My review of the new WaterBlaster HY7000 pump

[jmowbray]

lol at the G*l*a*s*s Holes

 

[Made4water]

Great review thank you.

 

[Yogre]

i havent had any problems yet.knock on wood
and i do dose kalk.i did contact corlvue and there was not any recommended spare parts.
they havent had any issues with the pumps.
i was thinking of purchasing a impeller to feel at ease.
i will dissassemble pump and have a look at the impellar soon.ive only been running the pump for 3 months.
i do shut the pump off once a week and it restarts so no problems there.

i think coralvue should be made aware of this,im sure they would like to know of this

A post in Coralvue's forum is a great idea, I'll do that.

I really like the pump, it moves a lot of water, is super quiet and energy efficient. I'm just a bit leery of another seizure.

 

[Yogre]

My HY-7000 has seized again, and I'm not scheduled to return home until Friday. Fortunately, thanks to FaceTime on my iPad and my wife's iPhone, I was able to talk her through moving the heating elements from the sump into the display tank to keep my animals from dying from the cold.

When I have more time tomorrow I'll post in Coralvue's forum to see if they have any suggestions, but for now this sort of reliability or lack thereof is simply unacceptable. I just don't trust this pump as a main pump.

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

My HY-7000 has seized again, and I'm not scheduled to return home until Friday. Fortunately, thanks to FaceTime on my iPad and my wife's iPhone, I was able to talk her through moving the heating elements from the sump into the display tank to keep my animals from dying from the cold.

When I have more time tomorrow I'll post in Coralvue's forum to see if they have any suggestions, but for now this sort of reliability or lack thereof is simply unacceptable. I just don't trust this pump as a main pump.

Sorry for your troubles Yogre. I might have a theory as to why this is occurring. I have my HY7000 throttled back (ball valve on discharge) by about ~30%. I'm wondering if the reduced flow might be resulting in loss of cooling and the warming of the impeller, shaft and bushing - I know this can result in increased calcium deposits.

An example of this is the use of MJ1200s in powering media reactors. As they are often restricted to optimize the flow through the reactor - the loss of flow (cooling) results in the impeller and shaft running warmer and can dramatically increase the amount and rate of calcium build-up and result in increased maintenance.

Instead of restricting the discharge, I'm thinking through how I can modify my plumbing to by-pass some of the discharge water back to the sump.

I'm to the point that I will tear down and clean the pump before travel just to avoid the risk of it seizing while I'm gone.

 

[Garage1217]

I've been running a HY-7000 for about a year. I continue to have problems with the pump seizing due to mineral deposits in the bushing. I seem to average no more than about 6 weeks between seizes, requiring the pump to be removed, torn down and vinegar soaked to remove the deposits.

I run a CaRx (10dKh / 440Ca - tank pH ~8.0) but nothing is dosed close to the pump that I can attribute to this problem. I'm wondering if anyone else is seeing this?

Also, does the impeller separate from the housing plate? I haven't found a way to remove the impeller from the bushing/plate. I didn't want to force it as it appears the shaft is ceramic and likely fragile.

I'm considering purchasing a spare impeller to speed return to service as it seems it's always the impeller bushing that gets fouled, rather than the pump housing.

All I can speak to is my experience with these pumps. I have 3 running right now, a wb5000, bb5000 and a wb2000. My oldest is my original wb5000 which I have owned since release back in early 2010. I have never had one seize ever and the last time I cleaned my original was about a year ago and it was not bad at all, just some feather dusters growing all over it. My tanks are / were maintained with a CA reactor and I always have kept my tanks at 8-9DKH / around 400-450ca / 1400-1600Mg.

If you are somehow getting enough buildup to seize, my only guess would be ca precipitation but could be something else. I generally get 3-10 PM's a week from people telling me about their pumps they purchased from reading this thread I started long ago and this is the first I have ever heard of the issues you two are describing. Will post up if I hear anything else.

 

[Garage1217]

My apologies, i should have clarified that I have a 6' skimmer so it coudnt handle the back pressure of the column..it only raised the water in the skimmer about 6 inches from sump height(12") and that was with my gate valve almost all the way closed...It just didnt have any power under the pressure..I wonder if anyone is running it at a high head applicaton? I woud assume it would do the same thing as in my experience, but i could be wrong.

They are not pressure rated pumps or high head pumps. Check out the manuals on them and flow charts. I currently have mine at 6' of head on 1" lines with PLENTY-O-FLOW out of my wb5000.

I do find it VERY odd you could not get it past 12" above your sump?? I have a good sized 10" diameter chamber SRO-5000INT skimmer and with my BB5000, I can blow the lid off that skimmer with EASE without closing the gate valve. To note, I measured it at 14" above sump water line and I have a lot left to go on the gate valve. Since others are using much larger BB pumps such as the 7000 and 10000 on even larger skimmers, 12" above sump level just does not make any sense at all to me unless you have some really tall sump walls! Did you use the 5000, 7000 or 10000?

 

[Garage1217]

Sorry for your troubles Yogre. I might have a theory as to why this is occurring. I have my HY7000 throttled back (ball valve on discharge) by about ~30%. I'm wondering if the reduced flow might be resulting in loss of cooling and the warming of the impeller, shaft and bushing - I know this can result in increased calcium deposits.

An example of this is the use of MJ1200s in powering media reactors. As they are often restricted to optimize the flow through the reactor - the loss of flow (cooling) results in the impeller and shaft running warmer and can dramatically increase the amount and rate of calcium build-up and result in increased maintenance.

Instead of restricting the discharge, I'm thinking through how I can modify my plumbing to by-pass some of the discharge water back to the sump.

I'm to the point that I will tear down and clean the pump before travel just to avoid the risk of it seizing while I'm gone.

The proper way to dial back a pump would be to restrict the inlet but most restrict the outlet. Even better would be as you stated and run a bypass line to dial it in. I run my 2000 with a bypass line to the sump as it is way to much for my reactors.

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

The proper way to dial back a pump would be to restrict the inlet but most restrict the outlet...

Garage - On what do you base this? Everything I've read indicates you should not restrict the input side of a centrifugal pump.

 

[Garage1217]

Garage - On what do you base this? Everything I've read indicates you should not restrict the input side of a centrifugal pump.

Sorry brain dead on cold medication. The correct way is the other way around or it can cause cavitation (depending on the pump) To note, most all pumps that have a built in, variable flow valve have them mounted to the inlet side. Save a few like a laguna.

 

[Yogre]

It's possible we have a defective impeller assembly, I'm not sure. I've exchanged emails with Jeremy at Coralvue, so we are just getting started on the troubleshooting process.

I'll post back with what happens.

I did conclude that I had the inlet to my HY7000 at least somewhat restricted by having a 1" line feed the pump externally. When I redid my plumbing Friday night to allow me to run the pump submerged and unrestricted the resulting flow knocked my socks off. I'm running two media reactors, a fuge, and two 3/4" returns to the display, and the flow is very nearly too much!

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

Thanks Yogre - I'm curious to see what CoralVue responds with. The more I think about it, I'm not sure my guess about the problem being a result of throttling the outlet is correct. Reducing the output is essentially the same as increased pumping height or head pressure. As the HY7000 is rated for 12' of max height, they should be able to easily handle some restriction.

 

[Garage1217]

Yogre - I found it to be the same with the 7000 and my last system as noted on the first page. Feeding everything I was feeding at the time which is very similar to your setup, It was overpowering for me. If I shut the fuge down the display drains could not handle it!

The 7000 has a 1.25" inlet so you could have had up to a 20-30% reduction in flow on a guesstimate with a 1" inlet depending on length of the 1" and how sensitive the pump is to inlet restriction. Lots of numbers to crunch and would have to use an orifice calculator to determine the exact loss on the inlet. Going back to bed now so not gonna mess with that

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

I think I'm done with the HY7000...

I was adjusting flow in my tanks tonight, and did a sump check as I always do to make sure the sump will hold all the water that drains from the tanks. Despite the fact that I just stripped and cleaned the WaterBlaster when it last seized less than 30 days before - it failed to restart. Once again, the impeller was seized at the bushing. The impeller housing and magnet were spotless.

This pump has been in service since 2/2011 and has seized 5 times...

2/2/2012
1/8/2012
12/13/11
10/19/11
4/11/11

Of even greater concern is the time between failures is shortening. I can't even trust it will run for a month.

I'm convinced there is a defect in the impeller bushing. As it appears to be permanently affixed in the impeller bulkhead, I haven't been able to determine a way to inspect it closer. I'm also concerned that there is rust accumulating in the screw threads and on the screws.

Yogre - Any headway with Jeremy at CoralVue? If not, I guess I need to start researching other pumps.

 

[Garage1217]

Bummer, sorry to hear it. Have the bushings or impeller been replaced ever or just cleaned? Would love to see a pic of the screws rusting. All stainless in saltwater will get some very minimal light surface rust, usually from tooling or from using a steel tool on them such as a screwdriver. None of my 3 pumps are showing any signs of rust at all over what is to be expected (very light brown on the inside of the phillips head)

How do the clear silicone suspension O-rings look on the bushings? Does it all assemble easily? Pump has a 3 year warranty, have you tried contacting coralvue or have you requested a replacement? Sounds like there is an issue for sure, just contact them and they will take care of you. Getting angry with it or fiddling with it over and over and posting about it is not a very good solution to your problem. I am not sure if they have one, but I bet you could arrange an advanced RMA for 0 downtime, but again, I do not know if they offer anything like that. Just a thought.

I think I'm done with the HY7000...

I was adjusting flow in my tanks tonight, and did a sump check as I always do to make sure the sump will hold all the water that drains from the tanks. Despite the fact that I just stripped and cleaned the WaterBlaster when it last seized less than 30 days before - it failed to restart. Once again, the impeller was seized at the bushing. The impeller housing and magnet were spotless.

This pump has been in service since 2/2011 and has seized 5 times...

2/2/2012
1/8/2012
12/13/11
10/19/11
4/11/11

Of even greater concern is the time between failures is shortening. I can't even trust it will run for a month.

I'm convinced there is a defect in the impeller bushing. As it appears to be permanently affixed in the impeller bulkhead, I haven't been able to determine a way to inspect it closer. I'm also concerned that there is rust accumulating in the screw threads and on the screws.

Yogre - Any headway with Jeremy at CoralVue? If not, I guess I need to start researching other pumps.

 

[drparker]

Do contact them. I had a problem with a 2 year old BubbleBlaster pump? Email exchange with customer service and 2 business days later FedEx delivered my new pump.

 

[Yogre]

CalmSeasQuest- I've had no luck with Coralvue. I exchanged emails with Jeremy over a week ago. He requested the serial number of my pump, as well as my water parameters and method of cleaning the pump. I sent him this information, since then nothing. I re-sent the email a couple of days ago, no response. I also posted in Coralvue's forum, my post has been ignored, even though Jeremy and Chris have both responded to other posts. Very frustrating. Fortunately, I bought the damn thing from Premium Aquatics, maybe they can help me get a response form Coralvue.

Garage1216- What silicon o-rings are you referring to? I don't seem to have those. When I disassemble the pump, the impeller assembly pulls out as a unit. The impeller spins in a grey plastic collar. The shaft seems to be binding in this grey collar. There doesn't seem to be any way to further disassemble the impeller assembly.

 

[quincy2008]

Coral vue replaced my 14 month old bubble blaster pump in a few days. I sent the old pump to them and they sent a new one right away. Their customer service was great.

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

... Have the bushings or impeller been replaced ever or just cleaned? Would love to see a pic of the screws rusting. All stainless in saltwater will get some very minimal light surface rust, usually from tooling or from using a steel tool on them such as a screwdriver....

How do the clear silicone suspension O-rings look on the bushings? ... Getting angry with it or fiddling with it over and over and posting about it is not a very good solution to your problem....

Garage,

I posted the information to benefit any others that might be having similar issues (which there obviously are.) As for "fiddling" with it, it is my return pump. When it fails, it must be cleaned to be returned to service. I'd hardly call that fiddling. As for a photo of the rusting screw sockets - you'll have to wait a couple weeks for it to fail again.

The rust is not coming from tool marks an the head of the screw. The threaded inserts are rusting.

What o-rings are you referring to - None are visible in my build, nor can the impeller be disassembled from the housing plate to inspect the inside of the bushing.

This pump has already been replaced once by CoralVue, as the same issues were evident when I first purchased it. I initially wrote it off as a problem associated with a new pump as I had acquired this when they were first released. This thought was bolstered by the fact that CoralVue was seemingly surprised that my Water Blaster pump housing is labeled as a Bubble Blaster (as is the replacement I received.)

Sorry to hear Jeremy is not assisting Yogre - I've also emailed Jeremy again. Perhaps with multiple complaints over the same issue, they will respond. I also purchased through Premium Aquatics, maybe they can help get a response.

 

[bamf25]

Wow, scares me to hear these things. I have had my 5000 going for about 1 month now, and it has run flawlessly. Perfect amount of flow for my 2 returns and media reactors on my 120g.