Heater cycle frequency

[jdeb101]

Hi All,

I was just taking a moment looking over my Apex graphs and notice that my heaters (I have two plugged into Apex) cycle on/off about hourly throughout the day. I wonder if this is too much and also wondering if there's ways to decrease this frequency to help my electric bill! I currently have the heaters configured as follows -

Fallback OFF
If Temp < 77.5 Then ON
If Temp > 78.0 Then OFF


I suppose expanding the allowed temp range would help? However, I wouldn't want to start having wide temp swings throughout the day either... What's everyone else's look like?

 

[this is me]

If you don't want to the heater to oscillate between on/off, increase your operating windows. It's the only way...
Hourly is plenty long. Mine oscillate every 15mins when the MH are not on. I set mine to a 0.23 degrees of operating window.

 

[s_kelley]

I agree, if your only allowing a half degree fluctuation then they're gonna come on frequently but that will keep it more stable too tho.

 

[Newguy]

Hmmmmm I put one of my heaters on the analog and I hear it literally every few seconds click on and off. I know I need to take it off the analog but haven't gotten around to switching it yet. My temp is stable but I worry about the life span of the heater. But I guess when I stop hearing the clicking I need to replace it. That's why my back up heater is there right

 

[s_kelley]

That's the benefit of having a controller instead of it staying locked on or off when it croaks

 

[bill120mph]

The longer it has to run after it turns on the more it costs as well.. maybe more... I put a programmable thermostat in my house and looked at my oil use vs a steady 69, the difference equaled out to about $20 for a whole season, granted year to year is different, but the longer it took to heat the more fuel it burned vs. a steady small amount.

 

[IPWitan]

I am not so sure about that. The thing about heaters is that they are almost 100% efficient All electricity goes to heat, except for the light indicator. Thus, for cost if you have it set to swing between 78 to 79 and change it to 78.5 to 79, this will save you on average 1/4 degree of heat over the heating time. Someone else can donate the formula for the true cost of savings, but I would have to think it isn't that much. If you want to save money, set the temp to 77 or take up yoga! Notwithstanding, having it turn on and off more frequently may cause it to fail more quickly, but that is not a savings of your electric bill.

 

[this is me]

Hi All,

I was just taking a moment looking over my Apex graphs and notice that my heaters (I have two plugged into Apex) cycle on/off about hourly throughout the day. I wonder if this is too much and also wondering if there's ways to decrease this frequency to help my electric bill! I currently have the heaters configured as follows -

Fallback OFF
If Temp < 77.5 Then ON
If Temp > 78.0 Then OFF


I suppose expanding the allowed temp range would help? However, I wouldn't want to start having wide temp swings throughout the day either... What's everyone else's look like?

I gave this a little more thought this morning on my drive to work. In order to cut down the on/off cycle of the heaters, you can undersized the heater and make it work longer to heat up the water. This might provide a more steady state. However, you run the risk of not having sufficient power to heat up the tank when needed.

 

[jdeb101]

I gave this a little more thought this morning on my drive to work. In order to cut down the on/off cycle of the heaters, you can undersized the heater and make it work longer to heat up the water. This might provide a more steady state. However, you run the risk of not having sufficient power to heat up the tank when needed.

Ya, that thought crossed my mind as well but I think the cost of replacing two heaters would pretty much void out my whole point of creating this thread, which was to find a way to save money one way or the other. When I noticed my heaters were cycling on/off hourly I just thought that was pretty frequent, but perhaps it's actually normal or good amount? Just another thing worth mentioning is my entire setup is in my unheated basement, which is 3/4 underground and I can be comfortable down there with a sweater.

 

[bill120mph]

I was at a members house recently who had a water container on top of a heat source that was in use for the area he had a pump programed to run thru it to supply heat without an electric heater.

 

[G.T]

I think temp stability is one of the main keys, in keeping a reliable tank. Keep it as stable as possible, what your doing is fine.

 

[jdeb101]

I think temp stability is one of the main keys, in keeping a reliable tank. Keep it as stable as possible, what your doing is fine.

Although I also adhere to trying to keep a stable/constant temp, this may be the one parameter that we can and possibly should allow to swing within reasonable degree throughout the day. From what I've read, natural reefs have daily temp swings of at least few degrees and it actually helps corals become adaptive to stressors.

 

[IPWitan]

You can also line the sump, and/or back of tank with insulation board. It has to help a little. I put some on the back of my display. I covered the edge with black duct table. You wouldn't even know it is there...

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Owens-Co...uared-Edge-Insulation-Sheathing-45W/100320352

 

[Spudsly]

From my understanding, by hooking heaters up to reef controllers and setting the thermostat above the operating range of your controller you basically make it so the heater itself never has to physically switch and so it doesn't put much wear on it. Is this true? No idea, but that switch getting stuck is definitely one of the leading cause of disasters you hear about constantly.

 

[Jim Tansey]

From my understanding, by hooking heaters up to reef controllers and setting the thermostat above the operating range of your controller you basically make it so the heater itself never has to physically switch and so it doesn't put much wear on it. Is this true? No idea, but that switch getting stuck is definitely one of the leading cause of disasters you hear about constantly.

Yes if you set the heater control above that of your aquarium controller then the controller will do the switching. To be extra careful just set it a couple of degrees above.

Jim