Salinity probe failed..with rust?

[Hookup]

Hey guys,
My salinity probe is no longer functioning. Reads 0mv constantly. There is rust around the "top black plastic cap" where the wire is and the glass. The probe does get wet from the fact that it is in my sump, but it is not submerged as per instructions. That said, it does sit with the now rusty part under water.

Is this unique or have I found myself with a common problem? The platinum probes are not cheap and I'm not really excited about replacing this probe.

Thoughts?

PS: it's late for photos but I can post if you'd like the setup and the rust.

PPS: nothings perfect, not me for sure. Just reporting my findings to see what can be determined and done, if anything.

 

[AQD_ottawa]

Like 99% of probes they are not water proof so if water has got down the wire then yes it is highly likely the probe will fail.

The end is splash proof of course but for rust to build then the unit would have had more than just a splash.

Sorry not a lot can be done, other than make sure the probe cable entry point does not get wet. You can try drying it out over the xmas period over a hot air vent then try it making sure the platinum tip stay moist.

 

[Hookup]

About what I figured the response would be. I'll have to get a new one, or go back to the refractometer.

One thing on this statement;

The end is splash proof of course but for rust to build then the unit would have had more than just a splash.

I think you need to consider this again. Car's do not get submerged, and they do rust. From splashes if you will. In fact items that are submerged oxidize much less due to the lack of water (Oxidization requires oxygen... and all that) for example the titanic was submerged for a while, not much rust... comparatively speaking of course.


There seems to be no question that the probe failed due to water getting inside through the black-cap area.


The question I have is is this common?

If so, product design would be suspect. But I've not ever seen or hear of people's probes rusting...

If not, I would suspect something unique occurred. Either the probe was unique and possibly defective to some degree, or I'm the only person ever to splash it to death... :thumbdown

Of course, the other option is that I submerged it, and then the statement would be am I the only person ever to have submerged it to death... using a probe holder...



Either way, thanks for the reply, but honestly I am a bit disappointed.

 

[AQD_ottawa]

You are the first that has ever contacted me with this in regards to the salinity probe, but that does not mean your probe is manufacturer faulty as it is not designed to get this wet, for it to rust then at some point I would suspect it would have been submerged.

I have a probe holder and mine have got submerged, when this happens i clean and dry the cable end, there is also a thread on here somewhere of a user asking if a floating probe holder could be made for this exact purpose, so no you are not the first to submerge a probe on a probe holder

There are very few probes on the market that are water proof at the input junction, I do not know of one decent probe thats is, and have ben importing probes for 11 years, this is not unique to these probes but industry wide.

One thing to remember is that probes were not designed originally for aquarium use, true fact, they were adopted by the aquatic industry and as such 99.999% of the manufacturers sell the probes for lab use or field work, it has only been the last 5-8 years that there has been an increase in demand for probes within the permenant use salty enviroment we now use these probes in. GHL probes are genuine lab grade they even come with the authenticate certifcate, so the manufacturers main market is not in the reefing world. Therefore to have access to these highly accurate professional probes they have to be used within the context they were produced for, and that means us adopting regimes that keeps such an apparatus safe for long useage, this comes back to my other thread about regular cleaning.

Hope that clarifies a bit further

 

[Hookup]

Seems to clarify it perfectly.

1) No one has ever reported this issue before (must be unique to me or my probe)
2) In no way possible is it the mfg of the probe that is at fault
3) Therefore, 100% it is my fault b/c the probe is/was wet

I'm good.

And I do and did recognize that there was a warning in the box that says "DO NOT SUBMERGE" and it did get submerged for a few seconds (maybe a min) two or four times when doing sump-maintenance. This obviously was / is the cause.