TeeJay Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 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. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 I set the co op heater at 77. My Inkbird is set at 74 on, 76 off. The heater has to be set higher than the inkbird or the inkbird will be on, and the heater will not heat if its thermostat is satisfied. setting the heater only a little higher than the inkbird provides a failsafe if the inkbird fails in the on position. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quikv6 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 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… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeJay Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 You would set the inkbird to 75 degrees. Than you set the differential you want. I use 2 degree with a 76 degree set temp. That turns on the heater when tank drops to 74 degrees and offwhen it gets to 76. you then would want to set the heater to a point that it does not shut off before the temp is reached, but not so hot as to cook your fish if the inkbird failed in the on position. With a co op heater I would set it at 76 or 77. I have found co op heaters calibration are spot on, unlike heaters with a little knob on top… those you can see significant variance between printed temp on dial and the temp the units shut off… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quikv6 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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