Powerhead is driving me nuts

[leafyseadragon]

I have an AquaC Remora Pro, with the Mag Drive 3 pump. One day the powerhead fell off the skimmer. I remounted it, plugged it in, nothing happened. Unplugged it again, plugged it back in, still nothing. I thought maybe the powerhead sucked in some sand or other stuff to gum up the works. I took it apart, cleaned it, didn't see any foreign material.

Then I hooked the powerhead back up to the skimmer, plugged it in. Nothing! So I took it apart again and cleaned it. But before mounting it again, I tested it. Worked like a charm. When I attached it to the skimmer this morning, silence.

Unplugged it again and took it out. Exasperated, I took a wooden dowel, shoved in into the opening and gave the impeller a turn. Plugged it in, now it works. Finally!

Has this happened to anyone else? And if so, any advice on how to make sure this doesn't happen again?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I have an AquaC Remora Pro, with the Mag Drive 3 pump. One day the powerhead fell off the skimmer. I remounted it, plugged it in, nothing happened. Unplugged it again, plugged it back in, still nothing. I thought maybe the powerhead sucked in some sand or other stuff to gum up the works. I took it apart, cleaned it, didn't see any foreign material.

Then I hooked the powerhead back up to the skimmer, plugged it in. Nothing! So I took it apart again and cleaned it. But before mounting it again, I tested it. Worked like a charm. When I attached it to the skimmer this morning, silence.

Unplugged it again and took it out. Exasperated, I took a wooden dowel, shoved in into the opening and gave the impeller a turn. Plugged it in, now it works. Finally!

Has this happened to anyone else? And if so, any advice on how to make sure this doesn't happen again?

I'd get a new impeller for it. I had some issues with the little rubber bushings on the ends of the impeller on mine a year or so ago that caused serious noise issues. Once I replaced it, all problems were solved.

The other thing that it could be is that the impeller shaft has calcium deposits that have "frozen" up the impeller.

You might want to add a second plastic tube clamp to the pump/hose connection just to make sure that the pump doesn't separate from the hose again. I did that early on with mine - that single clamp made me nervous.

 

[melosu58]

I agree with Kurt as I had the same thing happen to me. It ended up being the impellor as Kurt said.

 

[leafyseadragon]

Funny you should mention noise, the powerhead has sounded a bit noisier lately. I didn't see any calcium deposits as I moved the magnet up and down the impeller shaft though.

Exactly what has happened to the impeller? I don't see any wear on any of the parts, is there just wear where I can't see it? Maybe the rubber bushings are old and hard now? I've had this at least 3 years.

 

[melosu58]

On mine it was cracked

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

With mine, one of the rubber bushings got hard and seemed to have shrunk a little. That made it loose in its mount and the whole impeller wobbled. I fixed it for a while by hot-glueing the bushing into the mount. That worked for about a month.

 

[melosu58]

Moving this to the General Hardware and equipment discussion where it belongs.