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coigula

Reeflo Snapper Disaster last night

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5 Comments
by
coigula
, 05-27-2012 at 08:08 AM (3146 Views)
When here's my disaster story.

Lost power last night to tank on dedicated GFI breaker.

Found the sump over flowed because returned back siphoned and were not in top off tank like they should have been. Well I have a tray underneath the sump that drains by 3/4" uniseal and 3/4" PVC pipe to garage floor. Well that worked too so not big deal right? WRONG!

My 1 year old Reeflo Sanpper Gold managed to get 1/8" water in back end of motor block where it was in tray and tray did not drain fast enough. I dried out pump for 12 hours. and plugged it in a breaker only outlet. It fired up fine. 1 hour later it's thermal protector tripped. It now has very low flow for 10-15 minutes and then runs dry., and then took out half the house with it. (j/k)

I went out of way to have the long term efficiency of Baldor motor pulling 100-150 watts with high turn over. Now I got a bunch of expensive junk if it can't be fixed.

Can it be fixed or should I go to submersible and be done with this mess? Buying a new one is not an option as I am a strong believer in not chasing lost dollars. Right now I have a 45 usd Quiet One 3000 with 1" PVC spa flex jammed into the 1 1/2" tube. But it works at least. 2 6105's are recirculating the 151 custom tank.

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Updated 05-27-2012 at 08:29 AM by coigula

Categories
‎ Electrical , ‎ Plumbing , ‎ Equipment

Comments

  1. coigula's Avatar
    Yeah, it goes in the crap pile... never mind...
    Updated 05-27-2012 at 06:50 PM by melev
  2. Midnight's Avatar
    I am not sure why you are so pissed at the pump or the hobby, sounds like things could have been avoided through planning. That said, if you don't have an area to be dry to put the pump then yes a submersible would be the answer. I would recommend either an Eheim or Mag pump should you decide to go submersible.
  3. melev's Avatar
    You may be able to send it in for repair. An external pump must stay dry, and putting it in a tray is what results in a damaged pump. I have seen a few people do this and they end up ruining it because the pump sits in water and gets partially or completely submerged.

    I have mine elevated on a sheet of 3/4" foam, and the tray is 2" deep. If the tray were to fill up, which it can't because of the way I set it up to drain, it still wouldn't be enough to flood the pump's motor. If you love your tray system, you need a taller dam for the pump itself to keep it dry, but the dam must permit the heat to exit the pump properly.

  4. coigula's Avatar
    Pump was not on bottom of tray. It was raised all but 1/4" to 1/8" below lip of tray with rubber pads and tray also had 3/4" uniseal drain to garage floor. So it was not poor planning. It was poor luck. I shelled out for another pump and will raised sump up 2" as fittings are in place already.

    I'll never recover the efficiency Snapper has over most submersible pumps now.

    Not sure I'd repare motor if windings are not sealed. I will look for this Baldor motor as a spare but not through Reeflo. I'll replace motor if it is sold stand alone.
  5. melev's Avatar
    You might consider sending it in to be rebuilt instead of writing it off 100%. It may be a great option as a backup if you get a lightning strike in your area.