Power head issues/question.

[alexb518]

My powerhead is shooting out bubbles into the tank. it is fully submerged and does not have one of those hoses hooked up to it. yet, it is still shooting out bubbles every 5 or 10 seconds. has anyone had this happen or what do you think could be wrong with it?

 

[fish 511]

is it constant or in spurts? Is it a new powerhead? Sometimes mine just catches bubles and spits em out real quick...

 

[zoomfish1]

Sounds like an air pocket and it's cavitating. Unplug it for a few seconds, then plug back in. If there is air trapped inside, that should get it out. May take a second time to get all air out.

 

[fish 511]

yeah, thats a good idea, zoomfish. I thought that there could have been little bubbkes in the impeller chamber. Thats essentially the same thing.

 

[Scuba_Steve]

Is it just close enough to the surface that it is able to suck air? Like maxijets have the little airator hole on top that will do this if not submerged far enough

 

[jdieck]

Turn it upside down under water while it is off so the air comes out of the rotor chamber. Then mout it as normal without taking it out and that's it.
Due to lower pressure created in the impeller, some dissolved gases in the water may form small bubbles inside the powerhead so overtime (a month or so) it might accumulate some air back, just repeat the proceduure.

 

[sjj80]

I posted a question earlier regarding this same issue, One piece of advice that made a lot of sense to me was to disassemble and reassemble the powerhead underwater, making sure to check the impeller cavity for trapped air. I haven't done this yet but it sounds like it will work. HTH

 

[Drue]

Couldn't you just wait? I mean, there's no way a fully submerged powerhead could perpetually spit out air bubbles. That's impossible.

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9496550#post9496550 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Drue
Couldn't you just wait? I mean, there's no way a fully submerged powerhead could perpetually spit out air bubbles. That's impossible.

I certainly can, some of those bubbles spit out can be replaced with dissolved gas bubbles formed back in from de-gassing of the water. I can better explain this process to what happen when you open a coke bottle. due to the sudden pressure drop the CO2 in the liquid bubbles out.
If the rotor chamber is already filled with air anu addition of extra gas will spit out. Existing bubbles can also help this de-gassing process.