Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I was looking for a more reliable heater than those I had over the years. The 5 year warranty and favorable reviews on the E300 seemed to fit the bill. The product has been very disappointing. I have a 180 gallon tank that has 2 canister filters; one filter has a 220watt in-line heater. I have always used a second heater to heat this tank, which is in a room that sometimes drops into the low 60's. The filter's heater in combination with a second 250-300watt heater has always done the job nicely. I have primarily used submersible titanium units. The last one lasted just over a year and then failed. That's when I decided to go with the E300. The product does have some nice features. The traditional glass tube is encased in a plastic slotted enclosure. That makes it safer especially with larger fish like my oscars. It also boasts sophisticated electronics with a very nice digital display window which shows current water temperature in large easier to see digits. The display glows green when temperature is within 2 degrees of the setting, blue when more than 2 degrees colder, and red if water temperature exceeds the heater's setting by more than 2 degrees. Now the negatives: The heater is not submersible and the manual calls for a 20-30 minute power off before removing or placing into service. That's not a big deal unless you do frequent water changes like I do. The heater requires placement in a current of water - like the outflow of a filter. This apparently is required to dissipate the heat and allow the electronics to do their thing. If not so placed the digital display will constantly flash "LF" for low flow. Unlike conventional heaters, this one curiously does not have an indicator light to actually let you know when it is heating. That proved frustrating in trying to deal with the next point. The most disappointing aspect of the E300 is that it has proven to be a much weaker heater than any similar wattage one I have had before. As soon as I installed it, it became apparent that my secondary heater was working much harder than usual. The Fluval was in the blue mode so it should have been turning itself on. Without any indicator light, I had to wonder if it was working at all. I could only tell in complete darkness when I could see the glow from the actual heating element. To my surprise, it would glow for about 30 seconds and then go dark for over 2 minutes and then glow for 30 seconds again. This was while the water temperature was several degrees below the set temperature on the heater. I had to wonder if this was a malfunction. I called Hagen (Fluval parent company) customer service and was only told generic stuff: unplug and let it sit for 20 minutes then restart it, make be sure it's clean, etc. When that didn't help, I used their on-line help. They were very prompt in answering my emails but never addressed my question as to whether these 30 minute bursts of 'on' with much more 'off' time in between was normal. They did offer to exchange my heater. I paid for shipping it to them and got a new heater within the same week. While without it, my other heater easily kept my water temperature at a steady 75 for several days. I put the new heater in, and set it for 78.5 and later 80.5. I didn't change anything else, basically asking the E300 to raise the temperature a few degrees. The best it can do is increase the temperature to 76-77 degrees, constantly showing it's blue display to confirm it is incapable of reaching it's setting. Doing my sitting in the dark observations, the 30 second pulses are identical to the first unit. I can only conclude that the 300 watts of claimed power are drastically restrained by fancy electronics that seem designed to give pulse heating. Any other similarly powered heater would stay on until much higher temperatures were reached. (I used to have discus in this tank and easily kept 84 degrees.)My next heater will likely be a titanium submersible.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Fluval E 300 Watt Electronic Heater - Fluval A774
Product Description:
Fluval E 300 Watt Electronic Heater - Fluval A774.
Get 38% OFF
Want to read more honest consumer review about Fluval E 300 Watt Electronic Heater - Fluval A774 now ?
No comments:
Post a Comment