Vortech falling?

[kristyandmike]

Hi guys-

We have three Vortechs now, one mp20 in our small tank and two mp40s in the big reef and we've been very, very happy with them. We have started to have problems with one of them (from the big tank) falling off the glass occasionally. It will fall and when we reset it, will fall again almost immediately. Then finally after resetting it a whole bunch of times, often 9 or 10 or whatever, it will magically decide to stay for a week. Then the process starts over again. If we watch it when it takes its fall, the inside unit starts to spin for a split second, and then drops to the sand.

We have read around on the net and not found much of an explanation or suggestion as to what we need to do to correct it. When we reset it, we have tried cleaning the glass there, giving it a firm push to seal it against the glass, making slight adjustments in placement until it seems to have the snuggest hold. We have also played with the "spacer" function and adjusted it one space smaller, and then later adjusted it one space bigger.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Anyone else encountered this problem? Glass is 3/8" by the way... only the one gives us this problem. Never happened with the other two.

Thanks for reading!

 

[DarG]

Take the wet side out ... the bearing and rotor are possibly binding. May just need a thorough cleaning and a vinegar soak.
You need to remove the nut that holds propeller/rotor/ magnet together. Remove all the parts and pull the grey rotor out from the bearing. That's the last grey colored piece that fits into the hole (bearing is in the holed) in the wet side base. Be careful not to lose the washer that sits between the magnet and the underside of the base. You will see the bearing in the hole in the base when you pull it all apart. Soak the base in vinegar along with the grey rotor and anything else that has calcium/hard water deposits on it ... or coralline algae.

If the rotor is binding in the bearing then instead of the propeller spinning freely, the motor can just spin the entire wet side assembly off the glass. Soak it, make sure all deposits are free from the surfaces of the bearing and the rotor as well as the base/frame. Then put eveything back together. Dont overtighten the nut. There should be some up down play in the entire assembly. Just snug the nut down firmly.

See if that fixes it. If not, it could possibly need a new bearing and rotor so at that point, contact ecotech and see if they want the entire unit sent to them for inspection/repair or if they think that the new parts will fix it.

 

[kristyandmike]

Hey DarG-
Thanks for such a detailed response. Really helpful. We'll give that a go and let you know if it helps out!

Many thanks!

 

[DarG]

Good luck and yes, please post back with the outcome.

 

[nikon187]

There is an ecotech forum here in the sponser section with some people with the exact same problem. Look into the bearing issue or contact ecotech for some replacment parts.

 

[kristyandmike]

Well, how did I miss that? Talk about the wrong search terms... Thanks nikon! That certainly points me in the right direction!

In the meantime we have taken it apart for cleaning and it's showing staying power, but we'll probably contact Ecotech anyhow.

 

[Johnny C]

KristyandMike-

I'm pretty sure that it will need to be sent in to EcoTech.

Whenever this happens, they suggest contacting them at service@ecotechmarine.com or 610.954.8480 ext 106, they'll have it taken care of. HTH

 

[spsfarmer09]

i am having the same problem with one of my mp40w's. I called steve at ecotech and he said something happened to a batch of them and he will ask you to send him some pics after you take it apart and he will send you the parts to solve the problem.

 

[eho72]

They send me a new shaft and bearing. The problem has been resolved. There are a lot of people with the same issue with the wetside falling off.

 

[DarG]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15504484#post15504484 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by eho72
They send me a new shaft and bearing. The problem has been resolved. There are a lot of people with the same issue with the wetside falling off.

Exactly why cleaning the unit as I described can fix the problem. If it binds up due to calcium deposits it can spin off just as described. The OP has a working unit that started to fall after it was in use for a while.

 

[luther1200]

I had a similar problem, and a good cleaning fixed it perfectly on my MP20.

 

[spsfarmer09]

i called to see what the issue was with them. They said they did a batch of about 1000 of them and the machine made the bearing s a millimeter to big

 

[DarG]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15508173#post15508173 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spsfarmer09
i called to see what the issue was with them. They said they did a batch of about 1000 of them and the machine made the bearing s a millimeter to big

Interesting. That should show up right away I would think.
If a Vortech has been up and running fine for a while and then starts to fall off, it is well worth giving the bearing and shaft a good vinegar soak and cleaning. That will fix them a lot of the time. If that doesnt work, then more than likely a new bearing is in order.

But they recently changed the bearing/shaft/propeller. So depending on what style one had they may need a new frame/bearing - shaft and propeller.

I love how they continually improve the product but it's hard to keep up