Top Reason Jebao wavemakers stop working and a super easy FIX for them!!!

Given your background... What are you thoughts on the airline tube mod?

It will work short term. The material is not the best choice for a long term fix.
I would make it out of Delrin plastic if it was me.
US Plastic's carries a 1/4" delrin bushing stock.
search term Acetal Bushing Stock on their site to find the Delrin bushing stock.
I don't have this pump I only use Tunze or Ecotech pumps.
So can not check the sizing of the shaft to find the exact ID and OD
 
You have got to be kidding! Awesome, awesome find! I probably, like tons of others, have thrown away hundreds on motors that may in fact have been usable.. Thread marked and most thank you! Awesome!
 
Awesome! Thank you for posting this up. Just saved me an RW8 I assumed was toast, and such a simple fix.
 
Top Reason Jebao wavemakers stop working and a super easy FIX for them!!!


I have been using Jebao WP and RW wavemaker pumps for a few years now and have had a few die on me (who hasn't). During my use with them I have determined the design of the impeller and where it connects to the outer casing and the inner motor mount points to be the BIGGEST FAILURE points bar none.


With that said, I figured I would share my easy and free solution to keep these pumps running longer (way longer as I haven't had a single failure since modding all of my pumps).


This little ceramic piece that slides over the Impeller = huge design flaw.

What happens is that this little cylinder WILL eventually sieze to the impeller shaft and the pump will seemingly be completely ruined and you'll throw it away"¦fear not, it's not ready for the trash just yet"¦

Picture of the little white ceramic cylinder can be seen here inside the clear rubber gasket:


Pop that nasty little white ceramic cylinder out of the clear housing and grab yourself a pair of scissors and some airline tubing"¦


Here is it cut to the length of the white cylinder piece we will be replacing"¦



Slide it over the shaft"¦.



Here it all is ready to be put together (white cylinders shown in pic but are ready for the trash)"¦



And, here it is fully assembled and ready to be put back into the motor where it WILL DEFINITELY run longer and without needing as much maintenance as before!



Enjoy!
-David
Mine just did the exact same thing.Awesome fix.Mine is working again.I was just checking to see if they sold only the ceramic housing,but to no avail.Thanks for the fix.
 
Tried it on mine but still seized the shaft/propeller after a couple mins. Plus it was never as strong either, even on the highest speed setting. I have a RW-15.
 
another option is to buy a new impeller for $6.99.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/the-rotor-a...d-pump-/161718874057?var=&hash=item25a7322fc9

My WP-25 stopped working after about a year. same problem as described here, the impeller could not rotate freely since the ceramic ring and shaft became tight.
I went and bought the new impeller and its been working for about 8 months now.

My other wp-25 has been working without any problem since day 1.

These pumps are simple motors, which are >100 years old technology and still the same basic design/principle as the day it was invented and should really run forever. I think there may be some manufacturing tolerance where the shaft and ring clearance is too small causing it to eventually seize up.

The RW pumps use the same impeller, in case anyone runs into this problem on RW pump.
 
Another benefit to this simple mod....

I just cleaned my RW20's and found quite a bit of buildup on everything; including the little piece of airline tubing I added to replace the factory ceramic piece. So now instead of having to give that little piece a vinegar bath I just threw the airline house piece in the trash and cut a brand new one :)
 
David, this is a great fix! I have been using the Jebao pumps for over 5 years now. In that time, I have had 1 wp25, 3 wp40 and 2 rw15. Only one was actually flawed. It wasn't even the pump but the power supply. However, they all seem to have issues with the ceramic bearings getting stuck so I would have to clean them fairly often. I currently run 2 RW-15 on Else mode in my 95 gallon tank. I will replace the bearings in one of the pumps and let it go for a while. I'm actually excited about this!
 
I have a rw-15 that I use behind some rockwork, I noticed today that it wasn't running. I tried the airline tubing trick, but it still isn't running. Can the motor block die if the pump is stuck long enough?
 
Thanks Dave for tip. After 8 months one rw8 failed and a rw15. I will try this as soon as I can with my new build. Have you tried ro 1/4 tubing line? It's a hard plastic but meant for higher pressures. I think that would last longer no?
 
Ok, so I've read over the entire post and just have some thoughts.

So the ceramic bearing acts a friction point for the ceramic shaft to spin in. The ID of the bearing and the OD of the shaft must be close in tolerance to keep the shaft/propeller from wobbling, but not to close in tolerance as to keep water out, which acts a a lubricant between the two surfaces. Thus the calcium build up causing the seizing.

If the hardness of the bearing is grossly different than the shaft, softer or harder, possible wear can happen, if not properly lubricated.

The mod on this is using silicone airline tubing with the ceramic shaft riding inside it. If the tubing ID is smaller than the ceramic shaft OD, the spinning shaft will wear the silicone tubing. Thus having to replace the tubing. So abraded silicone would then be introduced into the water column. Do know if that would be a good thing.

Also, the tolerance between the magnet and the block housing may be compromised, allowing the magnet to wear against the block housing using silicone.

So what's the answer? Going to do some reading/research.
 
Fantastic fix. I too noticed that this is the actual point of weakness that causes the pumps to slow when dirtied. I discovered it when using my WP 25 as a mixing pump. In the mixing bucket I naturally get a bit more precipitate in the form of "sand grains" (though theyre much much smaller than typical aragonite grains, smaller than even sugar grains). The WP25 seized up, and I was frustrated, because this would be the third jebao that has done this in the past 2 years (why I went all Tunze in my display, another story though). When taking it apart this little ceramic "bearing" came out, which was new, because it always stayed in place in the cage when removing the impeller, On twisting it, it took some force, but when it did, lots of sand came sprinkling out. After removing the "bearing" and rinsing it, I put it back together and wa-la, it works. It's been doing this every 2-3 mixes though, so I think i'll replace those pieces with the airline tubing mod. I'll actually be investigating closer into some of my older WP pumps that suddenly stopped spinning. Maybe that's what happened and maybe they actually still work! I'm at work but will investigate this when I get home
 
Wow. I hope I haven't thrown out my old WP40 yet!!! It seized once a while back, I soaked it in vinegar, worked for a few days, then stopped. I never throw anything away, just ask my wife, so I would be surprised if I didn't still have it.
 
Just happen to me, one of my RW 8's seized up and when I tried to loosen the ceramic bushing with needle nose pliers it broke apart. I put it back together anyway and used it the way it was, it actually worked and I didn't see any wobble. But, I ordered a new one anyway and will repair this one with this fix and use it as a back up. Thanks for the tip!
 
If the hardness of the bearing is grossly different than the shaft, softer or harder, possible wear can happen, if not properly lubricated.

.

Soft brass bushings supporting hard steel shafts in a lot of big machinery and small things too, soft babbit bearings on engine crankshafts, hard steel balls on a hard steel race, they all need lubricated.

Up to now, every bushing type mechanism I've seen used a soft bushing and a much harder shaft. Ceramic on ceramic made me a little itchy from the getgo. I wonder how well Teflon would work?
 
just found this thread thanks to bent. I will try this on my rw20 on thursday night to see if it works.

Did anyone have any problems with this not working?
 
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