Lately I've been having very poor experiences with aquarium heaters in my tanks.  Generally new heaters I have purchased are only lasting 12-16 months at the most.

In contrast, I some older Jaeger heaters (green body style) from the late 80s early 90s still in continued service.  Quite a difference.  I'm wondering what other killifish hobbyists are experiencing.

Please post and let me know?

Best regards, Jim Langan, AKA Webmaster

I remember those Jager heaters - they really were well made. Since I'm in Florida now, I have the opposite problem

Bought an Acqeon 50 watt heater today, past heaters of this type lasted about 14 months.  I'll followup on reliability as this moves onward with this one.  I have a couple of other trials in the works moving forward too.

Jim Langan

Aquarium heaters used to be as reliable as sunrise and sunset now I'm hearing different. I just bought a brand new German made 50 watt Eheim heater. I'll keep you posted about it.

I just put in-service a Marineland 150 watt, electronic control heater.  This heater has a lifetime warranty from Marineland.  I'll post follow ups as I have information to report.

Jim Langan, AKA Webmaster

Funny this topic came up as I had just watched a newer video on YouTube about heaters and their reliability. I'll post the link and while some of it is basic overall I do think it gives a good explanation why these don't last long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u2IwRgHZCU

Justin

As I was doing water changes the other day I started thinking about my heaters. All are doing well and working like they're supposed to. All are over two years old and my fish room temperature makes some drastic swings with the weather. So, nothing amiss and heaters seem to be as reliable as ever. Now that I've said that a couple will probably give up the ghost because it's supposed to be below zero for a few days now.

Medric,

What brand of heaters?  We're seeking specifics on this thread...

Jim Langan

My heaters are a Marineland 100 watt submersible which is now 11 years old but was unused for 5 years. Two Hagen Elite's, a 50 watt and a 150 watt, which are the old non-submersible style. I like that kind the best. Another is a Penn Plax Cascade 25 watt submersible. These are available from JEHMCO really cheap. I also have an oddball Top Fin 50 watt submersible that is preset to 78 degrees. I wouldn't have bought that but inherited it from my grandkids who grew tired of their fish. It has an annoying bright green light that stays on until the red light indicating heating goes in. The other two are Jaeger Eheim submersibles, a 50 and a 150 watt. I really kind of abuse that Jaeger 150. I use it to heat my 44 gallon container that I age my change water in. It brings that from 66 degrees to 78 overnight. I actually did have one heater crap out. It was one of those little Betta bowl heaters but it did go nearly two years.

As Columbo says, "Just one more thing". Suction cups on the submersibles. They're terrible. They won't stick anymore after being underwater for a few months. I have taken them off and cleaned them really good but to no avail. Their shape flattens out and won't trap the suction. I tried warming them in near boiling water to reshape them and, again, to no avail. I've bought replacement ones but they give out in short order just like OEM. The Jaeger are the best ones and last the longest. I don't bother anymore when they quit on me and let the heater hang loose. That works with my docile fish but bigger more boisterous fish might break something. I think the manufacturers could make a hanger that attaches to the tank rim with holders farther down to hold the heater.
And . . . Just one more thing. The cords on all but the Marineland are way heavier and stiffer than they need to be.

Hi
I've had some problem with heaters last few years also. I use a inkbird to control the heaters on my Reef tank. For one of my fresh tanks I just installed a digital readout topfin brand, from PetSmart about 6 months ago seems to be working well still. I don't remember the brand of the one that was in before and failed. On another tank I just returned a Fluval E300 that I had for couple weeks and would not work properly. I replaced it with a Eheim Jager 300 tru temp , which after doing some research online is suppose to be reliable.

I have been using these cheep chinese heaters for a while now without problems: https://rb.gy/d3f0yv