trial0r Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 Hello, My Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm 50 Watt Aquarium Heater w/ LED Display has just stopped working. Today I installed an Apex Jr. and moved the heater to the Apex controller. The heater was plugged to outlet 4 (the recommended socket). I followed all instructions and set the heater's internal controller to be 2 degrees hotter than the Apex controller as I have read that the Apex's probe is more accurate than the heater's. I tinkered with the Apex for hours but could not get the heater to power back on after the switch. After my tank temperature dropped 2 degrees I began to get nervous and removed it from the Apex and onto a regular power strip. Now the heater will not turn on at all. Since it is plugged directly into the wall, the issue cannot be a difference in temperature sensitivty between the Apex and the Cobalt. I found a forum post somewhere about the Cobalt Neo-Therm having a safety feature that may kill power for 12 hours, but can't find it again. It is night here and I don't have a back up heater. Any help is appreciated. Link to comment
seabass Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 If you have a Walmart that's open 24 hours, you could buy one there. Otherwise, I'd probably just turn up the room temp and wait until morning. Link to comment
Clown79 Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 I can't help with the controller issue and heater. Seems very odd. To maintain heat in the tank you can up the room temp and insulate the tank by wrapping a blanket around it. You could also put hot water in water bottles and add that to the tank. I would advise getting a back up heater. How do you mix your saltwater without an additional heater? Link to comment
Lawnman Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 Hello, My Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm 50 Watt Aquarium Heater w/ LED Display has just stopped working. Today I installed an Apex Jr. and moved the heater to the Apex controller. The heater was plugged to outlet 4 (the recommended socket). I followed all instructions and set the heater's internal controller to be 2 degrees hotter than the Apex controller as I have read that the Apex's probe is more accurate than the heater's. I tinkered with the Apex for hours but could not get the heater to power back on after the switch. After my tank temperature dropped 2 degrees I began to get nervous and removed it from the Apex and onto a regular power strip. Now the heater will not turn on at all. Since it is plugged directly into the wall, the issue cannot be a difference in temperature sensitivty between the Apex and the Cobalt. I found a forum post somewhere about the Cobalt Neo-Therm having a safety feature that may kill power for 12 hours, but can't find it again. It is night here and I don't have a back up heater. Any help is appreciated. I had one fry on me one night about 2 a.m. Woke up to a faint smell of burnt plastic. I tossed it and got a titanium Finnex. Link to comment
Clown79 Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 I've heard of them frying and mwlting plastic, thats why i didn't go with that brand Link to comment
ajmckay Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 So a similar thing happened to me the other day with my 8 year old Hydor. If the heater's thermostat fails in the on position then there's no issue if it's plugged into a controller. The controller will tell the heater when to turn on/off. If it fails in the off position though, the heater's mechanical thermostat is stuck open and it won't turn on regardless of it receiving power or not. It's pretty much useless at that point and needs replacement. On the plus side I would take a heater failing in the off position over one failing in the on position any day... My tank got down to 68 so I just raised the room temp to a little over 70 and everything came out just fine. When you add the heater back be careful to increase the temperature slowly because depending on the wattage compared to the size of your tank it could heat up very quickly. I'm not aware of any heater that will shut off for 12 or 24 hours after an error... IMO that would be a really bad feature. Good luck. Link to comment
trial0r Posted December 22, 2016 Author Share Posted December 22, 2016 Thank you all for the replies. Kept the room toasty and water only got down to 75. Bought 2 heaters this morning. Gonna have to go through Cobalt warranty Dept. Link to comment
Clown79 Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 You know, there is no winning with heaters. A controller can help if it malfunctions in the on position but if its the opposite, you're screwed. If it shatters or melts, you're screwed... Link to comment
BulkRate Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 If you don't mind my asking, how old was the failed Neotherm? Link to comment
ajmckay Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 You know, there is no winning with heaters. A controller can help if it malfunctions in the on position but if its the opposite, you're screwed. If it shatters or melts, you're screwed... I agree... Everyone should have a suitable spare. I normally have one but I repurposed it temporarily. I was super close to pulling a heater from my FW tank - but it's in the basement which is a bit cooler so I opted to just leave the temp of the display tank at 70 for a day as things were stable. Ideal case would be an Apex or something that could text you in the case of a temperature rising/falling outside a pre-set range. But some heater controllers do have a buzzer at least that can alert you that a heater has failed - as long as you're nearby to hear it. Shatters or melts? could use an AFCI (Arc fault type circuit breaker) to cut power to a piece of equipment that shorts... Just wouldn't want to connect some things like T5 or HQI ballasts to them as I hear they cause faults sometimes when nothing is actually wrong due to the way they power on. http://www.ink-bird.com/products-temperature-controller-itc308.html Link to comment
trial0r Posted December 23, 2016 Author Share Posted December 23, 2016 If you don't mind my asking, how old was the failed Neotherm? 35 days old. So after I installed the new heater, I left the Cobalt Neotherm unplugged for a solid hour. The total elapsed time since failure was about 12 hours. I plugged it back in and it powered up! Maybe there is something to this idea that there's a safety shut-off. Sad thing is that now I don't trust it, so I won't use it. I probably won't be able to get a credit or replacement since it's now powering on. Link to comment
BulkRate Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 Ah. I wouldn't trust it, either. Buy a new one... the $55-75 is literally a drop in the bucket compared to the value (dollars and emotional) of what you'll have living in the tank. I'd also source it from a different vendor, just to improve the odds of not getting another from the same production run. Link to comment
Okinawa_Reefer Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 Heater failure is my worst nightmare Link to comment
Newstead Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 35 days old. So after I installed the new heater, I left the Cobalt Neotherm unplugged for a solid hour. The total elapsed time since failure was about 12 hours. I plugged it back in and it powered up! Maybe there is something to this idea that there's a safety shut-off. Sad thing is that now I don't trust it, so I won't use it. I probably won't be able to get a credit or replacement since it's now powering on. I try to replace my heaters yearly, and use the old ones to heat water I am mixing. At least that way you can get use out of it without risking your corals and fish. Link to comment
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