Co-op air pump / heater design flaw?

[Nina]

I absolutely love most aquarium co-op products.  However, I recently bought the heater and air pump and they look SO similar. I fried my air pump the first day by sticking it in the tank thinking it was the heater.  I know ... stupid mistake ... but in my opinion the similar shape/size/color of the two made this user error WAY too easy to make.  (I know the air pump has settings on the front, but I actually assumed those were for adjusting the temperature when I glanced at it.) This mistake is especially likely during low light / power outage scenarios which I experienced last week. 

I think the co-op could fix the problem by changing the color of the airpump or adding optional plastic "wings" that could be attached to give the pump that curved shape like the Tetra pumps.  It might also help to make a heater in the traditional shape. 

I love how much work aquarium co-op puts into design, but design also needs to minimize the chance of user error. Since they've deviated from the traditional shape of both devices, while making both products super-similar, I think they have created a situation where user error is more likely than it needs to be. 

I decided to stick with Tetra for my air pumps and other brands for my heaters. I still love the small USB pump and the co-op is still my go-to retailer for everything else fish related. I wish I could love the heater and air pump as much as the other products. 

[Nina]

Also, to clarify, these devices work well, it's only the user-error part of the design that doesn't seem optimized.  If I still had both, I would probably put some bright nail polish on the air pump to distinguish it (obviously not on the heater, since that's going in the water). 

I often have a neighbor or family member take care of my tanks when traveling and I'm way too scared of them getting these devices mixed up to use both.

[nabokovfan87]

I wouldn't mind one bit of the pump was co-op green!

Accidents happen. 😞

[Nina]

I love the co-op green idea!  I would definitely buy one of those. 

[Tanked]

It happens!  Unfortunately "user-error" is the problem here, not a design flaw.  The nail polish on the air pump is the better idea, or maybe florescent label tape.  Perhaps on the next production run, the pump body could be blue.

[Shrimpee]

I have the co-op heater and its great, but I do agree that they are way too similar.