Visa-therm heaters?

[nickg]

I had yet another heater incident last night. My heater decided to not function correct . Luckily the temp only dropped to 76. I called every pet supplier within 30 miles and could find no Ebo-jager. I went with a 200watt visa-therm. Seems pretty thick glass, however in the instuctions it states not to lean on its side. Is this important? My sump is not large enough to stand it up right, I have it on its side now and it seems to be working fine. Anyone with experience with this brand heater?

[fgto250]

I have used them for about 10 years (until a few months ago I replaced them with EJ's) IME they work in any postion and have never had any problems.

I also replace my heaters every 1.5 to 2 years just for safety so I have never had one in long-term use.

[OodleyBoodely]

They are not completely watertight if not completely upright. Eventually it will get enough water inside to short out. Best to straighten it up if you can. I've gone through a number of differant heaters that claimed to be submersible, but, turns out they were only submersible if kept in the upright position. If it does not specifically state that it can be submersed in any postion, don't trust it. I finally bought an Ebo and consider it money well spent. If you can't find one locally, they are cheaper on line, anyway. Try Premium Aquatics or Petswarehouse.

[tdwyatt]

I just had a similar incident this weekend, found both of my heaters in the display sump have been malfunctioning, allowing the heat to intermittantly stay on for too long, I have my temp alarms set at 85.0F, and they started Sunday am early. I took them out and bought a cheapo to make do for now, and orgered 3 x 200 watt Ebo-J's from Marine Depot for about $60 plus shipping (and some other goodies, geez, I hate/love to shop Mail Order!). I figure that I'll just replace all the old heaters with 3 new ones and not worry about the remaining heaters any longer. btw, I bought a 200 watt Visi-therm at PetSmart for more than what I paid for 1 Ebo-Jager MO, I plan to use it in the water change barrel once the Ebo-J's come in)

[Stang69]

I think there are som EJ's up for auction on reeflands Market place so ya might want to check there they all have the buy it now feature i think.


Jeff