Anything wrong with putting the heater in the overflow?

[Andy V]

Is there anything wrong with putting the heater in the overflow? I have a sump that is very space constrained, and it would be much better if I could put my heater in the overflow. Is there anything I am not thinking of that would make this dangerous or inefficient?

 

[pallobi]

as long as it stays submerged to the point it is supposed to, not at all... i used to keep all my heaters in my overflows

 

[willray]

If its your only heater you might run into trouble in the winter if your return pump stops for whatever reason and your not home to notice.I have used to have one in the overflow.....but now, one in the display and 2 in the sump.Pretty easy to hide one in the DT.

 

[pallobi]

no reason to have it in your display if you have a sump... thats why one has a have a sump, to hide equipment... and also protect it...

if your water is cirulating properly, you will run into no problems at all... and if the power goes out and its not ciirculating, well, the heater isnt on anyhow... and besides, they turn off when the water they are in hits the specified temps...

 

[Andy V]

If its your only heater you might run into trouble in the winter if your return pump stops for whatever reason and your not home to notice.I have used to have one in the overflow.....but now, one in the display and 2 in the sump.Pretty easy to hide one in the DT.

Nowhere to hide the heater in my display tank...I have minimal rock work. Having the heater in the sump now, I have the same potential problem anyway. Believe me, I wish I could find a way to have it in the display if you couldn't see it.

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

I keep mine in the overflow. It's a great place to hide it. If I know my pump is going to be off for a while, I put it in the dt and use a koralia to circulate the water.

 

[frank180reef]

is there any chance of the overflow loosing all its water? do u have enough flow to heat the tank

 

[willray]

I'm not a fan of keeping all my heaters in one place.I speak from experience on the return pump not running once when I came home from a trip...tank was pretty chilly and Frank has another good point in that if you do loose the circulation pump (inferior quality pump,yrs past a service date,snails etc) and your overflow drains with power to the heater :: .

 

[dcforester1]

I'm not a fan of keeping all my heaters in one place.I speak from experience on the return pump not running once when I came home from a trip...tank was pretty chilly and Frank has another good point in that if you do loose the circulation pump (inferior quality pump,yrs past a service date,snails etc) and your overflow drains with power to the heater :: .

This happened to me, and if you have a huge in your sump it could kill everything. To solve this when I do my tank swap, I am going to put a second temp probe in my sump and have a backup

 

[spamreefnew]

I had my heater in the overflow for years without issue