Problem with cleaning of Stream

[johnnstacy]

I was cleaning my stream today but I can't get the shaft to come of out the pump unit. The entire assembly is stuck in there. Sometimes I can get it to turn but when I pull on the impeller section, it just wont come out. I'm afraid to pull to hard and break the impeller off but that is how hard I am pulling. Any suggestions?

 

[rvitko]

There really is no way to get it out at this point without breaking it. You can try just pulling hard on it but odds are the shaft will break. The next step is to drive a screw into the plastic remains of the shaft and down about 3/4" in, I use a 2.5" deck screw. Then pull this with a pair of pliers. This usually gets it out.

 

[johnnstacy]

Well, I did get it out but not sure what the condition is yet. The entire inside area was coated in white. I can't believe the thing was actually turning in there. I am going to let it soak for awhile and get that calcium off. Roger, you may as well quote me for the internal shaft just in case.

 

[rvitko]

If it didn't break clean off you likely are fine and just need to clean everything- just be careful of two things. The upper bearing is likely stuck to the magnet- slowly pry it off working around the edges with a slotted screwdriver. The hole in the center of the magnet is likely cemented closed. Take off the shaft by removing the brake shoes and clean the hole out, you may need a small drill bit to do it.

 

[johnnstacy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8694563#post8694563 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rvitko
If it didn't break clean off you likely are fine and just need to clean everything- just be careful of two things. The upper bearing is likely stuck to the magnet- slowly pry it off working around the edges with a slotted screwdriver. The hole in the center of the magnet is likely cemented closed. Take off the shaft by removing the brake shoes and clean the hole out, you may need a small drill bit to do it.

Great information. Thanks. Until today, I never knew that the hole in the center of the magnet was supposed to go all the way through! I normally do not remove the impeller but found that if you work at it, you should actually be able to see all the way through the magnet.

Now for some bad news. Everything is working fine now but....I was chatting in another forum about how great the muratic acid idea was. Someone recommended I use it on my deltec skimmer. It worked great so shoot....I figured I would use it on the streams also. It did a great job on them too but somone posted that muratic acid is a no no with steams. So should I only use vinegar or is there something else to use? How strong of a vinger solution?

So the streams are running good. I will for sure need to resplace those large orange o-rings soon. It is getting more difficult to get the housing on. The o-rings are stretched out. Is this common?

 

[rvitko]

The orings tend to swell from the acid, even vinegar long term will do that. People tend to think plastic is impervious, it actually forms hydrogen bonds and can gain up to 5% of its mass in a strong acid. With most pumps the tolerances are large and this isn't an issue but to get such high energy efficiency our tolerances are necessarily very tight. Straight vinegar is fine. I generally would just keep the duration to a few hours and scrub it warm water with a tooth brush to remove it after that, this short duration tends to minimize swelling of the oring. FWIW, the oring is only a noise dampner and not a critical part on the Streams.