Aquarium Heater Advice

[buxtonmarauder]

Hello,

I hope this is the right place to ask this question and that it's not too stupid a question..

This, by the way, has nothing to do with fish !

I have some chickens in my garden and the cold weather keeps freezing their water.

I congratulated myself on buying some aquarium heaters..

http/www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002YEDZKC/ref=oss_product

..to keep the chickens water from freezing, however

On the packaging it states these items are COMPLETELY submersible, but I am unable to ascertain whether (due to the bad chinglish instructions) it actually means completely submersible, i.e. you can drop the whole thing in the water or just up to the marker on the glass vial ?

I was wondering whether anyone on these forums has used these things on your fish tanks and can comment on which one of the definitions of 'submersible' is actually meant !

I realise I could just drop one in a bucket and see if it goes pop but I thought I'd ask first !

Also, any idea what happens to them if the water level drops past the filament ? do they burn out or just keep ticking over ?

Thanks

Thanks for reading this far ;-)

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi there, buxtonmarauder.

Yes, those kind of heaters can be completely submersed without problems. You will need to make sure it's covered with water to at least that water mark, ot it will over-heat and probably explode; I've done this myself by accident when I took too much water out of a tank during a water change It was not a happy experience!

 

[doresy]

Just a thought, please make sure that the heater is unreachable by the chickens as they could crack the glass.

Tip. there are aquarium heaters that are made from aluminium, there are also guards available for the glass ones.

 

[buxtonmarauder]

thanks for the feedback..

should be ok without covering as the feeders are the peck-n-dribble kind so they won't have access to the water source or the heater itself..

I'll go and fully submerge one and see what happens !

 

[OldMan47]

My completely submersible aquarium heaters have the wire coming from the wall outlet submerged to a depth of several inches before reaching the body of the heater. So far, I have only had one of a couple of dozen that did not seal well enough to be used that way. That one was a cheap knock off by a large discount retailer and it leaked water as soon as I submerged it the first time.

 

[Tolak]

As OM47 stated, I do the same with submersible heaters, not even using the suction cups & clips in most instances. I've never had one fail due to leakage, most often the cheap metallic thermostats go out, typical bi-metal things that deteriorate with use.

Get back to us & let us know how this works out. I as well as many others take equipment that is not originally intended for fish and press it into aquatic use, no reason it can't work the other way around. I'd be particularly interested in the volume of water, heater wattage, and ambient temperature.

I use something you might be familiar with, a 1000 watt bucket heater, to heat a 150 gallon tub outdoors from early spring into late fall. I run it through a heat controller, as it will easily overheat the tub during warmer weather. It's just a standard Rubbermaid agricultural tub, most often used for watering livestock. While I could run it year round by dropping in a second heater the electric bill would kill me.

Sounds like an interesting use, and a really good idea to me!