Stealth Pro Heaters

I purposely waited around for awhile before starting to buy Stealth Pros, so if there were a few bad batches right at the start, I must have missed them.  The one that stopped heating was probably in the first bunch that I bought..

What lot numbers do you have?

The problems I've seen in all these internet threads are G through J.  I have a J,  no problems so far, bought 10/10,  package says manufactured '09 

I'm more worried about it sticking on and overheating the water than I am explosions.

All my other heaters are cheaper glass tubes,  store brands, top fin maybe.  Never had a problem other than they just plain die at inconvenient times after a few years.


Looking at heating coils and under tank heaters-  they seem like too much trouble.  How do you ever replace an undertank heater on anthing larger than a 20 when it goes bad?

I don't like the original Stealths- I've had several stick on and cook fish, plus a couple more that leaked voltage into the water.  I'm using Stealth Pros in 24 tanks and have only had two problems so far.  

One was my fault because the heater was mounted horizontally and I walked away from the tank while siphoning.  When it broke the surface, the top side blistered up and smelled really bad, but there was no explosion.  I think that trusting any heater to turn itself off when out of water is just asking for trouble.  They sure can't do it properly if the thermostat at the top of the tube breaks the surface at the same time as the powered element at the bottom of the tube- there's just no time for it to cool.  

The other one had a legitimate defect.  It worked fine for awhile, then the green light stayed on but it stopped heating.  It may have been off for a couple of weeks- I wondered why my Panther Crabs were lethargic and off their food.  As soon as my hand touched water during a water change, I realized that it was at room temperature- 69ish in my basement.  The crabs all pulled through fine, though.

I purposely waited around for awhile before starting to buy Stealth Pros, so if there were a few bad batches right at the start, I must have missed them.  The one that stopped heating was probably in the first bunch that I bought..

I have a couple of them. Don't like them and don't trust them. Going back to the Ebo's that I used to use.

I think there is something to it.  Here is a link to the ACA forum thread from which I originally saw this.  If I had them, they'd be in the garbage.

www.cichlid.org/forums/showthread.php?t=5186

I wish there was some way to get to the bottom of this. I'm running a few of these, and not sure what to believe.

I just got a 250w stealth pro back in October after the old glass no-brand one stopped working.
I was looking for cheap but something name brand.  Think I paid $27 for it.

lot # 01J31

Looks fine from the outside except I noticed it no longer turns off when removed from water like it's supposed to.  

Kind of disturbing.

Are Tetra, Whisper, and Marineland all the same company?

No on the stealths, but lemme know when you're gonna order 12 for $102 delivered!  I'm in!!!

Unsure whether this is hokey or not, but check your stealth pro's for the letters "G" or "H" within the lot number.  Anyone else hear of this?

www.kcfishclub.org/forum/13-haas-misc-di...lth-pro-heaters.html