Smoked Eheim 1262 pump for my skimmer

[mike660r]

This is a lessons learned post...

If you haven't cleaned any of your pumps in the last 6 months. Take some time to pull them out and clean them wether they need it our not. I woke up at 6 yesterday morning to see my wife off to work. I started to smell something burning from the second floor of my home that alarmed me. I ran downstairs to find one of the recirulator pumps on my skimmer dripping water. I am not 100% certain as to what caused the demise of the pump. I can only speculate that it had to much calcium build up or a snail wedged itself in the impeller slot. I started calling around looking for a replacement. I located one at Salty, but they didn't have the proprietary needle wheel impeller that my euro reef skimmer required. I was directed to contact euroreef for a replacement. That's when my weekend was truely ruined. The replacement pump and impeller is 265.00 plus shipping.

The moral of this story is that with a little thought and a good solid proactive maintenance schedule. This mishap and added expense could have been avoided. Take some time and make yourself a document to record your maintenance and make sure to follow it regularly. I hope someone else can avoid this type of unfourtunate incident by me bringing this to light.

Mike C

 

[rj ripetide]

Good looking out for us Mike....Sorry to hear about your mishap
I clean my about every 3 or 4 months ...some need it more, somel less but all need it to some degree. I log my in with my water test info to keep track.

 

[the budman]

i have a calender (of reef pics) hanging on the wall right besides my tank. when i feed i mark it using a code as to what kind of food it was. i put scheduled maintenance items( filter, skimmer cleanings, light bulb changes, swap out phosguard or even medication schedules if it were to happen.) on it ahead of time and then cross them out when i do them. i started doing this when i would feed the fish, walk the dogs, get home and not remember if i had fed the fish (LOL). works for me. if i need to change water this weekend it will be on there so i can make sure i have everything i need.
Budman

 

[itZme]

Something worth checking out is an easy logging program that you can use to track parameters and put notes/reminders in about things you have added and things that need to be serviced or changed out.
This one is free and is easy to understand. You can log as many tanks as you want. Who would remember the exact day you added something after a year or two? With this thing you can look back and say OK I got this frag on March 25th 2007 and the CA was at 415 on that day.

Well here it is. >>> http://www.joejaworski.com/aqualog/ <<<

Mike, glad you caught it before that burning smell got worse and started smelling more like 2x4's burning
Can't you swap out the NW impeller on the regular 1262?

 

[mike660r]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12704866#post12704866 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by itZme
Mike, glad you caught it before that burning smell got worse and started smelling more like 2x4's burning
Can't you swap out the NW impeller on the regular 1262?

Thanks Kevin!

I am glad I caught it before it went that far too. The impeller was fused into the motor body of the 1262. The internal body of the pump melted completely around the impeller. I was able to salvage the needle wheel section. I am not 100% sure if they glue the platic needle wheel on or if it is just pressed on. I really didn't want to risk damaging another impeller to test that question. Also in the outlet of the pump they have a custom made threaded coupler that attaches to the pump. I couldn't break it loose with a large set of channel locks. So, it is glued together in some fashion. I wish it was easy enough to get the pump from dan then order a new impeller, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I was looking at euro reefs site and the price of my skimmer has doubled.. I guess if you take 5 pumps x 300 it adds up fast, not! What is sad is that we have to pay 100 bucks for a few pieces of plastic, cermic and magnets. Where will the madness end?