Heater assembly for use in a corrosive environment

A heater assembly for heating a container of corrosive fluid comprising a metallic electrically conductive corrosion resistant housing adapted to be located in a container of corrosive fluid to be heated, said housing having a sealed chamber therein, an electrical resistance heater located in said sealed chamber in said housing, a metallic electrically conductive sleeve assembly secured and electrically connected to said housing and including a first passageway therein communicating with said sealed chamber, a corrosion resistant flexible conduit adapted to be connected to a source of electrical power and connected to said metallic sleeve assembly, said flexible conduit including a metallic electrical conductor disposed therein, said conduit defining a second passageway therein in communication with said first passageway of said sleeve assembly, at least a pair of conductors extending through said second passageway of said flexible conduit, said first passageway of said metallic sleeve assembly and into said metallic electrically conductive housing, at least one of said conductors being connected to said electrical resistance heater to energize said heater and another of said conductors being a ground conductor electrically connected to said metallic electrically conductive housing and to a ground to thereby ground said metallic electrically conductive housing to minimize the possibility of stray currents passing from the heater assembly into the fluid to be heated, and compression means for compressing said metallic electrically conductive sleeve assembly into contact with said flexible conduit to force said metallic sleeve assembly into electrical engagement with said electrical conductor disposed in said flexible conduit to ground said electrically conductive conductor disposed in said flexible conduit through said metallic sleeve assembly and said metallic housing to said ground conductor.