WARNING Danner Mag users!

Tonight I was humming along to my fav songs when I started hearing a gurgling from my rig. I immediately shutdown and checked my setup. I noticed some water (with red dye) in the bottom of my case, not much but any is bad in a closed system. It was coming from the intake of the Danner 3 i was using. I figured the sealant tape had come loose or something having to do with the barb so i started disassembling everything only to find EMPTY tubes. (Hard to tell when they are dyed red if its full or empty)

Removed the heatercore and pump and got the case cleaned up and ready to reassemble once i took care of the pump's connection. well while i was remounting the intake barb i noticed a crack in the side of the pump where it connects. this crack is nearly an inch long spanning most of the length of the extrusion from the body of the pump to the end where it meets the barb.

the crack developed on the side that is normally turned away from me when mounted so i had no idea it was there.

Needless to say.. with empty pipes I am damn lucky to have saved my parts. I could have easily lost 1200 bucks in parts due to this defective pump. It seems the casing for these pumps is very weak as the barb never fit very tightly, but enough to make solid water tight barrier. certainly not tight enough to crack the casing.

I have suggested this pump several times and am sorry to have to relay this message. I suggested it not more than 2 days ago to Pixel and he ordered it already. Sorry bro.

I suggest staying FAR away from danner pumps altogether as it appears they use nearly identical casings on all their pumps. Those with danner pumps check them for cracks on the entire casing. If it means taking alot of stuff out of your case, do it. You might end up saving a ton of money in parts.

Pics to come of said crack...

Maxvla



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edit: talked to Malakai and he had a Danner Mag 5 do the same exact thing. so this is not an isolated case. he came home to a puddle similar to what i had.
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Damn, im glad to hear nothin got messed up

no kidding. when i saw there was NO water in the lines i was amazed because that would mean the computer was running while folding no less... for a few hours minimum with no water in it because there wasn't enough water in the bottom of the computer to fill the lines. its very likely this was running for a few days cracked. that way everything could evaporate. kinda glad it did in a way... cause i would have had to re-carpet this apartment due to the red uvdye on the floor if it had spilled all at the same time.

I noticed some water (with red dye) in the bottom of my case...
It was coming from the intake of the Danner 3 i was using.

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take it to the hospital! its been shot!

Maxvla said:

kinda glad it did in a way... cause i would have had to re-carpet this apartment due to the red uvdye on the floor if it had spilled all at the same time.

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Talk about...that woulda sucked to

DarkDraco said:

take it to the hospital! its been shot!

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nah i'll just take it to the dumpster!

Is the inside of your case stained red?

ConquereR said:

Is the inside of your case stained red?

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nope. wiped right off.

does aluminum stain??

Maxvla said:

nah i'll just take it to the dumpster!

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Don't throw it away, it can still be repaired enough for someone to use it Submerged in a fishtank, Pond pump or used for hydroponics etc etc....

PS I hope your thinking it's time for an Eheim, I've always said, buy the best you can afford, because in the end it will be cheaper

wow...i had just posted a thread last night about chosing between a danner and an eheim. A lot of people said to go with Danner but my gut instinct told me to go eheim. Thank you gut...

My Danner 500gph split EXACTLY like that.

I just came home from morning class one day and there was a puddle of water on the desk and the floor. Luckily, I had the pump outside of the case.

I RMA'ed the pump, tested it for a week, and then sold it and the rest of my watercooling stuff. I couldn't risk (nor afford) coming home from a class to a bunch of fried parts.

I got mine from PetSmart online if it matters anyway, it cracked exactly the way max's did.

Silversinksam said:

Don't throw it away, it can still be repaired enough for someone to use it Submerged in a fishtank, Pond pump or used for hydroponics etc etc....

PS I hope your thinking it's time for an Eheim, I've always said, buy the best you can afford, because in the end it will be cheaper

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mistar green.. when i was choosing a pump the eheim didn't seem powerful enough. i had also seen several people who said it was quite loud, which is another thing i didn't want. and at a very much higher price it just wasn't worth it to me. i admit that danner doesn't make the best pumps but that doesn't mean that eheim's are perfect.

actually i'm done with watercooling for the time being. this is not the reason, but it has provided me a stopping point. i had been wanting to stop for a while but didn't have enough money to go with the new setup i wanted. now my best rig is out of commission but its going to stay that way til i have enough money to do what i want which is convert this into a sff box for lanning. water wasn't near what i expected. very marginal o/c gain and it was definately NOT quiet.

my next venture into something more than air will be prometia or vapochill. but that a long ways from now.

My condolences on your pump Maxvla. Unbelievable that nothing cooked:O The o/c gods were definately looking out for you!

Sorry to see that it happened to you, but I couldn't help noticing your pic... You used a brass barb, and it looks like you overtightened the heck out of it, judging by the swollen inlet. Did you tighten by hand, or use tools?

Not that I'm not sympathetic, as the same thing has happened to me as well. After the fact, I did a little snooping around here, and found that this was a known issue... It's been recommended to use plastic barbs instead of brass, and hand-tighten only.

Darn. If I'd only known earlier.

To get yours back in business shouldn't be hard, I repaired mine in a few minutes for less than $5. I applied a generous helping of JB Weld, allowed to cure overnight, then installed a plastic hosebarb, hand-tight only this time.

Worked like a champ for me, maybe it will work for you, too. It's been several months since my little mishap, and I've never had a problem since. Again, sorry to hear of your problem, but hopefully you will be back up and running soon

Maxvla sorry this happened to you, however, this is a KNOWN issue with the Danner pumps, especially when using brass barbs. The tip is to put a metal hose clamp around the area where your pump cracked, it will hold it and not allow it to crack so easily...

monster's hit it right on. I don't think it's fair to say things like stay away from Danner because they're defective since the pump cleary is not defective.

You just have to use the correct parts. All pipe fittings are tapered. The tighter you screw them in the more pressure they exert on the fitting. If you want to use a plastic pump casing make sure to use plastic fittings and don't overtighten them. We're only talking a couple PSI at most anyway.

Glad you managed to save the system, though!

It's a known Issue dude. A LOT of people suggested putting clamps/zip ties on the inlets so they won't crack. Another suggestion was to use liquid teflon.

I used liquid teflon on mine and it's been running fine. I always research first before I buy.

I woulud still recommend this pump. It moves water like there's no tomorrow

96

This being known I would still reccomend a Danner pump over the others. This just happens when you over tighten the barb or use too much tape on it. Sorry it had to happen but get yourself another Danner and be well.

you guys missed the part where i explained that it was not overtightened. it was hand tightened and never got so tight i needed tools.

when i was spec'ing out my water setup everyone was suggesting brass barbs... so thats what i got.

Maxvla said:

mistar green.. when i was choosing a pump the eheim didn't seem powerful enough. i had also seen several people who said it was quite loud, which is another thing i didn't want.

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I have three Eheims and every one is virtually silent. Even despite your misfortune you did good research. A couple months ago there was a poll and 51 people participated, both Eheim and Mag users reported zero problems with either pump. The Via series didn't fair as well as there were 9 complaints about problems with them.