BEWARE!! Marineland Stealth Pro Heater

[husonfirst]

Yikes, 75 gallons of water ended up on the floor? The explosion happened spontaneously? I hope Marineland takes care of things.

I have a Visitherm Stealth that has been working flawlessly. I also have the newer Stealth Pros as well. Reading about the problems some people are having with the Stealth Pros makes me nervous about using them.

[TheRac25]

Originally Posted by StillLearning

You have pics of the heater cause it looks fine in the pics. The top pic it looks like the heater in the back with no damage and the last pic dont look like it has damage either.

The second pic it looks like the rock hit the glass cause its almost the height of the spider in the glass. If you look at the rock right next to it is where the glass was hit you see all the spidering going to that point..

yeah my guess is the fish did it, seen oscars break tanks like that

[CL]

Originally Posted by trailsnale

Any thoughts on how this happened? Seems odd that so much pressure was generated to overcome the water pressure and break 1/2" glass... any engineers(?) out there care to enlighten me?

my guess would be that water got into the heater, and instantly turned to steam, thus causing the explosion.

[tnsser]

This was no rock. It sounded like a shotgun went off in my den. Here is whats left of the heater. Took a picture of the tank and one of the glass shards found about 30ft away. Last one shows how the heater was sitting in the tank. If you are using one of these you need to stop. I understand products can fail but when they do the maker better stand behind the product. I will let everyone know how Marineland fixes this problem.

[StillLearning]

From looking at them pics and looking at the damage to the heater I would think more glass would have blown out. Do you have GFCI outlets?

[CL]

Guys, it's definitely possible for a heater to do that. No need to play CSI and try to defend Marineland. Products fail, especially those mixing extreme heat, electricity and water.

Originally Posted by trailsnale

Any thoughts on how this happened? Seems odd that so much pressure was generated to overcome the water pressure and break 1/2" glass... any engineers(?) out there care to enlighten me?

also, water doesn't compress, so any pressure put out by the heater would transfer to the glass.

If the pressure contained in a thin 2L bottle can do this to 1/8 thick steel, and really thick glass, it wouldn't take to much to understand how a few hundred watts of electricity can break 1/2 inch glass

[StillLearning]

Originally Posted by CL

Guys, it's definitely possible for a heater to do that. No need to play CSI and try to defend Marineland. Products fail, especially those mixing extreme heat, electricity and water.

No one is defending them at all. I dont use there products so it dont really matter but looking at the pics and looking at the tank something dont seem right. I would figure the top to blow off before the side of it.

[hydrophyte]

I have never liked using submersible heaters, but I have many of them.

Somebody ought to develop an alternative. Would it be possible to heat through the glass using a heater that attaches from the outside of the tank?

[FSM]

This reminds me of Apollo 13 (I just read the book)

The auto-shut off for the oxygen tank heater failed, so it exploded.

[tnsser]

Originally Posted by StillLearning

No one is defending them at all. I dont use there products so it dont really matter but looking at the pics and looking at the tank something dont seem right. I would figure the top to blow off before the side of it.

Are you kidding? You think I am making this up? Why would the top blow off when the plastic could just split and explode. Anyway. I repeat this heater exploded and sent glass fragments across the room. Believe it if you want but it is the truth. I have more pieces to the heater in a box. You can see here where it split. The picture of the mushroom shaped metal piece is what I found laying on the sand inside the tank. I would like to see a blueprint of the inside one of these heaters,

[StillLearning]

Originally Posted by tnsser

Are you kidding? You think I am making this up? Why would the top blow off when the plastic could just split and explode. Anyway. I repeat this heater exploded and sent glass fragments across the room. Believe it if you want but it is the truth. I have more pieces to the heater in a box. You can see here where it split. The picture of the mushroom shaped metal piece is what I found laying on the sand inside the tank. I would like to see a blueprint of the inside one of these heaters,

Something just dont sound right is all im saying and from looking at the pics it looks like something hit the glass. I would think the plastic top would pop first because the body of the heater looks like its molded plastic which is pretty strong... Post a front shot of where the heater exploded. Would be nice to see what the inside of it looks like.

[CL]

Originally Posted by StillLearning

Something just dont sound right is all im saying and from looking at the pics it looks like something hit the glass. I would think the plastic top would pop first because the body of the heater looks like its molded plastic which is pretty strong... Post a front shot of where the heater exploded. Would be nice to see what the inside of it looks like.

I am a bit confused as to why you would think that this is a hoax?
It's definitely possible. Something doesn't necessarily have to hit the glass for it to break. The pressure wave from the heater exploding would transfer pretty well through the water to the glass. Kinda like a depth charge.

[StillLearning]

Originally Posted by CL

I am a bit confused as to why you would think that this is a hoax?
It's definitely possible. Something doesn't necessarily have to hit the glass for it to break. The pressure wave from the heater exploding would transfer pretty well through the water to the glass. Kinda like a depth charge.

Cause it looks like the rocks hit the glass which is why I asked. If it exploded that bad you would think the fish would be dead as well if it was like a depth charge. Or else you would think from the electric it would of killed the fish.

[CL]

Originally Posted by StillLearning

Cause it looks like the rocks hit the glass which is why I asked. If it exploded that bad you would think the fish would be dead as well if it was like a depth charge. Or else you would think from the electric it would of killed the fish.

You would expect the fish to be dead, and the point of the rock is right at the glass, but the heater definitely exploded (from looking at the pictures), which could have caused a rock slide. The heater simply causing a rock slide would mean that it could have been a smaller explosion than would be needed to break the glass, thus the fish wouldn't have had to endure such a large pressure wave.

[StillLearning]

Originally Posted by CL

You would expect the fish to be dead, and the point of the rock is right at the glass, but the heater definitely exploded (from looking at the pictures), which could have caused a rock slide. The heater simply causing a rock slide would mean that it could have been a smaller explosion than would be needed to break the glass, thus the fish wouldn't have had to endure such a large pressure wave.

Which is what made me question the whole thing when the fish lived. I just dont see how it made it through the shock from electric or the depth charge which is what it would of been like if it sent glass fragments across the room. They will question it even more then me if hes trying to get a new tank though.