I think I found why some Hydors rattle after use

When I first got my Hydor L30 II it was very quiet and worked quite well (about 3-4 weeks). About 4 days ago I began to hear a rattle the persistantly got worse. It was too loud to sleep with it on so I decided to take my setup apart and have a look at the pump. At first inspection I really couldn't notice anything was wrong. The blades on the impeller were all still ok and were not angled. They were a little close to the wall of the intake so I moved the "bushing" out just a tad. I put the pump back together and it was still rattling.

On closer inspection I noticed that there was some wiggle between the shaft and the impeller/magnet. When I look closely at the hole in the impeller that the shaft goes through I noticed that it is not round anymore and slightly deformed. Much like a circle that has been rubbed off in one place or 2 different places. A slight shape resembling that of the outline of a number 8 or worse as if another part was worn away. I think this is causes because there is too much "play" or wiggle between the shaft and the impeller and after a while part of the impeller is slightly worn away at the hole. When I spin it by hand around the shaft it definatly rocks back and forth and rattles. This is why you begin ot get a rattle and it persitantly gets worse. I think hydor needs to fix this problem (maybe they have with the L35) as it is the cause of numerous rattle complaints.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Do you use Water Wetter, antifreezer or other kind of additives? Just curious.

Waterbug said:

Do you use Water Wetter, antifreezer or other kind of additives? Just curious.

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swiftec hydryx and distilled water

Hmm, i have seen alot of people with cracked plexitops, baytanks and pumps that have used WW, thats why i asked, as i suspect that ww weakens some plastics, but thats not your case i would think, i dont know what Hydrx has in it. Its realy kind of stupid when they fabricate something out of metal and plastic that would cause friction, but these days everything is made as cheap as possible. I have had a L30II for almost a year and it has not make any noise "knock on wood" I have used Dteks Supercool on that PC though. Maybe it will be my turn next time...

yes some of the shafts get worn down but that is only in the L30i .
this does not creat the huge noise you are talking about for rattle.

the worn away part actualy happens because you did not correctly insert the impellor the first time .

the impellor and the intake peice must be fitted together as one before you insert it into housing.

thorilan said:

yes some of the shafts get worn down but that is only in the L30i .
this does not creat the huge noise you are talking about for rattle.

the worn away part actualy happens because you did not correctly insert the impellor the first time .

the impellor and the intake peice must be fitted together as one before you insert it into housing.

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It came fully assembled. all I did was hook it up prime it and use it. I didn't take it apart until after it started rattling. So who ever assembled it did it incorrectly. When I took it apart the intake and impeller looked as though they were attached correctly. If that doesn't cause the rattle, then what does? Is something defective and will I be able to get a replacement?

This same thing has happened to me on a couple other pumps, some took longer than others, Im not totally sure why and all but it seems to happen from time to time.

and thorilan is probably right, getting asembled incorrectly could be the problem.


Jon

I still think this pump is ok if the impeller is replaced. I got it from DD, but they order it from another place as they do not carry them. Will they replace the pump or would it be easier to get a replacement impeller?

i have a replacement impeller in my spare L30 from when i assembled my incorrectly the first time . works fine now.

thorilan said:

i have a replacement impeller in my spare L30 from when i assembled my incorrectly the first time . works fine now.

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How did you order it, and what was the cost?

got mine directly from hydor . cant remember the cost though . wasnt very expencive . i usualy pay more in shipping on stuff like that

same here,

I told hydor about my problem with the impeller (fixed it with some glue though ) and they asked me for my name and address to send me the spare part. They didn't even talk about money, just asked for my address and told me the package is on it's way to me.

I didn't receive it yet. Should I expect to have to pay for it? As I said, they didn't tell me anything about money.

seeya

P.D: thorilan, how much did u pay (roughly...)?