Exploding Heaters - Marineland Stealth and Stealth Pro (Pictures) - Recall Issued

[abcha0s]

The trouble is, when these things fail they pour toxic chemicals into your tank.

When a glass heater fails, you should be able to catch it by monitoring the temp of your tank. Most people, including myself, recommend a secondary control. I have mine connected to my Apex controller, so a stuck heater won't crash my tank.

An exploding heater is an entirely different story.

[mseepman]

Yeah...I've been holding off on a controller to buy the right one once my 290G starts.

[Binare]

Ive had 5 or 6 of these heaters and never had issues. That said... I like the Jagers now for calibration.

[phi delt reefer]

Everything Jager is good...

[cale262]

I had one of these fail on me a couple years ago in a hi-tec planted system, I came home to find everthing dead and a very established and mature system wiped out, it was heart breaking to say the least...All my systems are running ehiem heaters now...

[sphelps]

So basically the heater is a loaded pipe bomb, nice! You know that is definitely lawsuit material, especially with any kind of damage, even emotional.

It's interesting the company hasn't recalled them as I'm sure they are aware of the issue, my bet is they did a value analysis which proved the expense required for the recall is higher than the damages they may have to pay out as a result from the defective products. Although this is common practice it's also basically illegal. Any registered engineer or other professionals working on the project could loose their license and face jail time. Their is certainly danger towards human life here, if the instant before the heater exploded you noticed a strange sound and decided to pull out the heater to investigate it would certainly do some damage.

I would investigate some options if I were you, this kind of BS shouldn't just be shrugged off as "I should have known better", the manufacturer and designers should have known better. It's certainly not your responsibility to make sure such products are safe to use.

[phi delt reefer]

$50 says the warranty with the product has a limited liability clause that only covers the physical heater itself and wont cover any other damages caused by the heater malfuntioning.

every product has the clause. Though some lawsuits have been very successful in turning over a LL clause but it takes $$...lots of $$

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by phi delt reefer

$50 says the warranty with the product has a limited liability clause that only covers the physical heater itself and wont cover any other damages caused by the heater malfuntioning.

every product has the clause. Though some lawsuits have been very successful in turning over a LL clause but it takes $$...lots of $$

Doesn't matter in this case as it's not a warranty issue. If they are knowingly selling a defective and ultimately dangerous product you're looking at a whole different issue. A heater that stops working is a defective product, a titanium heater that explodes is a pipe bomb.

[Jackie]

Are we talking about ALL Stealth Pro heater as of those ones on shelf today or just those from a bad patch of defective heaters?

[abcha0s]

Originally Posted by Jackie

Are we talking about ALL Stealth Pro heater as of those ones on shelf today or just those from a bad patch of defective heaters?

If you search around, I think you will find that this has been going on for a while now. There are many reports of this happening. If it is limited to a bad batch, then I think it's more than one batch that has this problem.

I really would take the heater out of opperation. It's just not worth the risk.