Posted by David Larson on 02/19/2010 at 01:02:16:

I have a fresh water fish tank, it used to house a Jack Dempsey fish, and we believe the heater may have caught fire. A working theory we have is that some moisture got into the fully submersible tube heater (as this is a working case I cannot give you the brand and some of the finer details.) Once the water entered the heaters heating elements, pressure built and blew a hole into the side of the heater. This hole then allowed water to come into direct contact with the elements causing the heater to go into thermal runaway. Once the water evaporated away from the top of the heater (the water level already being 2” -3” low) the heater caught fire. Has anyone seen or heard of this happening, and where could I read about this, and is there a test I can set up. Any help provide would be appreciated. Thank you.

Here are the follow up messages:

RE: Fish Tank Heater? fire posted by Rich Kovarsly, P.E., CFEI on 03/02/2010 at 21:02:32

RE: Fish Tank Heater? fire posted by Mike Keller on 02/26/2010 at 13:12:55

RE: Fish Tank Heater? fire posted by Ted Pagels on 02/23/2010 at 21:05:03

RE: Fish Tank Heater? fire posted by Dennis Kerr on 02/23/2010 at 21:04:50

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