Tunze 9415 Problem

[sfb911]

Hi folks,

Hoping to get some feedback here and determine if this is an adjustment issue or if I need to get my pump replaced.

Currently have my Tunze 9415 on my system (two tanks plumbed into a single sump, total water volume of around 180 gallons). I've been running this skimmer for about 12 months without any issue at all.

Recently, I feel like the skimmer is under performing. I'm skimmate on the walls of the cup but very little is making into the cup and after coming home from a business trip today I noticed that I seem to have a lot of build up in the middle chamber of the skimmer.

When I first notice the low performance about a week and a half ago, I did clean the entire skimmer including the pump which was dissembled and given a soak in water / vinegar.

Any thoughts? Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[rvitko]

When you soaked it, did you remove the needle wheel first and are the bushings reinserted in the pump and not stuck to the shaft of the needle wheel? You will need to use a dowel or flat tool (pen, butt of a screwdriver) to reseat the bushings, the impeller assembly will not properly reinsert them and then the drag can cause low performance. A faulty pump is not the likely cause, essentially an AC pump does 3600 RPM or it doesn't, it can be slowed a little by drag but more likely, the air intake is clogged at some point or the silencer is leaking so water is being drawn in. I would test the silencer by removing it and blowing into one hose while plugging the other, if it holds pressure and you look like a trumpet player it is good, if air leaks out, the silencer can draw in water and cut the air flow. Check for kinks or plugged fittings (salt creep). Water quality can also be a cause of some issues and if anything changed in your additives or maintenance routine, that is a possible cause. It can also happen that the needle wheel has separated from the magnet, but this generally causes noise and is rare as the magnet has a hexagon shaft that the needle wheel is glued to, it has to rise up off the hexagon shaft and will then rub and make a lot of noise.

 

[sfb911]

Hi Roger,

Thanks for the info. I didn't actually pull the bushings from the housing when I took it apart. I'll give that a shot tonight and report back.

Nothing has changed that should have caused this problem, but your point about it being a DC pump and either running or not is good so perhaps its environmental.

I did clean the whole body etc so no creep / kinks that I can see.

More to follow once I take the pump apart again and make sure everything is seated properly.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[sfb911]

OK,

So I took the pump apart again and removed the bushings they are fine. However, I noticed that the needle wheel separates completely from the magnet with little to no effort and can be slid completely off of the shaft. I'm guessing this should not happen based on your previous post.


Can you point me in the correct direction to obtain a new needle wheel impeller? The pump itself is a model 9420.04

 

[rvitko]

Less than 2 years old that would be warranty, are you in the US? If so PM me.

 

[sfb911]

Sent you a PM

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