +/- 1.5 (don't remeber exactly-) degrees I believe..
Got one other one, no problems.
Have 2 other el cheapos.. no problems..

To be fair I also have 2 Fluval e series (both about 3 yrs old) One needed to be sent to Fluval last year.. Could raise temp but not lower it..
Over at the reefer place there is some titanium model that blows up..
Forgot the brand..

At this point I'm not convinced "made in Germany" or anywhere is a safe bet for anything..

All I can add is save your receipts..
Oh and this for fun (?):
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2577063&highlight=heater+explode
Neo-Therm Cobalt Heater
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2376715&highlight=neo-therm+cobalt+heater
 
#16 ·
I've had good luck with Jagers as well. The only failures I had were when taking tanks apart and moving them while they were still active. A moderate bump into part of the hardscape and they were gone.

That being said I prefer a controller as some already have mentioned. I always do two smaller heaters instead of one large one. If ones sticks on it'll have trouble overheating the tank and if it sticks off the other will keep the tank from crashing before I notice the problem(hopefully). But all my future projects will include a controller of some sort. With a controller I set the heaters to two degrees about my desired set temp and then run them through the controller with the controller set for the desired temp. Double fail safes. Considering the cost of livestock it's cheap insurance IMO.
 
#17 ·
Controllers look like a good idea. Don't want to be Penny Wise and Pound Foolish. These Eheims (Ebo) look to have automatic switch off out of water. I'm trying to find information on whether the Ebo's need calibrating or not, but they don't seem to need it from everything I've read.

I believe I killed my heaters when I did a water change and they were partly out of water. I thought that some of the heater could be out of water for a short time, but apparently not, since both died at the same time.

Why do they die when out of water? I'm guessing they overheat, but if the air temperature is 70 degrees, and they are only out partially, why would it completely ruin the heater? Is it possible to reset them somehow? Or is the connection/switch burned up within such a short time?
 
#18 ·
Ok, so I realize now that 'calibrating' your heater did not mean what I thought it meant. I thought that if the power went out, you would need to recalibrate a digital readout. Like zeroing a scale. But apparently that is wrong, and you don't recalibrate the heater just because the power goes out. I'm so far behind the technology for aquarium heating. I need to learn the differences between electronically controlled heaters and mechanical switch/control. So far, I don't see where calibrating is an issue.

I feel like an idiot.
 
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