- Location
- East Stroudsburg, PA
Ok, so I got one from BRS.
It performed fine the first time after getting the pump primed. Well, then three times throughout the night I woke up from the audible alarm that sounds when the back up float switch has to shut down the pump. I e mailed BRS and TUNZE about it. After not hearing from TUNZE BRS immediately e mailed me a return shipping label and said they'd have no problems honoring the warranty since I had just goten it from them.
I had thougt my electric eye was bad. Well heres the emails to and from TUNZE about it:
Hello,
I have just received a new osmolator 3155 that I ordered from Bulk Reef Supply. I think the electronic eye is not functioning. I noticed that the glass cone isn't completely straight on the plastic stem but I made sure it was solid before installing and it looked like it was sealed.
The initial function was fine when it performed it's first top off but since being on overnight the safety sensor had been activated due to it overfilling 3 times. Each time I removed 2-3 large cups of water to deactivate the alarm but finally had to unplug it to troubleshoot it this morning.
Upon plugging it back in it immediately filled the chamber of my Red Sea Max 250 until the safety sensor had to shut it down once again. There are no bubbles formed around the eye as the manual states as a possible reason, so I believe the eye is defective. I look forward to hearing from you in this matter.
Sincerely,
James Curran
This is the reply I got from TUNZE today:
Jim,
The factory forwarded me your email today regarding the osmolator issue. I tried to call and your mailbox is full. The sensors aren't defective very frequently because they are tested at the factory and everytime you plug it in. If you plug it in and all 4 LED's light up and then a green LED, that is a start up check and green means the sensor passed. I suspect one of the following issues-
When new, the sensor (which is plastic not glass) repels water and will have a film of air clinging to it, this dissipates in a few days, a rinse with hot soapy water will immediately solve this.
If the tank is small (below 40 gallons) the osmolator deliberately overfills for 10 seconds (about 1-2 cups of water) this is done to reduce the number of on and off cycles in a day. This will be shown by a green and yellow light for a brief time. On small tanks you should open the controller and turn down the potentiometer for pump flow rate, this will reduce the pumping rate.
Both of these features are brand new (since Nov) and may not be covered in the manual if it was a printing made before March.
The other thing to check for is that water is not siphoning, it is critical that the top off hose terminates above the water level of the reservoir. I.e, if you reservoir contains 16" of water and sits on the ground, the top off hose has to be clamped to the tank or sump such that it higher than 16" at the end or water will siphon after the pump turns off. For example you clamp it to a 14" tall sump and have 16" of water in the reservoir and they are side by side on the floor, 2" of water will siphon.
Roger
The soapy water bath and rinse worked like a charm- so anyone buying one new just wash the eye before installing and you won't have any issues--I really specifically wanted to post this so anyone that gets one for their nano would know about the feature of being able to turn down the flow rate since it was not printed in my book and it may not be in yours either.
It performed fine the first time after getting the pump primed. Well, then three times throughout the night I woke up from the audible alarm that sounds when the back up float switch has to shut down the pump. I e mailed BRS and TUNZE about it. After not hearing from TUNZE BRS immediately e mailed me a return shipping label and said they'd have no problems honoring the warranty since I had just goten it from them.
I had thougt my electric eye was bad. Well heres the emails to and from TUNZE about it:
Hello,
I have just received a new osmolator 3155 that I ordered from Bulk Reef Supply. I think the electronic eye is not functioning. I noticed that the glass cone isn't completely straight on the plastic stem but I made sure it was solid before installing and it looked like it was sealed.
The initial function was fine when it performed it's first top off but since being on overnight the safety sensor had been activated due to it overfilling 3 times. Each time I removed 2-3 large cups of water to deactivate the alarm but finally had to unplug it to troubleshoot it this morning.
Upon plugging it back in it immediately filled the chamber of my Red Sea Max 250 until the safety sensor had to shut it down once again. There are no bubbles formed around the eye as the manual states as a possible reason, so I believe the eye is defective. I look forward to hearing from you in this matter.
Sincerely,
James Curran
This is the reply I got from TUNZE today:
Jim,
The factory forwarded me your email today regarding the osmolator issue. I tried to call and your mailbox is full. The sensors aren't defective very frequently because they are tested at the factory and everytime you plug it in. If you plug it in and all 4 LED's light up and then a green LED, that is a start up check and green means the sensor passed. I suspect one of the following issues-
When new, the sensor (which is plastic not glass) repels water and will have a film of air clinging to it, this dissipates in a few days, a rinse with hot soapy water will immediately solve this.
If the tank is small (below 40 gallons) the osmolator deliberately overfills for 10 seconds (about 1-2 cups of water) this is done to reduce the number of on and off cycles in a day. This will be shown by a green and yellow light for a brief time. On small tanks you should open the controller and turn down the potentiometer for pump flow rate, this will reduce the pumping rate.
Both of these features are brand new (since Nov) and may not be covered in the manual if it was a printing made before March.
The other thing to check for is that water is not siphoning, it is critical that the top off hose terminates above the water level of the reservoir. I.e, if you reservoir contains 16" of water and sits on the ground, the top off hose has to be clamped to the tank or sump such that it higher than 16" at the end or water will siphon after the pump turns off. For example you clamp it to a 14" tall sump and have 16" of water in the reservoir and they are side by side on the floor, 2" of water will siphon.
Roger
The soapy water bath and rinse worked like a charm- so anyone buying one new just wash the eye before installing and you won't have any issues--I really specifically wanted to post this so anyone that gets one for their nano would know about the feature of being able to turn down the flow rate since it was not printed in my book and it may not be in yours either.
