Tunze 9015 skimmer. Pump stopped working:(

[oxymoron]

So the pump at the base of this unit has stopped working for me
I live in Canada and find myself on a tight budget after the holidays without a working skimmer
Any ideas on what would be the cheapest solution for me to get the skimmer up and running again?
Ive pulled the entire skimmer apart and cleaned everything very well with vinegar. Also left the pump overnight unplugged in vinegar hoping it might magically come back to life. But sadly no luck
Any suggestions would be great. Thanks for your time

 

[shawnz28]

How old is the skimmer? Warranty is 2 years from date of purchase with a reciept.

When you cleaned it you pulled out the impeller and bearing behind it as well? Do the brake shoes retract and extend if you twist the impeller?

 

[oxymoron]

Sadly I bought this unit secondhand from a fellow reefer on a Canadian forum and I doubt the warranty is still valid.
For some reason when I took this apart it appeared to be a sealed pump unit. Let me grab it and take a second look here
Thanks for the reply

 

[oxymoron]

strange.
I plugged theunit in and heard it come to life real quick
Unplugged it and filled the sink with water. It ran for about 3 seconds and then dead again.
Any ideas?

 

[oxymoron]

ok so i plugged it back in submerged in water. If i touch the impeller it begins to rotate but while making a louder chattering noise as if something is blocking it from spinning freely. Eventually it peters out and need to be "nudged again to start again. I can feel the pump humming.
Is the pump and impeller sealed as one piece? Id love to open it up and get at the insides but I'm not sure how to get in there.

 

[shawnz28]

It alll comes apart for maint, and likely what it may need.

Take a look at the manual starting on page 76 thru to about 85
http://www.tunze.com/fileadmin/gebrauchsanleitungen/x9010.8888.pdf

 

[oxymoron]

Thank you kindly.
I was able to get it open and pulled the magnet/impeller assembly out and cleaned it.
When I put it back in and plug it in with out the impeller housing overtop I notice the same chattering noise as stated before?
The impeler seems to be spinning nicely, but is making a noise I'm not used to hearing.
Perhaps soak in vinegar overnight?
Also there was any noticeable buildup that I could see...

 

[shawnz28]

Now thats it is apart I would give it a soak. It doesnt always work well when everything is still together.

Do the brakes pop out and retract freely if you hold the magnet and rotate the white impeller? also since you have it apart be sure to remove the upper bearing behind the impeller and clean as well as make sure the hole down the center of the magnet is clear

 

[oxymoron]

the brakes do pop out when i spin the impeller in one direction.
Hole down the center of the magnet is see through.
The bearing below the impeller is giving me issues and im afraid of breaking it.
Is it imperative that i remove this piece? or will a vinegar soak overnight perhaps be enough?
Thanks alot for your help by the way. It is muchly appreciated.

 

[oxymoron]

So I've read the diagram on how to take the entire impeller assembly apart and to be honest am a little bit intimidated.
I paid a few bucks for this unit and don't want to mess anything up.
Im hoping that an overnight vinegar soak on the impeller assembly will hopefully get rid of the chattering noise and free things up.
Thanks again for your help and hopefully this will work.
Ill update in the morning with my progress.

 

[shawnz28]

I dont think you need to take the whole impeller apart just out. The bearing in the back is actually not to hard as there is a trick. Just get a long screw, mid sized phillips screwdriver, or large nail and stick it in the whole, give it a bit of angled pressure and pull. While it is not imparative it cant hurt. Other wise try to get a brush in there and a good rinse.

In the end I think the worse case is you might end up replacing the impeller if the units has some age to it.

 

[rvitko]

My guess is the brakes are damaged or the cogs on the magnetic rotor that engage the brakes. I would get a new 3000.600 drive unit and install all the included parts to replace your old ones. I would bet the magnet is turning but the impeller is engaging only intermittently. You can test this by holding the magnet in one hand and turning the impeller in the other, they should not spin seperately, turned clockwise the brakes should be retracted and it should spin as a solid unit, turned counter clockwise the brakes should pop out half way and you should encounter resistance, it should take a firm twist to eject the brakes completely, if they fall out easily, this is the likely problem.

 

[oxymoron]

Thank you for all your help.
The skimmer is back in the sump working as intended and sounding normal.
Love you guys

 

[jerryvan]

Hello--I am from ONT. Canada and also have a 9015. I have had it for over 2 yrs and never have been happy with the unit. How does your work and do you get a lot of skim. I get about a 1/4 in. in my cup in about 2 weeks. Does your give you more than that? I have had mine back to my LFS a few times with not much luck. He has checked it and put in a new motor and still the same. Thanks Jerry

 

[oxymoron]

Hello--I am from ONT. Canada and also have a 9015. I have had it for over 2 yrs and never have been happy with the unit. How does your work and do you get a lot of skim. I get about a 1/4 in. in my cup in about 2 weeks. Does your give you more than that? I have had mine back to my LFS a few times with not much luck. He has checked it and put in a new motor and still the same. Thanks Jerry

I have had mine for about a year and have never been happy with the amount of skimmate that it pulls either. I've spent hours troubleshooting it with the hope of being able to have it skim properly and eventually gave up on it.

The common answer that I hear is that well maybe theres just not that much to pull from your tank, but I have a heavy bioload and know that it should be doing a better job|

I had a 100 dollar skimmer in there before and was pulling more It is in a 90 gallon with 20 gallon sump at the moment with a heavy bioload and should be heavily overrated (according to the specs) for this size of tank. Which is what I was going for.

The size of the footprint is the only reason I'm still running it and I plan on replacing it when a similarly small footprinted skimmer crosses my path.

I do use other tunze products and am happy with them and the customer support is second to none. Unfortunently I am a believer that there is something wrong with this particular model

Since getting this skimmer back and running I've only pulled 1/3 of a cup of skimmate

 

[smatter]

Replace the cup with a 9010 cup.

 

[rvitko]

My guess would be the impeller is wrong or the venturi nozzle is broken/defective. The factory had complaints of the pump not starting on lower voltage, especially in Latin America so for a while the impellers were undersized to ensure they would start, last year the coil was beefed up to address this issue. The shorter one is only 1mm shorter, but it makes a substantial difference. Probably the best solution would be to have the distributor contact the factory and get the latest impeller. They now make the 9015 with only the bigger impeller, but any older stock would likely be the same size. The 9015 does skim very dry and the skimmate tends to be thick, not as much will collect as a result.