Co op heater with thermostat

[TeeJay]

Hey all. I was wondering if anyone has used the co op heater with adding an external thermostat with a tank probe. Wondering if it would have any I'll effects on the heater itself since it would be another until controlling when the heater would be turned on and off.

[TeeJay]

On 3/19/2023 at 11:18 AM, Pepere said:

I have a co op heater plugged in to an Inkbird.

It works great. The Coop heater retains memory of the setting when it receives electricity again.  The inkbird lets me have two heaters running to have 2 smaller heaters than otherwise needed.  I also have a 2 degree differential with the inkbird. The heat turns on when the tank drops to 74 and off when it gets to 76 giving your heaters longer run times and decreasing the number of cycles it heats up and cools off.

So you have the Inkbird set 2 degrees higher than the heater or vice versa?

[quikv6]

I use my inkbird differently as above, which sounds like it is being used as a controller, and not just a failsafe.

Personally, I let the heater itself so the work, and set the inkbird about 2 degrees higher than the heater. In this scenario, the inkbird will act as the true failsafe if a heater sticks on, but will not do the actual governing of temp otherwise.

I also use 2 heaters, but set one lower than the other. This way, only one is really doing the work, and the other is the "failsafe" if the main temp on fails to kick on.

[TeeJay]

On 3/19/2023 at 12:06 PM, Pepere said:

Either way the inkbird functions as a failsafe in case the heater thermostat fails in an on position..

 

By having the Inkbird control the temp rather than the thermostat and using a higher differential you decrease the cycles the heater is exposed to and have longer run times.  There is thought that this extends heater life though I am not aware that anybody has empirical data this is born out in practice…

So if I wanted to set it up I. The way you run yours and I want my tank to keep the 75 degree mark. What would I set each one to?

[quikv6]

Regardless of how you use the Inkbird, as a controller or dedicated failsafe, Pepere makes a great point about checking the heater calibration first. I have generally switched most of my heaters over to the Co-op heaters. I think I have 5 running. 4 are spot on and match the inkbird exactly. One (the lone 50W) is 3.5 degrees off steadily. I have to leave it at 80 to maintain 76-77. It's not a big deal at all, but knowing is half the battle.