[gatorbaiter]

Ugh I am about fed up. I got a 30g wet/dry sump tank. My main sump pump is a rio 20hf. When it works it pumps about 900gph. The problem I have is that whether i lose power or i shut off the pump for tank maintance, when it is turned back on the pump doesn't want to work. I can hear it hum but the impeller will not work. I can put this pump in a 5g bucket of water and get it to work. I have a back up thats a different brand (surge 6000) and it will do the same thing from time to time. I am doing something wrong or something or is there a trick to get these submersible pumps to work consistancely? Or maybe the pumps I have are just cheap pieces of ****. I don't know. What i do know is that i am afraid to shut the pump off cause i might not get it to run again like now. It would be nice to have pump that i could rely on consistance basis!

 

[Heyguy74]

Have you cleaned the impella?. If so it may be time for a new pump. Try the mag series. The seem to be very popular.

 

[NewNoise21]

Maybe throw an HOB filter on the back on the tank incase your pump dies your water movement doesnt. Clean the impeller for sure, but also this could work... I was screwing with my return line today that goes from my sump to the top of my tank (its not drilled) and I raised up closer to the surface...when I shut off the pump the water level begins to drop and since the return is higher the water level dropped below the return line real quick and it didnt create the "suction" that fills up our sumps and breaks our pumps.

 

[STATMATT]

SAND!!!

Mine tends to suck up sand unintentionally of course.

I take it apart rinse it off and use a syringe to spray water up into the impeller shaft to rinse out any debris.

I'm looking to move away from sand for this very reason.

Good Luck.

FYI... New impellers are cheaper than new pumps...

 

[liquid134]

yea, definitly take apart and clean the impeller and surrounding area.

 

[krfhsf]

Go with a Mag Drive. Problem solved. BUT I have Rio pumps for years with no problems. It might just be a wore out pump. A impeller is the cheapest way to find out. I always have back up impellers for all my pumps. So I stick with mag drives to keep the number of back up impellers to a more reasonable number. Good Luck.