Kessil

bulging magnet in powerhead?

S

sfsuphysics

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Like the topic states, I lost some power for a moment, when I flipped it on.. my lovely Rio HF pump which is notorious for not restarting .. didn't restart, so I tried to kick start it... nothing.. so I pull it apart, and the impeller seems quite stuck.. I then remove it, clean it and try to re insert it, only to find that the magnet part barely fits in.. also there are white marks laterally along the magnet similar to when you stretch dark plastic it turns light..

I know I need a new pump this is a given, but is this sort of thing uncommon? rare? ULTRA RARE!? :D

Also anyone have any suggestions are relatively cheap, yet reliable (I know sometimes an oxymoron), pumps? I'm looking for 1000-1500 gph or so. I was thinking of an Ocean Runner 6500. Any other suggestions?
 
I've seen similar things with pumps like you describe, mostly from the plastic overheating and warping. Especially in the impeller housing.

I usually use Mag drives, I know their loud, and create excess heat, but I'm a creature of habit...
 
Not rare at all. I have seen it happen to sedra pump impellers.

Mike since you want something that is on inexpensive side I hear nothing bad about Ocean Runner pumps. I like the Eheim units myself, nice darn quiet pumps - I'd hate to get hit by one ;)
 
I have a Quiet ONe 3k on my softie tank, it's been a nice reliable pump, except it does have issues with restarting after a power outage, unsure why exactly, I've cleaned it as clean as can be, and it still has issues sometimes.

I wouldn't mind an Eheim, problem is they seem to max out at about 900gph.
 
My eheim 1262 runs rings around the quiet one 4000.

They are not in the same league. The 1262 pushes way more flow (as it is used as my return) than the 4000 ever did.

The speculation is that the Eheim pumps have truer specs when it comes to how much water it can move around.
 
Hey Mike I don't think its that uncommon at all.. I've had a total of 6 Rio's freeze up on me on different occasions.. A couple of others just broke.. 2 didn't even work straight out of the package.. These were all hf series pumps between an 8 and 14... I did have a couple where the magnet swelled and bound up in the housing.. On a side note though I have 2 12hf's that have worked for close to 2.5 years.. They both restart like champs as well.. I'm itching to try an eheim 1262 one of these days if I find a used one for sale... The mag drives have been the hardest to restart for me.. I have 2-3's, 2-18, 1-12, 1-9.5.. The 18 almost never restarts on its own and the 12 is about 50/50.. One of my 3's will not start about 95% of the time..

Next time I see any of the oceanrunner pumps on sale I'm going to give one a try..

Good Luck on your quest...
 
Yeah I decided to go the cheap route, and got a Quiet One 4000, for a number of reasons other than cheap.. first at ~ 1000 gph, that's more than enough flow that I want through my sump, skimmer needs time to pull gunk out after all! :D It was half the cost of the ocean runner 6500, and considerably less power as well 50watts vs 120watts.
 
all pumps can have this problem if they have an impellar and overheat. Very common.
 
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