Coop Heater Clicking

[Nerd2259]

Hello! I bought the Aquarium Coop heater and I love it! Having the controls outside the tank and an active thermometer inside is fantastic. I just have a question for any other forum members.
Does your coop heater click or "knock"?

Mine's been clicking since I got it and I didn't notice until this morning. I shut off all my other equipment (even bled off my CO2 lines) and the only thing plugged in was the heater and it still clicked. As soon as I unplugged it, the clicking stopped. Is this something I should reach out to support about?

[Cleveland M]

I would reach out to support. Mine make no noise at all.

[KatGoneFishing]

I had this happen, as well, actually! It had been perfectly fine at first, then started doing it right after a water change where I had unplugged it because it was going to be partially exposed to air. It started making the noise when I plugged it back in after. Once I figured out that it was the heater making the odd knocking noise (and you're exactly right, it sounded like knocking), I figured it must have partially dried and needed to be fully submerged for a while again before plugging it back in, since the initial instructions said to let it sit completely submerged for about twenty minutes before plugging it in. I left it to sit for probably an hour or so and then plugged it back in and the knocking hasn't happened again. I've also been fairly careful to not expose the heater during water changes and it's been silent ever since.

So maybe try leaving it unplugged for a while while submerged and plugging it back in, see if that resolves the noise? But if it's continuing, I'd definitely reach out to support. I didn't, since I was able to resolve it, but it's almost definitely not an intended feature.

[Cleveland M]

On 8/27/2022 at 2:10 PM, KatGoneFishing said:

So maybe try leaving it unplugged for a while while submerged and plugging it back in, see if that resolves the noise? But if it's continuing, I'd definitely reach out to support. I didn't, since I was able to resolve it, but it's almost definitely not an intended feature.

@Nerd2259 Did you try that and did it work?

[lefty o]

curious, does it click non stop or is it just a clicking noise when it turns on and off?

[Hoi Polloi]

I too experienced the clicking/knocking noise. 

I also performed the tasks that KatGoneFishing suggested when I first received and used the heater.

It would seem it happens but not often.

My first inquiry to support was that it was normal. Later, after I posted a review I was contacted and to Co-op's credit asked if I wanted a replacement. I said no. However, if I purchased at a local big box store I would have returned it.

I now use the heater in the quarantine and/or hospital tank when needed.

Overall, I have liked other Co-op's products but the heater was a real let down for me. I'll wait for version 2 of the heater.

  

[Nerd2259]

@Cleveland M It still does it, but much less frequently.

@lefty o It was pretty intermittent. But multiple times a minute for sure. After the steps provided by @KatGoneFishing it does it a few time maybe every five or ten minutes.

 

It's still a very nice heater that I like, it just clicks sometimes and that's ok.

[ScaredAlexNoises]

My heater started randomly making a similar sound last night. It spooked me so I left it unplugged all night and when I plugged it back in this morning it started making it again. So it is definitely still safe to use it and leave it plugged in while I'm at work, even though it's making a weird noise?

[ritchiebrendan]

I was just complaining about my nano pump clicking and now my heater is doing the same. I am not sure, but it seems to only be doing it for me when it is running. Once it reaches set point the noise stops. I really like the YouTube channel and the brand but now this is two things that I have bought from them and with a relatively limited amount of run time, 9 months on the air pump and 3 for the heater, that are failing/annoying me.

Brendan

[nabokovfan87]

I thought it was my mini fridge and the coolant in the pipes just moving, but I put my ear right above the fridge and realized my ACO heater is clicking now too.

Very unsettling.

I knocked some debris and just letting it do it's thing. I'll keep an ear out.

On 8/28/2022 at 7:51 AM, lefty o said:

curious, does it click non stop or is it just a clicking noise when it turns on and off?

I'll try to get a video of what mine is doing if I hear it again.

There's literally no equipment in the tank apart from the sponge filter and the heater. Easy to tell what's causing it.

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/5/2023 at 3:50 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I'll try to get a video of what mine is doing if I hear it again.

Hoping this noise goes away over time after break in.

It's not from air. It's not from circulation issues due to detritus.  I can't explain it.  Very eerie like I was saying.
 

 

[nabokovfan87]

This thing kept me up pretty much all night.

For reference it's set at 73.

Air temp last night was 44. Temp inside the house is 58-60 normally.

It's a 100w heater in a 10G tank. Lid on and the tank is on a rubber mat.

 

Cleaning the house and then I'll check it for air again when I do maintenance on the tanks today.  I did use the kasa timer to turn it off and the clicking slowed and then eventually stopped.

[knee]

I just had that happen to one of the 50w heaters I bought. All my heaters are connected to an inkbird temp controller so I assumed that might be the issue, but when I checked the 100w and the other 50w it wasn’t making that knocking sound. 
 

I unplugged it from the inkbird and plugged straight to the wall and it wasn’t making the noise for the first 15 seconds then it started making the noise again. Tried plugging it to a different wall socket as well but still got the knocking sound. I also tried using a different inkbird but it still made that sound so I just emailed their customer support. 
 

Love the ACO heaters but I don’t wanna hear that clicking sound. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by knee

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/12/2023 at 12:25 PM, knee said:

Love the ACO heaters but I don’t wanna hear that clicking sound. 

It reminds me of someone tapping the wall or water dripping all night very strange to hear it every time the heater is running and I have 2 other tanks that's are extremely quiet by comparison.

[nabokovfan87]

Found this....  Random google searching "aquarium heater clicking" and this seems to indicate a plausible reason for what I'm experiencing.

Unfortunately the post has images which are no longer available to view. Also, clearly, this is for a traditional tube style heater, which isn't the same as the ACO version.

Quote

This is one of the big defects designed into many heaters.
This is a basic design heater pulled apart to show where things are located. Imagine this is all shoved back down into the tube. The controls are just above the heating element and inside the glass. Some heaters try to isolate them by shoving a bit of insulation between the two.

Many use a bi-metal spring with contacts to turn the heat on and off. When cool the metal makes the contacts touch and the heater is on. When the heater gets the metal hot, it opens the contacts until the air in the tube cools.

These are the bi-metal plates with a screwdriver pointing to one contact.

The click is when the contacts snap closed to turn the heat on. If you have repeated clicking, it is the contacts opening and closing frequently. You can see that the heat from the coil is really close to the controls and bi-metal. The AIR in the tube gets hot really fast. This makes it cycle often before it gets the WATER to the set temperature.

Every time these contacts open or close, there is a small arc which at some point is likely to weld the tiny little contacts together. More open/close cycles make this happen sooner. At that point the heater is on full time and can overheat to kill fish if the heater is too large.

Quote

You can see why it will operate differently when vertical than horizontal. When vertical the heat travels directly up to the bi metal and less directly when horizontally.

Another small point which they don't mention when some advise to use their heater in a vertical position is a real critical item.
If you imagine this tube vertical, think of what any moisture does if it should happen to leak. It likely will travel down the outside edge of the tube and go down near the heating coil. This often creates a cloud of steam as it evaporates. You may have seen heaters with a cloud on the inside. This indicates the seal is leaking and water is going inside. If the heater is used horizontally, this water collects near the controls and ruins them sooner. On the heater coil it evaporates but on the controls it either corrodes things or shorts something out and the heater is dead.

 

[nabokovfan87]

These videos are right after one another.

I'd say the clicking is 2-3x per hour at this point for about this length of time.

I did verify there was NO AIR prior to attempting to record this again, trying to rule that out as a cause. After my WC I went in and did the same thing as shown in the second video to purge the air. 

For whatever reason when I went to verify it was empty, it's full of air again. Not sure what is causing the air to build up or if rotating the orientation could help at all. Maybe an air release hole at the top or something? Convection currents causing air to build up?

Sound recorded, especially the ending, it's very clear this is the heater. Since I've been awake and recorded this I've heard it 4x already. I've been up for just over an hour.

Here is the air test. Purging the air has not caused the noise to stop either. Same duration and loudness.

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[Birdsnstuff]

@nabokovfan87I've noticed air bubbles coming out of my heater as well as the clicking noise. I speculated the flow from the HOB had tiny bubbles that combined under the heater guard to create big bubbles that occasionally bubbled up. One heater is next to the intake of my HOB and in the other tank it's between a sponge filter and small HOB.  Or does the way the heater heats water under the guard releases gas under guard? Who knows? The clicking does sound like things turning off and on. It isn't constant for me though. Some times it heats with the noise and sometimes it doesn't.

Edited February 14, 2023 by Birdsnstuff
more thoughts

[nabokovfan87]

Video added @Birdsnstuff

[DeadStang]

One of my 4 started snapping this morning. It doesn't happen often, but it's a loud click and it's definitely a new thing.

[Tazalanche]

When it is heating, my first gen heater started clicking last month, but the second gen heater is nice & quiet.

[jasper5150]

Mine isn’t clicking but making a whining noise when the element turns on

[Ogpulchra2]

On 3/20/2023 at 1:59 PM, jasper5150 said:

Mine isn’t clicking but making a whining noise when the element turns on

I had the same whining sound with 3 of the 4 I bought.

[jasper5150]

That’s weird. Did you contact them?

[MattyM]

Mine started doing it this morning, it's maybe been in use 3 months in a 10 gallon - it was more of a clicking than a knocking. I noticed it was only holding on by 1 suction cup so I unplugged it, re-seated it (knocking a bunch of detritus out), plugged it back in and so far so good 🤞

[garbs1703]

Mine just started clicking this morning exactly like nabokovfan87's heater. Seems to be struggling to get the tank heat up by that last couple degrees.

 

I've owned so many different types of aquarium heaters and this is a first for me. Kinda breaks up the zen.

Edited September 9, 2023 by garbs1703