water pump trouble

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Hara

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Aug 28, 2002
Messages
7,224
Location
Louisiana
Ok, we got the thing plumbed, all minor leaks tweeked out. Had the sump water at the water line, poured water through the return line to help prime the Little Giant pump. Plugged it in....quiet noise, not enough I think, and no water movement at all. It gets hot within about 30 seconds and we shut it off and tried it again...no banana. It is not sucking water at all, no dropping of water line, no suction at the bushing. Is anyone familiar with these that may know what is going on?
 
Sounds like it has air in the impeller. Let it run for more than 30 seconds. Sometimes they will work themselves out of it in a minute or two.
 
By putting water down the return line, you may have actually trapped the air in. If there is a elbow on the pump intake (plese tell me the sump is drilled for the pump and doesn't go over the side) take it off. You can also try pumping water into the intake with a powerhead (this works also when it goes over the side of the sump...instead of through).
 
The sump is drilled. it is a straight shot, about 8 inches from the sump to the pump. When we poured the water in, it would flow all the way through the pump and into the sump. we wanted to make sure it was not running dry. The pump gets VERY hot and smells hot within a short amount of time, is it ok to run it for a few minutes if water is not flowing through it?
 
Well...don't tell anyone. But when I worked for the fish store, it was a PITA to unplug the Lil' Giants to the racks...so I would leave them running during waterchanges. I think it'll be OK. I wouldn't do it for more than a minute or two thoght, and I really would try the ph trick. Just because the waterflowed into the sump...dosn't mean you got all the air out of the pump.
 
GIving it a shot right now...will let you know how it goes, have a ph handy circulating the liverock anyway.
 
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no banana. we had a hagen pro 4 powerhead blowing water in, left it running a good couple of minutes, I even took a hammer and gently tapped the body of the pump in case some piece of trash or something was blocking the impeller. Not even a trickle offered to flow through.
 
Hmmm, take the pump back. When you get it unhooked from the sump, plug it in and see if the impeller spins.
 
Little Giants are a sealess pump design where the impeller is turned by the force of a magnet spinning around it. If the pump is misaligned in the motor housing, rubbing on the magnet or bound up against the magnet, it will not turn the impellor and will get very hot. Try loosening the screws that hold the pump in (with it disconnected from the sump of course) and see if you can get the impeller to turn with the motor on. I rebuilt mine a while ago and had a little bit of trouble getting it lined up right.
Or return it if it is brand new.

Mark
 
Hiya Hara!

I just wanted to mention that priming a pump for the first time is no easy task! I use an Iwaki and the 2 times I've had to prime it after fitting new plumbing it was a real challenge.

Both times, I've had to hold my hands over the intake pipe while Gabe poured pitchers of water down the return pipe till it caught. Once it clears the air out of the plumbing it has no problem with the normal starts and stops from power outages and stuff.

*Hoping its not a bad pump*

Keep us posted!
 
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