DIY inline heater

Sounguru

Sounguru

Guru at being an expert
Jul 18, 2008
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Across the great pond from the Commie state of Sea
So here is my plan for an inline heater figure I can build this for under $10 since I already have the heater.

Basically it is a 2" Pvc pipe with baffles glued in that have a notch the heater rest in. This will create circulation inside the tube and give the water more contact time with the heater. The top cap will be just threaded on with plumbers tape and I will cut the cord feed it thru the cap and silicone the hole around the cord shut. The bottom cap will be sealed shut but that shouldn't present a problem when needing to clean or replace the heater. The heater is a 100 watt stealth.

Got to looking at this I think I will add an air release valve to the top cap so I can make sure that it doesn't become an air trap when priming the filter after cleaning.

Just thought I would throw it up for feedback.

heater.jpg
 
Could be effective, some UV sterilizers utilize the same method to increase dwell time. Though, I'm always the first to worry about the heater touching anything.
 
mellowvision said:
I'd add an external thermostat to this if I were to make one.

but for the cost of parts, time involved, and risk of leaking, why not just get a hydor? it's far less likely to give you trouble.
Click to expand...

# 1 reason is cost a Hydor is $40+ Pvc less than $10. I have built several pipe chambers for other things just not a heater with no leaks using the same principles as seen here. an External themro would be over kill does the heater in your tank have one now unless you bought one of them there fancy ones :p:. The thing is once set and balanced to keep the water at a set temp it shouldn't need adjusting. It may take a few times to get it to the right temp but I figure there will be several tweaks as time goes on so no biggie. Plus I don't need a firm temp since the crays can live in a range of temps so as long as I hit close to a middle ground temp I'm okay. So I will probably set the temp at 78 and whatever comes out the out tube should be just fine that should negate the need to even tweak it.

So I figure it $10 for parts which I will be able to build 3 or 4 of these so lets say $5 for the parts on this one and the 30 minutes taking to build it @ say $15 per hour makes it $12.50 to build against $40 for a hydor.

vampie said:
Could be effective, some UV sterilizers utilize the same method to increase dwell time. Though, I'm always the first to worry about the heater touching anything.
Click to expand...

As far as anything touching the heater you have clips that hold it in place and those touch the heater. ;)
 
Yeah, but they don't actually touch the heating element.
 
I really don't see the purpose. If the water moves through slowly, there's a better chance the water in the tube will heat to the point where the heater turns off. Instead of getting better heating, you will get worse, as far as the tank is concerned.

Put the heater in a place where the water moves and leave it at that. Using a nonimmersion if this is a nonimmersion heater, I can't tell for sure, this way is simply begging for trouble in my opinion. If you do go ahead make sure you put the heater on a ground fault circuit interruptor circuit.

100 watts is a 100 watts. If it doesn't keept the tank warm now, it will do a poorer job with slow water movement. If your tank isn't heating properly add some water movement in the tank.

Why go through all this problem for crays who aren't really picky as far as temperature? Keep it simple.

The other thing is hot water tends to rise and cold sink, you've got it set up as if hot would sink and cold risk, the baffles are backwards, as is the entrance and exit holes.
 
The water is being forced thru by a canister filter so the water will be moving across the heater faster than in the tank itself (hence inline).

The stealth is also a fully submersible heater.

This is basically the same theory as a heating module that you stick a heater in (made by lifeguard that can be seen here). The only difference is the heater is placed fully within the unit.

Also with the tank design there will be no space inside the tank for a heater so only 3 options exist.

Under gravel heater
Hydors inline
or my design

As far as the fear of anything touching the heater my clips are touching the heater one is holding the top and the other is near the bottom so it is touching both the hot and cold parts and has been for over 2 years with no problems. A normal aquarium heater doesn't get hot enough to cook anything off and with water constantly flowing around it even if it heats way up it still will not burn.

All my aquariums are hooked into GFI plugs or power bars with fuses in case of an overload.

For those having a hard time grasping the concept here it is...

heater2.jpg
 
Last edited:
Looks doable....
 
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