Filter Failure

[DOGGA]

Hey everone,

I bought a FX5 flauval filter and has been in operation for about 3 weeks and everything was going well until yesterday.

All of a sudden the filter is out of service! There is no power going thru it.I have unplugged it then plugged again and still no power.I dont know how the system has short circuited.

Now the way I have set up the hose, is the outlet hose is attached to a 3 ft PVC tube which sits on the survace of the gravel.The reason I did this was that I did not want to disturb rthe surface of the water so that my Co2 would not escape.Could this be the problem?

Has anyone had this problem with their filter?

[volenti]

Ok, worse case cenario the motor is open circuit, to test this get a multimeter on the "ohms" scale and test the power plug, it should read ~50-200ohms (exact number isn't important) if it reads 0 or something up in the mega ohms (millions of ohms) then it's toast (time to scream warranty) Short of running the filter dry for an extended period of time there's nothing you can do to cause this to happen.

[GoGuppy]

Hey everone,

I bought a FX5 flauval filter and has been in operation for about 3 weeks and everything was going well until yesterday.

All of a sudden the filter is out of service! There is no power going thru it.I have unplugged it then plugged again and still no power.I dont know how the system has short circuited.

Now the way I have set up the hose, is the outlet hose is attached to a 3 ft PVC tube which sits on the survace of the gravel.The reason I did this was that I did not want to disturb rthe surface of the water so that my Co2 would not escape.Could this be the problem?

Has anyone had this problem with their filter?[/b]

Hi Dogga

Best to carry out a systematic review of what could have gone wrong, including all the obvious things.

1. Check that there is power at the power point in the wall, by plugging something else in, say a table lamp, vacuum, anything. Presumably, you will have power there if the wall switch is on. If not, check the fuse or safety switch in the outside fusebox.

2. Unplug the filter cable from the wall socket and remove the filter top section (with the pump motor) from the lower section of the casing (refer manual). Inspect the filter pump impellor assembly (the pump rotor on the pump shaft) to see if any weed or bits of media have jambed the impellor, causing the motor to stall or burn out.

Dismantle the impellor for the pump housing using the little tool thing that came with the filter (the manual shows how this is done). Check to see there is nothing obviously wrong with the impellor assemble.

3. Is there any burnt smell from the filter motor? Inspect the filter pump impellor assembly and see if it turns reasonably easy when it is re-installed. It may have some resistance at every 90 or 180 degrees of rotation, that's OK, that's just the magnetic field. If it's jammed tight but you can't see anything obvious preventing it from turning, don't force it, but call the supplier, tell him/her that the motor is burnt and ask for a replacement under warranty.

4. If the impellor turns OK, put the filter back together and try plugging it in an other power point (with an extension cord if necessary) and flick the wall mounted switch on. Listen closely (or I find with my Fluval it's so quiet, it's easier to put my hand on top of the filter to feel for minimal vibration if the pump is running). Does the filter motor appear to spin freely with the power on? If not, call for warranty as per above.

5. It is possible that the motor runs, but that the impellor assembly does not. This should also be fixable under warranty.

In any case, best thing to do is to contact the supplier and tell them you have a problem, If you have checked the above items, tell them this, as nothing above should void your warranty. They may be aware of a faulty batch of pump motors or something like that having come through, but in any case they should be able to offer further advice and/or send out replacement parts, if necessary.

Well, good luck with the repairs and let us know how you go.

Cheers

[joz]

Sorry to hear about the problem,hopefully it'll get sorted out via warranty quickly.
Good luck.