Old Osmolator

[ReefTeacher]

Roger,

I have an old Osmolator, bought it in 2004. It has been to you for repair once and has served me well. Lately I have noticed that when my water level drops, the controll unit cycles the pump on and off in about 5 sec intervals rather than keeping the pump on to refill the tank. It has not really been a problem, so I have been putting it off. Today, the pump was cycling and just stopped. The controller has the yellow light illuminated but the pump is not running. I do not think it is the pump because it is fairly new (a few months) and usually when the pump goes, it starts getting noisy before it needs replacement....this one has been silent. I also checked all the connections to the pump and they are solid.

My question is; given the age of the unit, is it worth sending in for repairs? Let me know

thanks

 

[rvitko]

The issue is a bit complicated, essentially in 2008 we improved the pump and it needs more power to run than it used to and the old controller can only provide 800mA, new ones 1200mA. A new pump will work on an old controller provided the power supply is set to 9V and the wiring is clean, this is hard to determine without cutting back the wire as water tends to wick in and you need to cut past all black wire to clean shiny copper. If it runs in the condition it is, long term a transistor can burn out and then it is beyond repair. In the past we could upgrade the controller to the 1200mA limit and with a new model power supply it would work, but the parts to do this are not available anymore. I would double check the wire and make sure the old power supply is set to 9V.