DIY External Heater (56k!)

[fishymatty]

thanks man. I was really worried.

[boasist]

sure thing, let us know how it goes, I'll be pushing water through mine tomorrow night hopefully.

[fishymatty]

So its set up and running as of 1/2 hour ago. I also installed an o2 diffuser because I've had O2 problems because its a 45g tall and I've been trying to pump co2 in at a high rate. The only worry I have is the flow rate is quite high so how well can the heater heat the water if its flowing so fast? I guess I'll find out by tomorrow morning.
I'll post pictures as soon as my camera gets fixed.

[boasist]

i finished mine, and tested, seems I have a small leak, yet those heyco parts work great, heater went right in. Works great, though, I still let it run for an hour or so (its a 1 drip a minute leak) and the tank was already at 82 and holding, just like I wanted, very pleased....aside from the leak that is.

[fishymatty]

I'm noticing that I'm not getting the heat. I even turned up the heater all the way to see if that would help. I'm going to give it a few days to see if it can keep up with the ac.

[tpl*co]

What's the cost of the parts to make this unit? Just want to compare to the cost of a Pentair aquatics heater module.

Tina

[boasist]

I was able to purchase mine from the local plumbing supply store, $9 for all of the PVC, the heyco part was free, and the heater was $25

So $9 just for the unit

Then add the heater of your choice.

can't be beat.

[kasslloyd]

Originally Posted by boasist

i finished mine, and tested, seems I have a small leak, yet those heyco parts work great, heater went right in. Works great, though, I still let it run for an hour or so (its a 1 drip a minute leak) and the tank was already at 82 and holding, just like I wanted, very pleased....aside from the leak that is.

Where was the leak coming from? the heyco part? They shipped me 2 and I plan on assembling a similar unit myself soon...

[boasist]

no it was from the coupler I installed to join my two pieces of pipe together. They heyco part works very well.

[Grubs]

Just a thankyou for the idea Snazzy and briandmiles - and my little mod

I added an optical prism to allow the heater light to be visible. By luck, the heater light in the Jager heater lines up exactly with the hexagonal collar of the Heyco fitting. I drilled a 5/32 hole through the hexagonal color and then used a vice to press in a short length of 5mm transparent acrylic rod ($1.30 for 1.8m at a plastics place). Its a VERY tight fit and won't ever move or leak.



I've chosen bigger diameter pipe (50mm) to keep the flow resistance low as I'm using a 1000l/h pump. I couldnt find white PVC bushes to go from the 25mm thread to the 50mm waterpipe so I had to use the black threaded poly "T" and reducing bushes. The bottom end cap is DIY (cut a hole in an end cap and glued in a threaded tap widget).

[Wasserpest]

Very innovative way of dealing with the heater light! Thanks for sharing. It's nice not to have the heater in the tank, and one less cable going up to the rim.

[tropicalfish]

Are you having the water flow in from the top?

[cookingnerd607]

Grubs, Where did you buy your acrylic rod? Im sure I could order it from usplastics. However - Id rather find some local. I was going to use a white 3/5mm led housing to view my heater light.

[Grubs]

Water flows in the side and exits the bottom so the thermostat is measuring the tank water. I did notice that pentair modules flow the other way but this seams wrong to me as heated water flowing upwards towards the thermostat is likely to prematurely trigger the heater to turn off so the heater will cycle more often (whether this matters or not is another thing).

I can't help you with a US supplier for the acrylic rod. I'm not in the US.

[PRESTON4479]

Sorry, I didn't realize how long ago that post was.

Originally Posted by slickwillislim

I think he means DIY sterilizer. I am not sure about the effects of UV on certain plastics but I assume it would be fine. I haven't heard of one being created but that doesn't mean it couldn't be done...

I would check into this. You do have to use uv approved plastics. Regular plastics will deteriorate. I only know this because I install whole house uv lights lights into duct work (HVAC). But we have to watch where we install them because of this.

I have been to a cusomers home for a complaint of a bad odor only to find that a uv light was installed to close to a piece of plastic that was not uv approved. It causes the plastic to breakdown.

Brian