my displeasure with this product

[bluenassarius]

I purchased a vortech mp40w a month ago. I still have not been able use this in my aquarium. I sent my mp40w to vortech almost 3 weeks ago because the wetside magnet was wobbly. ecotech determined it was the dry side that had problems, not the wetside and replaced that. Today, I got the unit back. I noticed the rubber that covers the wires were loose and not into the controller. I removed the guard on the wetside and the back of the wetside to inspect it. The magnet is still wobbly. I cleaned both sides the aquarium, placed the rubber piece on the outside of the tank. I adjusted the pin spacer to 3/8", plugged in the controller, set it to constant speed (not reefcrest, pulse or lagoon) and turned the speed to max. I placed the dry side on the back and put the wetside in to align. The propeller did not spin but I heard loud motor noise from the dry side. I tried aligning the wetside around to get the propeller to spin. It still did not spin. I tried this for a few minutes.

I called Ecotech and spoke to Mark about my pump. He walked me step by step troubleshooting. When he requested I remove the back cap for the wetside, I was unable to do so. It was stuck. Normally, its easy to remove the cap for the wetside.. this time it was stuck. I had a friend who has the gen2 come over to help out. He was able to get the cap to come off after alot of work. It turns out the magnet melted against the cap!! No wonder it wouldn't spin.

I'm lost for words for this product. When I sent it in, I requested the whole thing to be replaced instead of sending it back and forth. It costed me $19 to ship the unit back to ecotech. It looks like I'll be shipping it back again for service. I'm not looking forward to paying more shipping fees for them to inspect and test products only to ship me back another unit that may or may not work. How many times would this unit need to be shipped back for it to work properly?

 

[Elite]

ouch.. that's suck Sam..
Want your Tunze back?? :lol:

 

[spshead01]

Thats sucks bro is that a gen 1 model?

 

[huskerreef]

That is exactly what 2 out of 4 of mine did. I am wondering if they have some quality control issues from when they were having I believe icecap (dont quote me) making the upgrades. I bought 4 new ones and had them sent in before I even took possesion to get updated magnets and drivers and within days of hooking up I have the same problem. Kind of frustrating when you need the flow and now have to wait on a product that should not have this issue.

 

[EcoTech Marine]

I cleaned both sides the aquarium, placed the rubber piece on the outside of the tank. I adjusted the pin spacer to 3/8", plugged in the controller, set it to constant speed (not reefcrest, pulse or lagoon) and turned the speed to max. I placed the dry side on the back and put the wetside in to align.

Sam-

Plugging the pump in and then installing the wet side will cause damage to the unit every time. The pump must be installed on the glass first and then plugged in to operate or else you will cause damage to the unit such as what you have seen. The loud motor noises you heard were because the pump cannot align the poles of the magnetic couple while it is spinning. What this causes is excessive vibration which can and has damaged components on the wetside of the pump.

Regardless, we will replace your wet side for you with a new one. We do not want you to experience any more headaches with our product however we can not urge enough the importance of following the instructions carefully, which can be found here: http://www.ecotechmarine.com/support/support.htm

We will contact you shortly to arrange your replacement wet side.

-Tim

 

[reefsafe]

This type of situation is why I am an Ecotech fan. While most companies will void your warranty if you break the product to due misuse, ecotech comes through and provides the A+ customer service.

 

[huskerreef]

Not to hijack the thread but my wet ends looked identical to the one above and I hooked mine up properly and then powered up and had no noise issue an it sounded if it was running correctly. Is there another reason for similar looking failures

 

[EcoTech Marine]

Jim-

Check to see if you have a thick plastic washer behind the magnet. There were some pumps shipped a few years ago that came with a thick plastic washer which actually can cause an interference issue with the Gen2 magnet. The pump should have a thin plastic washer to avoid this. We can send you this part if you require it.

This is the most common cause for the magnet coming in contact with the frame. Once the magnet comes in contact with the frame while spinning (for whatever reason) it can weld itself together as seen.

-Tim

 

[huskerreef]

These were new pumps and you may already have the wet ends as I shipped them back Monday for inspection.

 

[EcoTech Marine]

Jim,

Then it's likely something else happened. Either way we'll email you once they arrive.

-Tim