Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: Help! Unexplained peak temperature!

  1. #1
    Regular Vistor
    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Location
    Quebec Canada
    Posts
    28

    Help! Unexplained peak temperature!

    I need advice on an issue I have from time to time... I’ve seen this phenomenon like 2-3 times in the past weeks, without knowing what was wrong... and it’s new, because my temp was very stable for month/yrs....

    For no reason, my temperature peak in the afternoon, without my heater being stuck on « on » position, of failing to go « off ». I’m pretty sure of this when I look at graphs, which show no « on » status from heater outlet, and no amp drawn from my eb8.... but still with tank temp rising on both temp probes! (See graph pictures)

    Since the is no change in any other settings, I cannot blame the heat from the radions, they run the same program everyday.... All pumps are running properly without evidence of « isolated in time » disfunction... Room temperature is very stable... of course spring just got here but still cold outside and no « direct sun » shows in room until late afternoon....
    Since it’s a titanium finnex 800w heater, I thought it might be « residual heat » from an overpowered heater, dissipating slowly, but again I don’t think so because on the graph, the temperature returns to baseline before rising again without « heating »....

    Problems started weeks ago, as I woke up at 4am because of my apex sending alarm because my eb8 lost communication. The fallback setting for the heater was « OFF » because I had no redundant controler in case the outlet is stuck « ON » ( I know I should had one... just ordered one). The water temp was getting low, not reaching my low-temp alarm, but still a near-miss!
    Didn’t know what was wrong, eb8 led was flashing... tried to update firmwares, unplugged the main unit, and change the finnex 800w position from a TRIAC outlet, to the 8th outlet, because I read it might be best to put these on a 10A outlet... Don’t know what change did correct the problem, but eb8 was now connected to apex and everything seemed to work just fine...

    Until few day later, when I noticed unexplained rises of temperature, apparently not triggered but the heater itself... I tried « narrowing » the temperature range. The temperature was indeed more stable after that, but still have these temperature peak occurring from time to time and still can’t explain it...

    My plan at first was to change the 800w finnex titanium heater and buy 2x 300w heaters with inner contrôlera to be set a bit higher than the apex setting... But I doubt the heater is responsible because no amperage peaks are seen on the eb8 while the temperature rises.... (see graphs)

    So... any idea?
    Probe disfunction?? (Then 2 probes would be failing together and coming back to normal together...)
    Can my reeflo external return pump « overheat » during short periods??
    On my 2 other eb8, there’s no amperage peak, that could show a piece of equipment that would draw too much power during those episodes...

    Thanks for sharing your ideas...









    Envoyé de mon iPad en utilisant Tapatalk

  2. #2
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    13,176
    It's got to be the ambient temp went up during that timeframe.

    You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

  3. #3
    Frequent Visitor Todd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Huntsville, AL
    Posts
    583
    That certainly looks like a daylight temp rise to me. Are there any cooling fans that might be intermittently failing?

  4. #4
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    13,176
    Quote Originally Posted by Todd View Post
    That certainly looks like a daylight temp rise to me. Are there any cooling fans that might be intermittently failing?
    Especially given the timing, that rise and fall correlates really well with both outside temps and when lighting would likely be on. Ambient temps don't need to reach 79 for the tank to be 79 with no heater. The heat from pumps, lighting, etc will keep the tank a few degrees above ambient on their own.

    You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

  5. #5
    Regular Vistor
    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Location
    Quebec Canada
    Posts
    28
    Your answers make sense to me....
    probably my cooling fan isn’t working during the day...
    also, there might be an increase in ambiant temperature in the utility room where the sump is located. The difference between the days where there’s no temperature peak might be the days when the utility room door is left open....
    I’ll test this tomorrow. Leaving it open to see if the temperature peaks.

    still, I’m interested to know your opinion on whether I should keep my finnex titanium heater or should I run 2 smaller heaters instead??? (Of course adding in line controllers for redundancy!)

    thank you guys for your thoughts on this thread

  6. #6
    Frequent Contributor zombie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    13,176
    2 smaller heaters is always better. What I do is use this calculator to find the reccomended wattage and get two between the "break even" and the "reccomended" or 3 sized near the "break even"

    https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/...llerSizing.php

    You might be an engineer if...You have no life and can prove it mathematically.

Similar Threads

  1. Question: Programming a daily temperature swing in addition to seasonal temperature profile.
    By jcraggs in forum Misc Apex Usage & Programming
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 06-24-2021, 11:52
  2. Erratic ATK FMM Performance - Unexplained Alarms
    By Deeeluxx in forum Fluid Monitoring Module (FMM), FMK, ATK, LDK, and FMM Accessories
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 04-03-2021, 09:24
  3. Help! Unexplained Temperature Drops
    By mitchrapp in forum Apex Classic/Apex Lite/Apex Jr
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 08-11-2019, 04:07
  4. Unexplained alarm
    By ReefKeeper09 in forum Fluid Monitoring Module (FMM), FMK, ATK, LDK, and FMM Accessories
    Replies: 42
    Last Post: 02-22-2018, 09:46
  5. Question: Fluctuating Conductivity Probe - Do I go by average or peak?
    By clsanchez77 in forum AquaBus Modules, Probes, and Breakout Boxes
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 06-29-2017, 08:19

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •