Balling equipment isses, take 3
by
, 12-09-2013 at 03:48 PM (12840 Views)
Back in Nov 17th I posted about some issues I had with my Balling dosing pump+hose. Well... those were not the last of my issues.
On Dec 1st, I was greeted with this "beautiful" view as I opened the cabinet where ATO and Balling reside:
Not good huh?
Initial inspection, turning the pump on and observing, revealed the silicone hose had burst open, with a hole pointing towards the cabinet wall.
Why? Good question, had no idea... I checked with the folk at IPAQ and a fellow reefer suggested maybe the end of the tubing was in the water. If so, then the KH liquid in contact with seawater would form crystals while the pump was off, gradually jamming it.
Spot on, that was what was happening. And here is a picture of the jammed tubing end:
I cleaned up the cabinet, changed the hose and tubing and this time made sure it was fixed above water so nothing gets jammed... and I'll frequently check that tip to be sure it looks OK.
So, if you're going to do Balling, you better get a fixture like the one below, which I intend to purchase soon, when I find an LFS or individual selling it: