Impeller rusting

[gweezpie]

I have a super Marin 250 skimmer with the red dragon bk 2000. I opened the pump for cleaning and noticed rust from the magnet. Sad because I think that may have contributed to my recent sps crash.

Anyway was wondering if anyone has experienced this and if it would be better to buy the newer pump or just an new impeller.

Looking for any free advice.....

Best,
Joe

 

[slief]

I have a super Marin 250 skimmer with the red dragon bk 2000. I opened the pump for cleaning and noticed rust from the magnet. Sad because I think that may have contributed to my recent sps crash.

Anyway was wondering if anyone has experienced this and if it would be better to buy the newer pump or just an new impeller.

Looking for any free advice.....

Best,
Joe

That is highly abnormal.. That would be a first as far as I have seen. Do you run GFO?

 

[gweezpie]

Thanks for responding. I do not run GFO. I agree that it is unusual and I was suprised when I saw it.

 

[slief]

PM sent. I have a bunch of questions and would like to see some pictures as this is highly out of the ordinary. I've never once read of one of these particular impellers rusting and these same Askoll type blocks have been used by a number of vendors including ATB, Vertex and others. We have customers who have been running the same pumps for over 10 years and never reported anything like that.

 

[Jeremy B.]

This isn't extremely common, but I've seen it a hand full of times over the years. What's happening is the shaft is building up small amounts of calcium / magnesium deposits. When the deposits sit on the metal the corrosion starts to occur underneath the deposits themselves. Think of this as the same idea as to what happens to a tooth in your mouth when you start to get plaque buildup and do not remove it, decay starts to happen underneath that plaque on the surface of the tooth.

Keeping the impeller free from any deposits over time will prevent this from happening. The times I saw this is occurred very close to the bearing, either the rear or the front, or right where the shaft goes through the magnet. This just happens to be the areas where it's hardest to make sure you get all of the deposits cleaned away.

 

[slief]

This isn't extremely common, but I've seen it a hand full of times over the years. What's happening is the shaft is building up small amounts of calcium / magnesium deposits. When the deposits sit on the metal the corrosion starts to occur underneath the deposits themselves. Think of this as the same idea as to what happens to a tooth in your mouth when you start to get plaque buildup and do not remove it, decay starts to happen underneath that plaque on the surface of the tooth.

Keeping the impeller free from any deposits over time will prevent this from happening. The times I saw this is occurred very close to the bearing, either the rear or the front, or right where the shaft goes through the magnet. This just happens to be the areas where it's hardest to make sure you get all of the deposits cleaned away.

:beer:

I have seen pitting on the impeller shaft as a result of extreme calcification. Especially when the bearing seizes to the shaft due to a lack of maintenance. Your hypothesis makes sense!