Oil in Tunze powerheads?

[iwishtofish]

I ordered a Tunze 6065 pump from a major online vendor, and when I opened the Tunze box, the pump had drops of "water" inside around the prop and housing. Nothing else in the overall delivery box was wet or leaking. These beads of liquid have not yet evaporated from the pump after a day and a half.

Is this water? Oil? Why? If water, is it simply not evaporating due to high moisture content in my room (I run a dehumidifier at 60%). I'm also wondering if it may be salt residue drawing water from the air, although the vendor is highly reputable and doesn't take returns on used pumps.

Safe to use?

 

[shawnz28]

It is just a bit of residual glycerin solution which is used to dry test the pumps. It is harmless but can be washed off before use if desired.

 

[iwishtofish]

Awesome to know! Thanks

 

[rvitko]

As Shawn said, before boxing every pump gets a final test, they take a pipette and fill it with about 5ml of a 20% glycerin solution and plug it into a Watt meter and test that it runs and within specs. This is just a lubricant for a dry test run and is harmless and will break down quickly in the tank. It sounds like this one may have gotten a double dose of this solution as usually they are barely damp, just a few drops. The glycerin has a sticky, oily feel.

 

[iwishtofish]

Thank you, as well, Roger. I am eager to run the pump in my tank!