won't foam

E

essencereefer

New member
HI Roger, my 4610 (?, can't remember the type now) has been working flawlessly for 3 yrs. Clean it about every 6mos well, the cup, weekly. All of the sudden with a new set up, just moved my system, it won't faom. I can't get any decent amount of small bubbles. Like it's working at half capacity or something. Has this happened in the past to anyone here? Any advice on some fixes. Checked for a clogged air line, and clogged water intake. Nothing seems out of the ordinary.
thanks
jay
 
currently having the same issues with mine. after the first few weeks of tuning it in it ran like a champ. now after almost 6 months i can't get enough bubbles for it to actually pull anything up into the cup
 
Mine has worked quite well for over 3yrs. Never had a problem getting it "dialed" in. Skimmed like a champ. But it just seems to be working at half capacity right now. Wondering if the pump didn't sustain some damage in the move.
 
Have you tried pulling the pump apart and cleaning it? I was told this would help my situation which it did but a week later I'm having the same issue and it isn't helping now.
 
I just went through this with my reef dynamics skimmer. I just needed to turn the adjustment tube like 3/4s of the way around and bubbles shot up. I slowly turned it the other way over a few days until I found a sweet spot. I've been emptying the cup twice a week now.
 
Essence, we are here Mon-Fri, posts don't get a reply over the weekend.

I would open the pump and make sure it is clean and the ceramic bearings are seated in the sockets and the shaft which is part of the magnet and needlewheel is not stuck in the bearings. Also make sure the airline is not clogged by salt or calcium build up.
 
Hi Roger. Thanks. Is it possible that the shaft is off center? I took the whole motor apart and had a time and a half getting the seal back on. The shaft wouldn't line up with the bottom plate of the pump. It's the only thing I can think of now. It just isn't producing any bubbles, but it's moving water. So the needlewheel must be spinning. maybe it's just not spinning enough. How would I fix an off center ceramic shaft?
Thanks
 
That is not likely, it would have to be broken and one end would pull out of the magnet. It is hard to reassemble as the magnet pulls to the side wall and then the shaft is off center, but when it is all reassembled the shaft should be centered in the pump. It does take some finagling to get everything lined up and reassembled.
 
This would be an air intake issue, most likely the silencer is clogged or water is being drawn in through the air intake.
 
Im at a loss. In 20 years I've cleaned and tinkered with a lot of skimmers. Nothing explains why this one isn't working. No blockages. When I close off the air, the water flow overflowing everything tells me the impeller is working fine. It's just not making small bubbles. All I get is large bubbles. This one has worked flawlessly for almost 3 yrs now. I hesitate to buy another without knowing what the problem is. This is very frustrating. I have also tried various water depths. Can a pump alone be ordered?
 
Yes, part 9410.040. Has anything changed that could affect the surface tension of the water? Large water change, dosing an additive or medication, a new food, a new filter bag or floss or a chemical media (ion absorption resin)? These would be my primary culprits, they alter the "slipperiness" of the water and change the size and travel of bubbles as a result. My only other idea would be a problem with the air intake volute on the pump or that the T pieces that ejects the bubbles in the skimmer is damaged or missing.
 
I bought another impeller as I couldn't figure out what else it could be. First thing I noticed was the new impeller has a slightly larger circumference with respects to the size of the needle wheel plate. Fits fine. But it pushes a lot more water. It foams like crazy so that's a good thing. but it now moves so much water it sounds like a full on water fall.
Any ideas for quieting it down. I tried moving the effluent tube up and down but it didn't do much.
 
If the impeller has more pins than what you had, something is wrong, either the impeller is a 9420.047_A or a 9410.047 without the _A, basically the 50Hz version which is always bigger than the American 60Hz version. I would double check the packaging but it is also possible the wrong one was put in the right packaging.
 
Well not sure which it is as packaging is gone. But no question the impeller plate that the pins attach to is bigger than the last one. As such it moves more water as well as air. THis whole process has kind of ****ed me off. Not your fault. This industry is full of crap. After 22 yrs I thought i had a serviceable skimmer. And it did work for a while.
I have removed the efluent pipe completely to try and deal with the npise as well as the height of the water column. Of course now all I have is micro bubbles. Those I can deal with.
 
Can you post a picture of what you got? I don't have any control over this as Canada has a seperate distribution network. I can only say that I know of no changes in the 9410 needlewheel though I have never seen a wrong 9410 impeller come through here, I have seen wrong impellers of 9004, 9011 and 6025/6045 so they do happen. I wouldn't get too worked up about it, it can be resolved but we need to find out what exactly is wrong. A correct one should have just 2 rows of pins. The size of the disk is not very important, if that is a bit bigger it would not worry me. If it has an extra row of pins, then it is wrong.
 
I totally understand this is not your error Roger. Please forgive the tone. It is more that this worked so bloody well for so long. YEs it has three rows. It is too large. The guys I bought it from, the original unit said it was the right one. Then possibly the wrong one. I put the old impeller back in. Not as good as once was, and noisier, but will suffice till the right one arrives.
 
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