Is there a problem with 6045's?

[juliod]

Hi. I recently bought two Tunze 6025 and two 6045 pumps from Marine Depot. The two 6045's shortly started stuttering on startup. By stuttering I mean the impeller makes a lot of noise and jerks back and forth. It would take a couple of seconds to start spinning properly.

Now, after about a month, one of them will only stutter, and the other is stuttering severely before spinning. I think it fail soon.

I'm running them with a Neptune Systems Apex Aquacontroller that is set to alternate them in pairs to reverse the flow in the tank.

Is there a problem with the 6045? I'm suspicious because both of them are having problems while the two 6025s are OK.

DanZ

 

[rvitko]

There is very little difference between the 6025 and 6045, they use the same disk, same shaft, same drive unit and most of the differences are superficial, they work the same way. I am not sure how fast you are alternating them but these pumps are not suitable for use on wavemakers, it must have at least 15 minutes between switching off and on and the longer the better, this is covered in the manuals and we recommend only basic household timers, my personal recommendation is no more than once an hour. The drive units wear out quickly otherwise and the 6055 is the version intended for controllers as rather than the chattering mechanical start it uses an electronic starting system. With the 6025 and 6045, the stuttering you describe is normal, these pumps were mainly built to be plugged in and run continuously and while you can alternate them a limited amount they will click and chatter on start up.

Assuming they have not been quickly cycled in which case I would assume the drive units have broken or worn out and they will all do this eventually, the likely issue is the 6045's were older stock and did not have the newer carbon reinforced plastic drive unit and disk we use now. This only increases the durability but does not make them safe for rapid on and off cycling.