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seized skimmer pump - rusted impeller doh!

houser

houser

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Skimmer pump seized at some point on Wednesday. Weird I thought, took it apart to take a look that evening and found the impeller was way out of whack. There was rust :O all over the impeller magnet - seems like the coating cracked in about 10 places and those cracks were all rusted out. The coating delaminated and was literally bulging.

Had only been just over 3 full months since last cleaning. Sure didn't notice this before. Wasn't calcified either. I think it seized because the delaminations bulged out so much it simply jammed (PITA to remove).

I don't remember reading about this particular problem before. Since this thing was spewing rust for a while is there anything specific I should consider to remedy the contamination?

thx
 
I don't think you have to worry about the rust contaminating anything.
GFO is rust and lots of reefers are using it.
 
JAR said:
I don't think you have to worry about the rust contaminating anything.
GFO is rust and lots of reefers are using it.
Click to expand...

Well I certainly fit this profile.

Way back when we used to throw nails into the tank to supplement iron.
 
Geeze, Dave................the only pump I own that hasn't seized is the Eheim main return pump. My ATi BM pump seizes regularly as does my GFO reactor pump. I took the little GFO pump apart this AM to find lots of crust jamming it. Man, I have a lot of precipitate in my tank. Likely due to my long term high Ph and Carb Hardness.....8-(

Take away message: Take your pumps apart regularly and scrape the crust from the moving parts.
 
Yes - I'm actually sort of a stickler for preventive maintenance (I get that from work). I am also an equipment junkie :) I always have vinegar on hand and use it often. Just changed peripump tubing the other day, keep the outside and top panels of the tank spotless, etc... No shortage of little maintenance tasks. I tend to buy high quality stuff and rigorously maintain it.

This time was strange in that the oxidation of the magnets surprised me. I just figured they were coated and that's the end of it. I also practice kaizen and like to know WHY these things happened so I can either prevent it through my own means or steer clear of something similar in the future.
 
Check it!
Normal diameter is something like 0.74". I got a 0.11" bulge on the top left in the pic and a 0.07" bulge on the bottom right. Numerous spider cracks with rust showing all over.
I had to clean this up some before the pic but you get the idea.

jackedimpeller.jpg


This was not there 3 months ago I can tell you that.
 
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