Hello All:
Back in May of this year I posted a request for info on bilge pumps as mentioned in Aquarium Frontiers. I decided to give a 1100 g.p.h bilge pump from RULE a try.
These pumps are rated for only 2500 hours of life and really not made for continuous duty. I gave Rule a call and they said that the pumps could last a lot longer than the rated 2500 hours. I believe their bench record was over 1 year at 24/7
I liked the fact that it runs on 12 volts and relatively safe. varying the voltage varies the output of the pump(try doing that with a powerhead). I powered my pump using a old 250 watt computer power supply. This limited the total output of the pump somehat because the output was only 11.8 volts, a tad shy of the 13 that a battery would put out.
I put the pump in operation around the end of May. It rewarded me with a tremendous amount of water movement in my tank. I ran the bilge pump 24/7. Very happy with the pump
Last week I heard a tremendous screeching sound coming from my aquarium. I narrowed it down to the bilge pump and removed it for inspection. I noticed what looked like some charcoal at the end of the spindle by the impeller vanes. Kinda shrugged it off.
Cleaned the pump and put it back into service. It worked on and off for a couple more days, but the output was dramatically reduced.
So basically I got 4 1/2 months of use which was kind of dissapointing. I might be able to get a year out of it if I only ran it for 10 hours a day. One can only hope.
Since the pump was toast I thought I would hack the thing apart since they are a sealed unit. I was SHOCKED to find a smelly black oil in the body of the pump. Maybe about a teaspoon.
Rule told me that these pumps were NOT oilfilled. I tried to start the pump but it would only emit smoke from the pump. Burning around the brushes. I don't know if the oil was from the heat in the motor melting some internal components.
I did lose a couple of Acropora frags last week and I am pretty sure it was attributed to the failure of the pump and oil possibly leaching out. I believe some of the oil was leaking past the spindle, much like the RIO's. I did not lose any fish or any softies. So who knows could be acoinidence. I noticed no oil in the tank or in the skimmer
I was going to check with Rule tomorrow and see if they can give me an idea what this oil was.
Anyway thought I would pass this on to any interested.
Back in May of this year I posted a request for info on bilge pumps as mentioned in Aquarium Frontiers. I decided to give a 1100 g.p.h bilge pump from RULE a try.
These pumps are rated for only 2500 hours of life and really not made for continuous duty. I gave Rule a call and they said that the pumps could last a lot longer than the rated 2500 hours. I believe their bench record was over 1 year at 24/7
I liked the fact that it runs on 12 volts and relatively safe. varying the voltage varies the output of the pump(try doing that with a powerhead). I powered my pump using a old 250 watt computer power supply. This limited the total output of the pump somehat because the output was only 11.8 volts, a tad shy of the 13 that a battery would put out.
I put the pump in operation around the end of May. It rewarded me with a tremendous amount of water movement in my tank. I ran the bilge pump 24/7. Very happy with the pump
Last week I heard a tremendous screeching sound coming from my aquarium. I narrowed it down to the bilge pump and removed it for inspection. I noticed what looked like some charcoal at the end of the spindle by the impeller vanes. Kinda shrugged it off.
Cleaned the pump and put it back into service. It worked on and off for a couple more days, but the output was dramatically reduced.
So basically I got 4 1/2 months of use which was kind of dissapointing. I might be able to get a year out of it if I only ran it for 10 hours a day. One can only hope.
Since the pump was toast I thought I would hack the thing apart since they are a sealed unit. I was SHOCKED to find a smelly black oil in the body of the pump. Maybe about a teaspoon.
Rule told me that these pumps were NOT oilfilled. I tried to start the pump but it would only emit smoke from the pump. Burning around the brushes. I don't know if the oil was from the heat in the motor melting some internal components.
I did lose a couple of Acropora frags last week and I am pretty sure it was attributed to the failure of the pump and oil possibly leaching out. I believe some of the oil was leaking past the spindle, much like the RIO's. I did not lose any fish or any softies. So who knows could be acoinidence. I noticed no oil in the tank or in the skimmer
I was going to check with Rule tomorrow and see if they can give me an idea what this oil was.
Anyway thought I would pass this on to any interested.
