# I've cobbled together a heater thermostat solution



## em1y386SX (Apr 10, 2012)

Here is why I did it,

a few days ago I noticed the water in my main tank went down from 26°C to 24°C, a bit concerning, so I did some tests, I turned the heater up from 26 to 28, keeping in mind that water takes longer to heat up and cool down depending on the volume, I have 24.9 UK gallons, the resulting measurements gave me a 2°C offset, which means when the heater thermostat reaches 26°C the water temp is actually only 24°C and the heater switches off, also being in winter my front room temp is only about 14°C, even with central heating which helps raise this a bit during the day, having 10ft high ceilings means a lot of this heat ends up at the top of the room, 10ft in the air, not ideal.

Anyways I digress, my problem was with the heater thermostat turning off too soon and I didn't want to keep putting my hands in to change the temp, esp when the summer comes around, the the room temp can reach 25°C during the day.

I had a look at some pre-built controllers, they did what I wanted, but the cost a shed load of money, in the end I came up with a solution which also does cooling if needed.

Caution, If you are not comfortable working with 220-240v mains electrics, do not attempt to do this, consult a qualified electrician if in doubt. 










The controller cost £17.99 on ebay, I wired in a standard 3 pin UK plug and double socket so I can run 2 heaters in future, it adds redundancy.

The best bit is that it uses standard heaters, nothing special, just dial up the knob on top of the heater all the way to max, that tells the heater to switch to fully on, the controller regulates its on/off cycle with a relay, that is controlled by the temperature reading, not from the heater, but from the water column itself.

The relay only acts as a switch for the heater, it does not pass through power, that is done by taking one side of the mains leads to one of the heat relay terminals, the other terminal from the relay goes to the heater.

Cooling is done via the other relay, and kicks in if a high temperature alarm sounds, this could activate a fan, or some other cooling method you use.
(I haven't got it wired up here, in future maybe)

total cost of parts were:
£17.99 for the control box
£5.98 for the double socket and back box
Total: £23.97

Conclusion, I saved well over £100 with this solution, its extremely accurate 0.3°C offset and I can use any heater too.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

This sounds like a better solution than ever I heard before.
When I was a child of less then 10 air-conditioning was for
the rich and famous. In the years since I've come to learn that
those high ceilings were so that in the summer the highest part
of the heat would be over your head (old houses that were built
before air-conditioning). A ceiling fan would bring that heat down
to the whole room in winter. Lots of those houses didn't have any
insulating in the walls. 
I'm having trouble finding a heater that actually works at all. They
do heat the water but not to the temp. that you set. What brand
do you use ?
P.S. In the room in which there is a ceiling fan, the aquarium in that
room looses more water per day. I use cut glass for a top and they
do not cover the entire top. A 1" space exist at each end. Seems
as though every solution causes a deficit in another aria. The
intent of my solution was to eliminate light obstruction.


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## em1y386SX (Apr 10, 2012)

Hiya Raymond,
The brand of heater I use is an Arcadia Classica
The controller is an Elitech STC-1000


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