<p>I see no benefit to changing a heater that's performing acceptably. The only rationale I can think of for a predictive or preventive change-out would be to head off the cumulative effects of repeated wire flexing. That would be devilishly difficult to predict.</p>
<p>Unless one was about to kick off an extremely high value print due to high consequence schedule constraints or high material cost, it's difficult seeing a pre-emptive heater change being justified. Even then, it becomes a risk comparison between wear-out of the old and infant mortality of the new.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-06T01:12:07.043Z
2024-01-06T01:12:07.043Z
allardjd
<p>I don't think there is any rule for when to change the hotend since it's dependent on a lot of factors like the filament types you print with, if your nozzle hits the bed often, etc.</p>
<p>Generally, I check the nozzle every two weeks or so. I end up replacing it about every 6 months, from a moderate amount of printing.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-06T03:02:50.450Z
You must have misunderstood my question. It's not about the nozzle, but about the heating element in the hot end.
Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-05T22:09:30.007Z
2024-01-05T22:09:30.007Z
Quinn Damerell
<p>I was recently trying to heat my hot end to 250° C to try and get PETG to stop stringing. When I did this, I realized after about 10 minutes of waiting that it never quite got there. It would only get to ~247-248° C, fluctuating in that arena.</p>
<p>This started me to wondering, <strong>is there a rule of thumb for heater replacement?</strong> Should you replace it in a given amount of time, when it isn't doing the job anymore (like mine <em>seems</em> to be doing), or just replace it when it dies?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-07T23:28:03.373Z
Not an answer to your question, but have you tried a PID tune? If the printer is not in a climate conrolled environment and it's winter now where you are, that could be impacting the ability to reach temperature with the existing PID parameters. Or the heater might just be too weak for the climate. Or the sock could be damaged. Etc. I would not assume by default that the heater is faulty.
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
<hotend><maintenance><heating-element>
How often should you change out your hot end heating element?
Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
# How often should you change out your hot end heating element?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-01-05)

I was recently trying to heat my hot end to 250° C to try and get PETG to stop stringing. When I did this, I realized after about 10 minutes of waiting that it never quite got there. It would only get to ~247-248° C, fluctuating in that arena.

This started me to wondering, **is there a rule of thumb for heater replacement?** Should you replace it in a given amount of time, when it isn't doing the job anymore (like mine *seems* to be doing), or just replace it when it dies?

**Tags:** hotend, maintenance, heating-element
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Not an answer to your question, but have you tried a PID tune? If the printer is not in a climate conrolled environment and it's winter now where you are, that could be impacting the ability to reach temperature with the existing PID parameters. Or the heater might just be too weak for the climate. Or the sock could be damaged. Etc. I would not assume by default that the heater is faulty.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2024-01-06. Score: 5

I see no benefit to changing a heater that's performing acceptably. The only rationale I can think of for a predictive or preventive change-out would be to head off the cumulative effects of repeated wire flexing. That would be devilishly difficult to predict.

Unless one was about to kick off an extremely high value print due to high consequence schedule constraints or high material cost, it's difficult seeing a pre-emptive heater change being justified. Even then, it becomes a risk comparison between wear-out of the old and infant mortality of the new.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2024-01-05. Score: -2

I don't think there is any rule for when to change the hotend since it's dependent on a lot of factors like the filament types you print with, if your nozzle hits the bed often, etc.

Generally, I check the nozzle every two weeks or so. I end up replacing it about every 6 months, from a moderate amount of printing.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: You must have misunderstood my question. It's not about the nozzle, but about the heating element in the hot end.  

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