Won Bros Heaters Must Read!!!

[NYPDFrogman]

Hey all!

havent been on much doing a big project in house, so my tank has been somewhat neglected, but still doing fine, couple of days ago I was at REEF FANTASY and They had nice orange skunk clowns so I picked up 4 nice size ones, 3 emerald crabs. this was friday.
last night I noticed my ORP was lower than usual about 312 MV, normally 390MV
so I set up for a water change this morning.

while doing a water change I removed my WON BROS 500W heater it looked as though there was a lot of coraline Algae on it.
I was wrong it was corroded!
about 1/2" of the end was gone. it hasnt been plugged in since march when the controller that came with it went bad causing a 12V leak into the tank ( temp probe went bad rubber was porrus)


IF YOU HAVE A WON BROS HEATER TAKE IT OUT AND PHYSICALLY CHECK IT!!! look at the pics below!!!



obviously this didnt happen overnight 6 months ago my orp was at 420 MV during the day and 480MV at night past few months it's been much lower. I hope this is the cause of the lower ORP of late.

 

[barebucta]

What is that made of? Obviously not plastic or glass.

 

[Zoous]

You get what you pay for.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

I'd say that's bad!!

 

[DEEPWATER]

srry to hear that ,but it seemd won brother make equpiment to Fcuk our systems up ,I had a pump (sen) that corroded as well


My thng ,Stay away from WOn brother products

 

[NYPDFrogman]

What is that made of? Obviously not plastic or glass.

supposed to be titanium

 

[Dmitry]

I had one of those heaters once. It died one day; I guess I'm fortunate it died before it corroded!

 

[jhale]

I had one also, the controller died so I took it out.

thanks for the tip Frank.

Glad to hear your okay.

 

[TimberTDI]

Can you guys recommend a good heater? I was just about to order a won heater because they are made of titanium.

Steven

 

[reefman]

i have 1 about 2 months old. i wanna return it now. but what should i get instead? i dont want to get anything thats just as bad.

 

[NYPDFrogman]

I git a Jalli with my Ranco controller wont need a heater for a few months I'll let you know in JAN , FEB how this one stood up

 

[House of Laughter]

Why can't we get good quaility heaters in this hobby? Freaks me out.

I have been running the Finnex 500w'er - it came highly recommended by Premium Aquatics -

Have toclean my sump out and do a major chaneg over of water anyway - I'll have to double check all my equipment.

Hope all is well Frogman

House

 

[Falco]

I have had problems with the Won Bro's in the past as well. I also went with Finnex heaters (2 of them) and they have been great thus far (knock on wood). They seem to have a great reputation and I have nothing bad to say about them thus far.

-Chris

 

[masterswimmer]

I'm running both WON Bros and Finnex, in different tanks.
As far as I'm concerned, house said it best:

Why can't we get good quaility heaters in this hobby? Freaks me out

The heaters available to us ALL seem to have some issues. The finnex are supposedly titanium also. Who's to say sometime down the road they won't corrode like the WON bros?

First person to come up with a truly reliable, unbreakable, saltwater compatible heater will make mucho dineros. Doesn't have to be reasonably priced either. It's such common knowledge that the heater selection is universally garbage, people will be willing to shell out the bucks. Heaters gone bad have been the cause of MANY crashes.

swimmer

 

[heuerfan]

FYI, I've been running two won brother proII heaters for 3 years no problem.... knock on wood. Also two of my friends use them also for a year and no problems.

Ticking time bomb?

This is the one i am refering to.
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=WB1321

 

[HAVIC]

I just recently replaced my won pro digital 350w heater. The controller broke in the off position. I came back from a wedding to a tank at 72 degrees. As a quick replacement I got a ebo-jager by eheim, it glass unfortunately but they are giving a 3 year warranty on it. The first heater I've seen with a warranty longer than 1 year.

My options were the ebo or another won pro. Because 2 other friends of mine had their wons die, I stayed away.

Thankfully in the 3 years I had the won the titanium did not deteritate like the one NYPDFrogman had.

 

[marrone]

I've had my ebo-jager for years and years and never had any problems. The glass never broke and the temperature never went crazy. So even though there may have been better heaters that came out there was never a reason for me to change.

 

[Dmitry]

I had the WB identical to the one shown in the link to marinedepot. I came home one night and the dial was telling me the tank was at 90some degrees, at which point I nearly fainted. Then I looked at a thermometer and it said the tank was actually in the low 70s.

I think the only option for us in the hobby at this point is replacing these heaters every 6 months or so, before anything happens. And I've also gotten two smaller heaters instead of one big one. During cold times I have them plugged in separately into a dual ranco temp controller. If one dies, the other will still work. But will have to keep an eye on all that corrosion...

 

[TimberTDI]

Gotta be honest here. I'm still using the same visi-therm for the last eight years or so. I know a lot people bash them. I guess if it ain't broke...

Steven

 

[NYPDFrogman]

Gotta be honest here. I'm still using the same visi-therm for the last eight years or so. I know a lot people bash them. I guess if it ain't broke...

Steven

I feel same way but hen a heater goes bad it's a slow process and you usually dont realize it untill
1. you get zapped when you put your hand in tank
2. it trips the breaker when your not home
3. slowly poisons your tank

purpose of the thread wasnt to bash WON BROS (even thought their heaters suck) but to make people aware to check thier heaters periodiclly