Jestersix

Why has the cord insulation gone missing?

MolaMola

MolaMola

Supporting Member
BARcard
Tunze circ pump. In tank like 2.5 yrs (time flies!). Cleaned pump today and noticed visible wires. Has been cleaned only a few times - citric acid or diluted bleach. Don't remember overscrubbing it in the past and today used soft toothbrush. It is right near the pump, always submerged. Could urchins do this? A pink pincushion one definitely goes on the cords. I can ask students next week if they have noticed the wires showing.
More importantly, what can I do to fix it??? Wrap it with something? Seal with some sort of aqua safe silicone? Wires inside appear to have all insulation. I turned it off for the moment, but this is an expensive pump that works great and I need it back in operatio
20171027_114438.jpg
n.
 
Judging by the almost parallel tear patterns it almost looks like the pump twisted, or it was stored with the wire wrapped around in a circle and that weakened the outer sheathing

That said I would not ever use that pump again. Sure the wires have insulation around them because there's wire against wire, but down inside the pump not so much. Yeah it sucks to lose an expensive pump, but it happens.

You could always try the Tunze sponsor form at RC, although I suspect they'd say the same thing.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=92
 
Perhaps microbes eatin' it to get their carbon fix?? Contact the manufacturer and explain it's a class tank and they should probably replace it before a child gets shocked.
 
Tunze won't do anything about it, I have an old 6100 that purchased a while back and has similar issue with the outer plastic exposing the wires, it's a DC pump; Roger Vitko said not to use it anymore since the water will find its way in and you don't want anything leaching into your tank.
I've seen that happening in Quiet One pumps, a person on RC complained of a Red Dragon peeling right at the motor block in a Mini series skimmer and recently I sent an Eheim pump over to the East Bay to a reefer who mentioned his Eheim 1260 has exposed wires right at the motor block.
Is that a controllable Tunze?
 
Perhaps we could "pass the hat around" I for one would be happy to make a donation to help pay for a new pump for the kids.
Put Peter & I down for $25
 
I had a long spine urchin that did exactly that. So annoying. I would definitely trash it now though. I personally wouldn’t trust any repair solution when it comes to saltwater and power cords.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
Thank you to @Bruce Spiegelman , @Mark B , and everyone's offers and safety cautions. Fortunately, Tunze is replacing it for a song and Roger, like @scuzy and @JVU, confirmed that urchins can cause that damage. He suggested using polyethylene spiral wire wrap to protect the cords and is sending me a piece. I got more coming (so cheap online) for my other in-tank cords. I wouldn't have thought of that and it will be fine for school tanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top