Uh Oh, heater just broke....

[jrgilles]

Hey guys, I was just doing a water change. I thought I had only one heater going in my sump (which I unplugged) but I guess I had 2 going....

The water went down... heater cracked and started smoking. I stopped it after about 10 seconds.

The heater itself is missing the entire glass sheath on the bottom half of it.

What do you guys think the damage is? Minimal? All the elements seem intact and and not burnt, but I did smell something in the air that pretty quickly disappated...

Any advice would be very helpful. Maybe I should remove all the water still in my sump and replace it? Its about 20 gallons....

 

[lizardarm]

Suppose it wouldn't hurt, but I'm not sure if it's necessary. I've had the same thing happen (more than once) and never did a water change. Just make sure you get all the little bits and pieces out; could damage a pump, or a fish that tries to eat it if it somehow gets sucked up into the return pump.

 

[jrgilles]

OK, after the initial panic of making such a dumb mistake, I don't think its that bad. Haven't moved water from the sump to the tank yet. Digging out crap now.

Would be nice if I didn't have to do a water change, as I would have to run my R/O for awhile, then heat the water up from 55, and salt it. I had the water I was using preheated, salted and mixed 24 H.

I'll wait a bit to see if anyone else chimes in before I proceed and fire up the return pump again.

Have my gf digging pieces of heater out of my sump while I type on the forums.

 

[jrgilles]

called barrier reef, decided better safe than sorry. Emptied what I could out of the sump with my return pump and a small water pump, and heating water on my stove.

I'll mix in a bit of carbon, and it should be good.

rob

 

[iroll253]

Nice i always worry about my tank flooding then the heater getting so hot that it cracks my glass. I don't even want to think of the night mare.

 

[mcoomer]

The heater breaking in the sump is probably not much of an issue for your tank. If you're still dealing with this I'd simply pull the broken glass out and run it. It sounds like the water had minimal exposure to the internal parts of the heater since you were there to get it out right away. If you have carbon you can run it but I wouldn't worry. Just my .02...

Mike