Retired my Quiet One 1200 pump

[gungeek]

Having used a quiet one 1200 pump for a few months now, I'm retiring it. An Eheim 1250 is replacing it.

The main reason for the change is a clicking noise within the pump. I'm sure it is the impeller hitting the housing. With a normal amount of system fans and other noise generators, the click isn't really that noticable. I'm going for a quiet system now and the click has to go. I RMA'd the first 1200 pump, but the replacement started doing the same thing. Before someone thinks it was air trapped in the impeller cavity, I made sure their was none several times. I even cut a hole in the end of the impeller so that any air could escape; didn't help. Running it submerged with a resevoir would muffle some of the sound, but I didn't really have room or want one.

The good aspects of the pump are:

Low cost for 300GPH, 6ft head pump that works inline or submerged ($30 shipped)
Reliable, I don't see this pump breaking down anytime soon.
Uses standard 1/2 barb fittings for both inlet and outlet.

The bad is the clicking noise and it vibrates noticably (suspending it with elastic solves that problem).

It's a good, budget pump unless you're planning for low noise.

[SemiCycle]

I had the :mad: EXACT :mad: same problem you had and decided to replace my quiet one with an Ehiem 1250 too. That little pump was great for the first couple months, but that little ticking sound bothered that crap out of me. The eheim is working great for me. Only downside to the eheim is its size.

[VballCoach]

i had the same problem...fixed it tho.
I took a dremel to the inside where the impeller is. there is some molded markings and that's what it's hitting. I grinded them down and now it's is super silent. Especially now that all the air is purged. I'm on my 2nd and I'm super happy. If you guys want to part with yours let me know. It does vibrate so I have a 2in thick piece of foam it sits on now its silent.

[Soja]

Interesting. I have one that I use for testing and I noticed the clicking sound once or twice. Everytime I turn the pump on/off it disappeared. Are the molding markings you speak of the 2 symbols that seem to obstruct the underside of the impeller blades?

[gungeek]

The truth is I just got tired of trying to make it work quietly and decided my time was worth something. That's when I bought the Eheim 1250; I know it'll work for the task.

After seeing the design of the Eheim 1250, I can think of one improvement that might solve the impeller clicking problem. My theory is the water through the inlet hits the center of the impeller pushing it back into the impeller cavity. The magnets that drive the impeller try to pull it forward and the cycle starts again. The problem might not exist in a low flow system since there wouldn't be as much pressure on the impeller. I did remove most of the mold markings and that helped a little.

The Eheim pump has a cone shaped piece in the inlet that spreads the water away from the center of the impeller as it enters the pump chamber. If I could modify the quiet one's inlet, it might work.

For now, I'm planning to keep the pump especially after having the conical inlet mod idea. It's a good little pump, it just hasn't been a quiet little pump and that's now important. Who knows, maybe I'll build a fountain or something in the back yard where it could run submerged.

[DarkDraco]

i dont know if i would call it clicking, but my hydor L20 makes a very low "zzzzzzz" sound. very minor buzz type.

[VballCoach]

yeah, the markings under the impeller.

[SemiCycle]

I tried grinding those down too. It didn't help any. I also thouht about grinding out a thin circular path for the impeller to follow, but I didn't feel like dealing with it anymore.

[VballCoach]

ah,
sorry it didn't work out for you.
mine did take a while for it to quiet down. now I'm happy

[Maximus_OC]

hey if you guys could put up some pics and better explanation of how to make the quiet one 1200 run quiet i would appreciate it. I planned on getting one, but i am stuck between in and danner mag3.

[SemiCycle]

It isn't worth the trouble. Only a handful of us decided to go with this pump, and most of us had the exact same problems. I wouldn't buy it KNOWING you have to mod it to make it quieter. Just go with the Danner, an eheim of even the swiftech MP6000. All are excellent pumps.

[Maximus_OC]

how much bigger is the mag3?? Where is the cheapest place to get one? Also I hear the mag3's vibrate alot. I need a smaller pump that is going to be pretty much quiet.

[Giblet Plus!]

Here's an old pic of my danner in my setup. It does vibrate a bit, but it's a lot less noisy if you isolate it from the case. I believe it is about $40 at www.marinedepot.com

[Maximus_OC]

i always get blown away when I see pumps in the cases. Whever you look at them on the web you think they are not that big. But then you see em in a case and it blows ya away. I am going to be putting this WC setup in a aluminum mid tower case. I am taking out the HD rack and some of the 3.5 rack. The pump will need to set in the front of the case. I am not sure if this pump will fit. Now I am wondering if any pump will fit.

i found the specs the aqua is slightly smaller than than the mag3 l x w. But its alot shorter. That might be what I need. The aqua is actually half as tall as the mag. What I think I will do is go with the aqua for this my test rig setup. Then when I put the WC in my new case wich is a full tower server case, I will have room for the mag3. I will prolly get burned on the pump it will leak and die in the irst 2 weeks, but hopefully it gains me some experience. So when I setup a nice system in my new case I will know what I am doing. Thanks for the replies.