Somewhat urgent- pump very loud, then very weak, after power outage?

[Tired]

Our power went out briefly. When it came back on, the return pump in my tank was making a ton of noise, rattling like there was something in there. I turned it off, took it out, and tried jiggling it around and squirting water into the intake to get whatever it was out. It eventually stopped making the noise when I plugged it back in, but it was oddly weak, and has been getting weaker. It's on the highest setting now, and barely putting out any flow. 

 

Any ideas? It's a little fountain pump, I think. Could the impeller have gotten jostled loose when I was trying to shake out what I assume was a snail shell? 

[jservedio]

Just now, Tired said:

Our power went out briefly. When it came back on, the return pump in my tank was making a ton of noise, rattling like there was something in there. I turned it off, took it out, and tried jiggling it around and squirting water into the intake to get whatever it was out. It eventually stopped making the noise when I plugged it back in, but it was oddly weak, and has been getting weaker. It's on the highest setting now, and barely putting out any flow. 

 

Any ideas? It's a little fountain pump, I think. Could the impeller have gotten jostled loose when I was trying to shake out what I assume was a snail shell? 

Is it dirty? When my pumps get dirty, sometimes the impeller just sticks and just rattles back and forth and I'll have to unplug/plug it back in a few times to get it to start moving, but once it starts moving it's good. That's a pretty good sign to take the pump apart and clean it.

[Tired]

I don't think I CAN take it apart. The screws that hold it together look stripped. Is there a decent way to get one washed out while it's still in one piece? 

 

I can see the impeller, and it looks okay to me. There was some gunk in the crossbar preventing big things from going in, but the impeller itself looks clean, though I suppose something could be snagged in there somewhere. I'm just puzzled as to why it started out noisy-but-strong, and then went quickly down to a point where it's barely running at all. Hence my problem- the tank barely has any flow now. 

[FISHnChix]

Did you turn the pump upside down and jiggle it to make sure there isnt a air bubble in the pump?

[jservedio]

2 minutes ago, Tired said:

I don't think I CAN take it apart. The screws that hold it together look stripped. Is there a decent way to get one washed out while it's still in one piece? 

 

I can see the impeller, and it looks okay to me. There was some gunk in the crossbar preventing big things from going in, but the impeller itself looks clean, though I suppose something could be snagged in there somewhere. I'm just puzzled as to why it started out noisy-but-strong, and then went quickly down to a point where it's barely running at all. Hence my problem- the tank barely has any flow now. 

You need to be able to take apart your pumps to clean them - you won't be able to necessarily see what's going on since the main sources of friction are going to be between the impeller and shaft and between the impeller and pump body. I'd use a screw extractor to remove them and then replace the screws. It's very, very easy to measure, find, and cut machine screws to length for just a few cents.

[Clown79]

I had 2 powerheads do this. In my situation it was the shaft that was broken or breaking.

 

Can you post a pic of your pump.

 

I had 2 cheap fountain pumps, both could be opened and cleaned...both eventually died on me.

[Tired]

Oh boy. That would make sense- I wonder if trying to fight the snail shell busted the shaft. Guess I'll go looking for where I put a possible replacement. 

 

I can't get a picture currently, as it's in the filter section. I'll do that later when I pull it out. 

[mcarroll]

On 7/22/2020 at 2:10 PM, Tired said:

It eventually stopped making the noise when I plugged it back in, but it was oddly weak, and has been getting weaker. It's on the highest setting now, and barely putting out any flow.

Sounds like it's either running backwards, or....

 

On 7/22/2020 at 2:51 PM, Clown79 said:

the shaft that was broken or breaking

...this.  

 

@TiredIt might even be running backwards because of a compromised shaft.

 

It could also just be dirt causing it to start backwards or even just calcium buildup.  

 

Take it apart for a complete cleaning if at all possible.  Being able to see into the pump and to examine the shaft would be of obvious benefit.  (You can get a special drill bit to help back out a stripped screw head for $2-$3.)  

 

But at minimum, soak the pump in either vinegar or cofeemaker cleaner (citric acid) for an hour or so and then give it another try.  Without the ability to scrub/scrape a problem area, it's possible that you might have to do this more than once. 

[Tired]

It utterly stopped doing anything productive, while still making a motor-running noise, so I'm pretty sure the shaft was broken. I had a replacement, so the replacement is in the tank now. Might take this one apart anyway, just to see what happened. 

 

I did shake a periwinkle snail out of it, eventually. Poor guy must have gotten pretty knocked around in there. It's not his fault he didn't know not to go in, so he's back in the tank. I'll be trying to snail-proof that section of the back chamber, so this hopefully doesn't happen again. 

[Guest]

On 7/22/2020 at 12:24 PM, Tired said:

I don't think I CAN take it apart. The screws that hold it together look stripped. Is there a decent way to get one washed out while it's still in one piece? 

 

I can see the impeller, and it looks okay to me. There was some gunk in the crossbar preventing big things from going in, but the impeller itself looks clean, though I suppose something could be snagged in there somewhere. I'm just puzzled as to why it started out noisy-but-strong, and then went quickly down to a point where it's barely running at all. Hence my problem- the tank barely has any flow now. 

In my pond pumps I buy the cheap ones, so if really anything gets in the little intake screen, the flow deacreases by like half! I would recommend going in with a paper towel and just trying to clean out the intake screen 🙂

[Tired]

Good to know, but it completely stopped working, so I replaced it. There wasn't anything in the intake, I checked. I agree with the theory that the shaft broke.