T-4 died

[technomex]

My T-4 return pump died last night when the power went off. Someone across the highway took out a transformer. The pump never came back on. I still have my tunze's running in the tank for water movement. Do you think I have time to order one online so that don't have to pay lfs prices for a new one?

Fidel

[dan]

did you have any media in your filter? if not than you have time because all your bactor is in the tank. it sould be ok if you have a lot of live rock. my tank went down one time for 16 hours with nothing running. no pumps,no lights, no nothing. everything was fine all that time. the only thing that suffered was zenia in my zenia tank.

[alton]

Take your pump apart and brush it with vinegar. Take 6' of hose and fill with vinegar and install on your pump and run it for 5 min. Run another 5 with plain water Good luck

[captexas]

Have you tried unplugging it a few times? Those pumps have thermal protection switches in them to shut themselves off if they are run dry. The power surge and outage may have damaged that switch to where it won't reset. If you can't get it to reset, try taking it apart and cleaning it. Something may have gotten into the wet end while it was shut down.

[technomex]

Yep. I plugged it in and out several times. Nothing.

[brewercm]

Have you tried to use a BFH on it yet?

Actually sounds like it may need a good cleaning inside to posibly free up the insides if that will make it work like Chris said.

[don-n-sa]

What's BFH?

come on Josh!!?? you know what it stands for...here is a hint

BIG !@#@#$! _ A _ _ E R

[captexas]

LOL, I was kind of curious myself. ;-)

[alexwolf]

LOL, I was kind of curious myself.


LOL and i thought i was the only one who missed it :)

[technomex]

It is alive!! I craked it open last night. It had so much calcium build-up, I had trouble prying the impeller off. Lots of scrubbing with vinegar and baking soda made it all come off. You can see a big difference in the flow.

[GaryP]

Fidel,

What happens is that the pump is able to keep operating although its still gunked up on the inside. When it stopped, it wasn't able to overcome the gunk to restart. Starting is always the most demanding time for a pump. Some large industrial pumps have seperate starter to give them enough power to get started. I would suggest setting up a schedule for routine maintenance of your pumps, especially if you are running a reef tank at relatively high calcium and alkalinity.

Scale will form in areas where there is a large pressure change, such as a pump impellor. Even though it may have been running, I think you could see how it may not have been performing at optimum performance. The scale and gunk in there produces friction on the impellor that slows it down and puts added strain on the motor. IMO, routine maintenance will extend the life expectancy of a pump.

[brewercm]

Oops, forgot I posted that yesterday. Should have checked just in case someone didn't know what I meant by BFH. Don was correct, "Big F%@#ing Hammer".

Glad to here that you are back up and running again.

[Jenn]

LOL, I had no idea either. BFH...good one I won't forget!!!!!

[brewercm]

Yeah, it was one of those highly technical tools we carried around during my flight line days in the Air Force. A BFH, super glue, and Duct tape and you could fix anything. ;)

[GaryP]

What, no bailing wire?