Leffler817
CCA Members
Aw man, that sucks! Sorry to hear Matt. I thought Neos were the better line of Coablt's.
Aw man, that sucks! Sorry to hear Matt. I thought Neos were the better line of Coablt's.
msjinkzd
invert junkie
matt, have you heard Joey's account of his rays being killed? Unfortunately, seems this is not a unique issue
mchambers
Former CCA member
Yes, Rachel, someone pointed that out to me in another thread. But there is a difference. Joey's account deals with problem Cobalt had with older 200W models. Cobalt replaced my 200W model with two 100W models, because it didn't have any 200W. The 100W Neotherms I got were supposedly free of the defect. In fact, I haven't read of any problems with the 100W model (although I didn't do any research on this after the latest event).
So what worries me is that this failure is on a model that isn't supposed to have the problem. I'm thinking that maybe all Neotherms have this problem.
Also, the failure poisoned my fish, when whatever goo is inside the heater bubbled out. The temperature of the water was fine. That didn't kill the fish. To me, it seems easier to catch overheating by checking the temperature. Poisoning hadn't occurred to me as a heater risk.
Let me know if you want my last Neotherm!
So what worries me is that this failure is on a model that isn't supposed to have the problem. I'm thinking that maybe all Neotherms have this problem.
Also, the failure poisoned my fish, when whatever goo is inside the heater bubbled out. The temperature of the water was fine. That didn't kill the fish. To me, it seems easier to catch overheating by checking the temperature. Poisoning hadn't occurred to me as a heater risk.
Let me know if you want my last Neotherm!
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msjinkzd
invert junkie
i actually think what happened is almost identical. It was whatever bubbled out that killed Joey's rays, not temperature. From what I understand, it was all the original heaters- not specific to 200w. And they have since started printing serial numbers on the cord in case they need to recall, whereas the original models had no way of tracking which could be the issue (no serial number anywhere).
mchambers
Former CCA member
Rachel,
I agree that the failure is identical, or very close to it. I think it's a bit ironic that if there was a recall Cobalt didn't notify me, since it sent me the two heaters directly.
Matt
I agree that the failure is identical, or very close to it. I think it's a bit ironic that if there was a recall Cobalt didn't notify me, since it sent me the two heaters directly.
Matt
JLW
CCA Members
Several years ago, Cobalt had a bad batch, which I would guess your 200-watt was included in. They did a recall on them. There's not currently any on the 100-watts ora ny other ones, as far as I know. Very unusual -- these are the only heaters I'll use! And, definitely very bad luck that you've been bitten twice.
I hope you don't mind, but I did mention this to Cobalt to see what they might say, or if there's anything that they can do.
I hope you don't mind, but I did mention this to Cobalt to see what they might say, or if there's anything that they can do.
mchambers
Former CCA member
I don't mind at all, Josh. Thank you. I sent Cobalt an email Sunday, but it may have gone to a dead inbox. Someone from Cobalt sent me an email today apologizing, etc. I'll post Cobalt's message later tonight, when I'm back in DC (am on the Acela yet again today).
Vinh2o
Members
Man that's scary it seems like last winter a lot people where switching over to that model of Cobalt heater saying how important the fish where is that tank and they where looking for something very reliable. This proves the grass is not always greener on the other side.
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
mchambers
Former CCA member
Here's what Cobalt wrote:
We’re very sorry you’ve had a second problem with our heaters – I’m sure this is distressing.
As you are probably aware, we stopped manufacture of the 200 watt heaters for about a year while we tracked down the causes of the cracking and leaking incidents – we found that there were two faults, both rare, that had to occur together to make a heater crack, and we fixed both of them before we restarted production. At the time, no smaller heaters had ever cracked, but out of an abundance of caution, we made the same changes to all heater sizes. This included a new, more heat resistant resin inside, and an extra quality control step added on the assembly line.
In the past six months, we have seen a very few (4, to be precise, counting yours) older small heaters crack. Out of tens of thousands sold, it’s not an alarming number, but when it is your heater, that’s a 100% failure rate as far as you’re concerned, so we do take every incidence seriously.
In about 2 weeks we’ll be receiving our first batch of our new 300 watt tandem heaters (two 150w heating bodies with a 4 foot cord between them and a single controller). These are, of course, made with the new resin and revised manufacturing process to prevent any possibility of cracking or leaking. I’d like to send you one of these when they arrive, along with some gifts to help compensate you for your livestock loss.
We’re very sorry you’ve had a second problem with our heaters – I’m sure this is distressing.
As you are probably aware, we stopped manufacture of the 200 watt heaters for about a year while we tracked down the causes of the cracking and leaking incidents – we found that there were two faults, both rare, that had to occur together to make a heater crack, and we fixed both of them before we restarted production. At the time, no smaller heaters had ever cracked, but out of an abundance of caution, we made the same changes to all heater sizes. This included a new, more heat resistant resin inside, and an extra quality control step added on the assembly line.
In the past six months, we have seen a very few (4, to be precise, counting yours) older small heaters crack. Out of tens of thousands sold, it’s not an alarming number, but when it is your heater, that’s a 100% failure rate as far as you’re concerned, so we do take every incidence seriously.
In about 2 weeks we’ll be receiving our first batch of our new 300 watt tandem heaters (two 150w heating bodies with a 4 foot cord between them and a single controller). These are, of course, made with the new resin and revised manufacturing process to prevent any possibility of cracking or leaking. I’d like to send you one of these when they arrive, along with some gifts to help compensate you for your livestock loss.
mchambers
Former CCA member
Cobalt comes through
My replacement heater arrived today:
Looks very nice. Won't need to use it for a while, given how warm my fish room is.
Cobalt also included some other cool stuff, which it didn't have to do. Very classy customer service.
My replacement heater arrived today:
Looks very nice. Won't need to use it for a while, given how warm my fish room is.
Cobalt also included some other cool stuff, which it didn't have to do. Very classy customer service.
carl_d_c
Members
Nice to see them step up!
chriscoli
Administrator
Glad to hear how it's been resolved. Thank you for sharing!
