Powerhead Failure

[SaltyBuddha]

Just getting my tank set up and I got a Hydor pico evo-mag 180. I testing it out when I first got it and it worked great. Tried it out again last night and it wouldn't work. The impeller looks like it was moving but it wasn't producing any flow. The battle was open all the way.

 

Only thing I can think of is that I ran it dry for a little while (less than 5 seconds) when I first tried it. But it still worked at the end of that day.

 

I tried to take the faceplate off to look at the impeller but it wasn't budging. Could running it dry for that long break the powerhead? Any tips to get this thing back up and running?

[lkoechle]

I wouldn't think running it 5 seconds dry would kill it.  Have you removed the impeller?

[SaltyBuddha]

2 minutes ago, lkoechle said:

I wouldn't think running it 5 seconds dry would kill it.  Have you removed the impeller?

I tried to get to it but the housing plate wasn't coming off. Didn't want to break it by pulling on it. I was thinking it should pop off though, right?

[lkoechle]

5 minutes ago, SaltyBuddha said:

I tried to get to it but the housing plate wasn't coming off. Didn't want to break it by pulling on it. I was thinking it should pop off though, right?

I don't have this pump so I wouldn't know.  Maybe someone has a youtube video of it.  Try youtubing it and maybe there will be a disassembly video.

[TJ_Burton]

8 minutes ago, SaltyBuddha said:

I tried to get to it but the housing plate wasn't coming off. Didn't want to break it by pulling on it. I was thinking it should pop off though, right?

 

Yeah you can service all of the Pico powerheads by Hydor. Something as simple as a hair wrapped around the impeller shaft can halt the pump like that.

[SaltyBuddha]

Just took it apart. There is a small extruded piece that holds the impeller to the back side of the magnet. That is broken off so the impeller is pushed off the magnet during use.

 

Thanks for the help guys. Is the koralia nano a better option? This thing has been on for less than 2 minutes total and I'm not trusting another pico.

[TJ_Burton]

2 minutes ago, SaltyBuddha said:

Just took it apart. There is a small extruded piece that holds the impeller to the back side of the magnet. That is broken off so the impeller is pushed off the magnet during use.

 

Thanks for the help guys. Is the koralia nano a better option? This thing has been on for less than 2 minutes total and I'm not trusting another pico.

That isn't the most common failure, but it happens sometimes. Can happen to any impeller really; I've had it happen to an Eheim canister filter impeller.

Are the Koralias better? For general reef circulation, I'd say yes just based on flow pattern alone. In therms of quality, maybe a hair above, but either way they are made in the same place by the same company. I think you just got a faulty impeller this time around, which just plain sucks, but I wouldn't say is very common for this brand.

[SaltyBuddha]

2 hours ago, TJ_Burton said:

That isn't the most common failure, but it happens sometimes. Can happen to any impeller really; I've had it happen to an Eheim canister filter impeller.

Are the Koralias better? For general reef circulation, I'd say yes just based on flow pattern alone. In therms of quality, maybe a hair above, but either way they are made in the same place by the same company. I think you just got a faulty impeller this time around, which just plain sucks, but I wouldn't say is very common for this brand.

Thanks for the good input. Good to know it was a fluke and not too common