I have a 1/10hp PC chiller that I got from J&L two months ago. I forget the model number, but apparently it's the latest generation. It's a single stage unit. The unit arrived, and I run it with a Mag 350 (or is it 450?) on a 55 gal - no sump. My tank was running in the high eighties now it stays at 80 (It turns on at 81, and drops it to 79). The thermometer in the unit seems pretty accurate once I set it up (it was reading two degress higher than my glass theomometer). Well, the Unit ran strong for about two weeks, and then one day the LCD started saying 122 degrees, the chiller constantly ran, but my tank was not losing any heat...
I called J&L and spoke to Jeff, he said that he'd get PC to gimme a call to trouble shoot the unit. They did (like half an hour later - speedy) and the tech on phone deemed the probe the problem. The shipped me a new probe. It arrived 3 days later...
I installed it (pretty simple) but the problem remained. I called Jeff back. J&L couldn't exhange the unit for me (even though less than 30 days old!) and I had to ship it to PC in the US. Well, $150.00 shipping charge and 5 days later, I get a call from PC, saying that the main board on the unit it messed up, they replaced it, and the unit was running fine now. I had the unit back 3 days later and it's been great since.
J&L appologized for all of this, and flipped the shipping bill. Jeff was a HUGH help, so thanks, I really appreciate it (if you read this board
)
Through all this though, I did lose 5 polyps on a 7 polyp frog spawn that I got 2 weeks earlier from AI (so it was like $90!) from heat. Poor little guy... He's comming back though.
I've never had a fuse blow on the unit. PC did say that non-functioning probes were pretty common on these units though. Over-all, for the money, I think it was a steal.