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Post by jasonandsarah on Jul 8, 2014 4:38:28 GMT -5
So for awhile now I've been having trouble with the Atman pumps. We loose power allot, normally it's only for a minute if that, but probably 50% off the time when it goes out my skimmer pump goes off and sounds like it can't kick back in. From talking to Scaquarium.com I was under the impression it was something to do with the clutch? But either way sometimes I'd get it to kick back in and sometimes I can't.
Till last night for some reason I decided to pull it out of the water for a second and as soon as it got air it kicked back on? I had an old Atman pump from awhile ago that I thought was broke and I pulled it back out tried this and it also worked first try? Anyone know why it would do this?
I'm hoping if anyone else is having or had this problem this will help because I know it was really starting to aggravate me.
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Post by gotareef on Jul 8, 2014 5:51:43 GMT -5
I have 2 of these pumps. one for a skimmer and one for a return, ive never had any problems at all
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Post by ryansweatt2004 on Jul 8, 2014 7:10:44 GMT -5
I've had nothing but bad luck with atman pumps. Mine would do the same thing. It would stop working for just about any cause and would start up miraculously sometimes if I pulled it out or bumped it. I returned every one of them along with the skimmers and washed my hands of that product. After replacing 8 impellers and a couple pumps ya start to get pretty frustrated. I honestly have no idea why these pumps have issues. Every time I took mine apart to check them or replace the impeller they were clean inside. I chalk it up to them being a cheap low quality pump. Last I knew atman pumps only came with 180 day limited warranties if that tells ya anything!
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Post by Tucker on Jul 8, 2014 7:10:59 GMT -5
I used to bang my mag 7 with a hammer to get it to work.
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Post by jasonandsarah on Jul 8, 2014 8:06:32 GMT -5
I'm more wondering if anyone knows why allowing air into the pump does anything? I have another atman 2000 that runs my bio pellet reactor and it's never had an issue or shut off when the power goes out but the other one does. I mean now that I know how to get it started it's no biggie but I was just curious as to why that would kick start it? It should already be drawing air from the inlet but that doesn't kick start it.
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Post by jasonandsarah on Jul 8, 2014 8:09:05 GMT -5
I have 2 of these pumps. one for a skimmer and one for a return, ive never had any problems at all Does your power go out allot? If your talking about your newer tank it really hasn't been set up long right? Plus as I said I believe it's because my power goes out frequently, though only for seconds most of the time I still believe this to be the cause. |
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Post by foggman on Jul 8, 2014 8:52:05 GMT -5
My Red Sea skimmer pump and my rio circulators do the same thing, I think it is something to do with the magnets, it's almost like it gets stuck between poles, moving it out of the water causes it to move just a little bit and start up again, I think with some of the cheaper pumps the magnets might start to ware out. Just my guess
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Post by gotareef on Jul 8, 2014 10:47:58 GMT -5
I have been using one for around 8 months? on the 40 as a return pump with no problems, and another one with needle wheel on a skimmer for a couple months, no problems....
the only time I had any problems with pumps was koralia, they would stick or start in reverse after a flicker in the power... to fix this you had to replace a grommet or something??
maybe something similar is happening with your pump
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Post by jasonandsarah on Jul 8, 2014 11:11:41 GMT -5
Maybe Idk? There seems to be nothing visually wrong with the pump inside. That's why I'm stumped? Besides the power going out nothing has ever happened to the pumps. Like I said I even have another one I'm running on my reactor and it's never been affected by the power going out?
Either way now that I've found a quick solution I really don't mind, it only takes me a second to raise the pump out of the water.
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Post by BriMc on Jul 8, 2014 11:56:33 GMT -5
It is a cheap AC pump and has no deice to stop it from turning backwards. It is a 50/50 chance which way the pump is going to start, it seems when they are new the usually start the correct direction and then start starting up backwards. Atman has new pumps that were released replacing the PH series pumps, this is the pump that came with the upgrade kit for my bubble magus skimmer. I replaced three atman pumps in a two to three year time frame.
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Post by jasonandsarah on Jul 8, 2014 12:34:12 GMT -5
It is a cheap AC pump and has no deice to stop it from turning backwards. It is a 50/50 chance which way the pump is going to start, it seems when they are new the usually start the correct direction and then start starting up backwards. Atman has new pumps that were released replacing the PH series pumps, this is the pump that came with the upgrade kit for my bubble magus skimmer. I replaced three atman pumps in a two to three year time frame. Out of curiosity, since it has a needle wheel impeller does it matter if it starts backwards? I mean I could understand if it had a normal impeller why that wouldn't work but with a needle wheel does it matter? Or is it something internal that makes starting backwards bad?just like to know how things work:) |
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Post by BriMc on Jul 8, 2014 13:35:31 GMT -5
Jason I have to agree with your theory about the pump should not matter if it starts in forward or reverse with a needle wheel but it does. Three things that cause in not to run backwards would be a directional pin wheel, a directional volute, and or magnets that become bipolar. On my pumps the magnets became bi polar and the pump would lock up and not spin forward or backwards.
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Post by Syntax on Jul 15, 2014 8:41:08 GMT -5
I had the same problem with several of the old style Rio pumps, unplug pump for a water change and nothing when it is plugged back in. I switches to a Sicce. The Rio is now delegated to a mixing pump.
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