PDA

View Full Version : WARNING..FRIED mag5 fire hazard?

Chicago
04/21/2006, 05:57 PM
check out this pic.. i come home. go into the mechanical room and water is all over the floor. water is leaking from the seal on the mag drive pump for my calcium reactor. no gravel or corals are found in the pump. its normal.. except for the large bumps growing out of the pump. some type of expansion in the mechanical part of the pump..

smells like a burnt up end cap from a vho fixture.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/jchicago/th_friedmag5lrgs.jpg (http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/jchicago/friedmag5lrgs.jpg)
Chicago
04/21/2006, 05:59 PM
By the way lucky i wasnt on vacation... i have auto top off.. would have drained tank few gallons an hour... topped off with fresh ro water. eventually... salinity would have fallen over couple of days and killed all sps ect...

question how do you avoid this while out of town..

answer dont run calcium reactor while out of town.
goda
04/21/2006, 07:19 PM
awnser. put everything in shallow sump above the big sump. and have them drain into the main sump.. no waterloss


a laundry tube type sump would be fine ( there 2ft ish by 2 ft is by 5 inches deep.
Chicago
04/21/2006, 09:14 PM
thanks... anyone ever have this happen to their pump?
goda
04/21/2006, 09:22 PM
iv had a rio do it once. buti had it mounted on a shelp in my sump ( above water for air cooling but in sump incase of leak)
looking at the size of your tank it looks like you put ALOT of work into it and i think it would definitly be worth the extra work to raise everythign and give it its own sump. brick or concreat block form Home depot work great for this.

btw mag drives have no moving parts except the impeller. what inside the pump is epoxy and coils of wire. no real electronics. or moving parts. i think what forms this is over heating of a coil. but i could be wrong. all i know is that is alot of distortion. when my rio did this it was hardly knoticiable ( just broke the seal)
ViPeR_930
04/21/2006, 09:24 PM
Were you running the mag externally?
goda
04/21/2006, 09:30 PM
ohh just read burt up endcap smell. that is definitly a coil going bad. ( common to rio pumps. not common to mag or quite one)
brian3
04/21/2006, 09:40 PM
I wonder is this is why the manufacturer says not to run them with saltwater externally. Maybe too much heat generated and no water to cool it off.......
Chicago
04/21/2006, 09:54 PM
man says not to run external. let me look at the box.. are you sure?
was running it externally. no problems over the years with using these pumps externally.
coil bad..agreed. fire hazard?
Chicago
04/21/2006, 09:57 PM
no distortion in the pic.. there is actually raised bumps on the top of the pump and the side... that is what broke the seal......bump raised and pushed seal and cover plate. ..... will raise calc reastor on to two egg crates so it is above the sump level by couple of inches.. thanks all.
goda
04/21/2006, 10:01 PM
make sure to inclue its own drip plate or sump what ever you want to call it. andrun a pipe to the sump. i know i said that befor but i have a tendacy not to be clean on what i mean lol
anyways. yes firehazard but severarly reduced if hooked to GFI
Chicago
04/21/2006, 10:24 PM
was hooked up to gfi. its safty went off but since the water level/pump was below the sump it was slowly leaking.. i think if i put it above n a rubbermaid will work fine..

thanks all... cant believe i didnt think of this after 20 plus years and other great ideas..

thanks all