What happens if you put a heater rated for a 50 gallon in a 10 gallon?

[leo12345]

What happens if you put a heater rated for a 50 gallon in a ten gallon? Will it heat the water super fast?

 

[MERKEY]

Depending on what heater it is and how it is set...yes it will heat 10g faster than it would heat 50g.

 

[leo12345]

Depending on what heater it is and how it is set...yes it will heat 10g faster than it would heat 50g.

Like one of those preset aqueon heaters.

 

[MERKEY]

It will heat 10g faster then shut off when at the preset temp.

 

[gbroadbridge]

What happens if you put a heater rated for a 50 gallon in a ten gallon? Will it heat the water super fast?

It will heat the water faster to the temp shutoff point.

Then due to thermal inertial it will continue to heat the water way past where it should before starting to cool.

You will end up with large temperature oscillations which will be detrimental to the tank

 

[billyocean]

Most of the time people use 2 undersized heaters so if one fails in the on position its less likely to nuke the tank quickly. It's a matter of preference though and not a necessity. The post above makes sense though

 

[LordofCinder]

I've always use oversized heaters, When the water reaches the set temp, the heater shuts off. Should not be any negative affects if it works properly.

If worried that the heater will not shut off, then use an inkbird or some other controller.

But I don't buy pre-set heaters, I like to decide what the temp will be.

 

[MERKEY]

OK OP you've gotten the same answer multiple times just worded a little differently.

 

[BeanAnimal]

A properly sized heater will run 90% of the time on the coldest room day of the year (be it winter or due to AC)

 

[brandon429]

I have an 80 watt heater in a one gallon, they work great. The thermostat keeps it from overdoing anything

 

[BeanAnimal]

It will heat the water faster to the temp shutoff point.

Then due to thermal inertial it will continue to heat the water way past where it should before starting to cool.

You will end up with large temperature oscillations which will be detrimental to the tank

There is very little thermal mass difference between any reasonable sized heater. Certainly not enough to cause drastic overshoot differences.

 

[brandon429]

@gbroadbridge sorry but that has never occurred in my setups. Perhaps I’m lucky the coils in my preset tetra heater dont retain lots of heat but it works safely across all brands. Here’s fifty watts in half a gallon, perfect temp control:

 

[snorklr]

when i throw a big heater into my 5 gal watermix bucket it seems to continue to heat the water after the shutoff temp...and obviously i dont want to pull a hot glass heater out of the bucket the moment it hits temp...so i unplug it before it hits temp and let it cool as the temp continues to rise....that being said i run a 300w in my 40 breeder cause its in my attached garage so the tank doesnt live at normal room temperature so a "normal" sized heater cant keep up

 

[Idech]

It will heat faster but can also kill faster if it malfunctions.