melev

The Skimmer Swabbie offered by AvastMarine.com is a great way to keep the neck of the collection cup clean. A motor rotates a squeegee within the riser, as often as a timer allows. I've been using the Skimmer Swabbie for about two years. A few months ago, the motor stopped and I ordered a replacement.

Fortunately, my tank sitter came over and helped get it swapped out because it was on my To Do list. A few weeks later, it was making strange noises so I called up Justin at Avast Marine to see if he had any advice or suggestions. The motor is glued to the lid within a protective collar, so it isn't very easy to access. He advised that I check the retaining screw that held the drive shaft, as it may be a little loose and thus dragging against something. Before I could get around to it, the motor made worse noise and seemed stuck in position. It had my full attention at that point, so I pried the lid off and looked down into the assembly but felt it would be better to just box it up and send it back for Justin to resolve.

About a week later, he wrote back to let me know that the motor was replaced with a slower one with better torque and that I should adjust my timer to run longer per session. My ankle has mostly healed, allowing me to get the new assembly installed on the collection cup. Using the Apex App, I edited the code that controls the frequency and duration of the Swabbie's operation. Until now, it was running for one minute eight times a day, or every three hours. Now it will run for 2 minutes per session since the motor turns significantly slower.







The motor is larger than the original one I used, making the upper section taller. There's space for it, and it runs silently which is what matters the most to me.