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Brand new MP10w ES busted

howze01

howze01

NJRC Member
I bought a new MP10w ES a few weeks ago. Bought it online because no one around here had them in stock. I got it April 19th and the manufacture date was April 12th. Sounds good right? Wrong! I started getting stall codes and after some fiddling it seemed to be OK. It wasn't. It turned out that the impeller was broken. It wasn't attached to the magnet. The magnet was spinning but the impeller wan't. So I emailed Ecotech. They got back to me reasonably quick and told me that they would ship me a new wetside. All I had to do was give them my credit card number in case I didn't send the defective one back. They were also sending a return slip to cover charges to ship it back. Little did I know they sent it Fed Ex, but with a signature required. No leave it at the door options available. Why they would send it that way is beyond me. The Fed Ex guy gets around here at 2 so I have to have them send it to a nearby Fed Ex location to hold it so I can go pick it up. 4 days later I get notified that it's there. Open it up, pop the new wetside on and it works like a charm. Went to get the return label, and it's not there. So I email them to tell them there's no return label. They email me back and ask me if I'm sure it's not there.... The box is about 6"x4". Really not many places to hide a packing slip in there. You would think that for a $300 powerhead they could get their heads out of their butts. For a company that fixes their high prices you would think that they would at least have customer service to back it up. The thing that bothers me the most is asking me to make sure I searched a tiny box well enough. C'mon Ecotech!
 
9supratt4

9supratt4

Ecotech may be kind of dumb....and it is really stupid that they price fix....but my opinion is they are still the best powerheads out there. Quiet, small footprint, no heat transfer into the tank and no wires in the tank.
 
jpelzer

jpelzer

Yeah, they're not quiet compared to other propeller pumps. Their only plus is their low heat and wireless. Though in reality, the control isn't all that... You'd mostly want to run them full on, full off anyway, except they make WAY too much noise full on, so you have to ramp them up and down, so you only have brief periods of loud. I'm going Sicce, and if I want variable, Tunze.
 
howze01

howze01

NJRC Member
I have a Sicce Syncra return pump and the thing is a beast. I can't hear a peep coming from it though even though I have it turned way down. Super pump. I didn't know they did powerheads too...
 
Baxreefs

Baxreefs

Each new wet end is different. I go through a wet end about every two years to the day.

The Vortechs are great IMO. I still like to mix in some Tunze flow too as they are different, totally different.

Jonathan search Voyager Power Heads
 
jpelzer

jpelzer

Just on/off (they start soft in the correct direction, unlike Koralias), and you can dial them down manually. Just not dynamic. Sticking to my guns here, going to make these work, since there are two MP60s for sale elsewhere on this forum. Apex should control these just fine.
 
trivan

trivan

9supratt4 said:
A lot of people complain about the noise...my 2 mp40's are quiet...maybe got a good model lol
Click to expand...

There is a thread on RC about switching the ball bearings. I'm going to be doing this soon as I ordered the bearings an should have them soon. I'll report the mod when I start it. I was going to do this a while ago but life got in the way.
 
AJ1080

AJ1080

Good job jonathan! Not only did you break your MP10 but you also broke to forum by winning picture of the month!:chuncky:
 
magic

magic

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
9supratt4 said:
Ecotech may be kind of dumb....and it is really stupid that they price fix....but my opinion is they are still the best powerheads out there. Quiet, small footprint, no heat transfer into the tank and no wires in the tank.
Click to expand...
+1 I've been running them for about 4 years and never had a issue with the noise, I agree with Bax you do have to swap out the wetside every couple of years.

Bob
 
howze01

howze01

NJRC Member
Well, on top of everything else yesterday, my new wetside decided to break in the same exact way. I emailed them about it. Not sure if they recently changed anything in the manufacturing but this stinks. We thought maybe it could be from a snail or something crawling in it but it hasn't happened to any other ones.
 
TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
That sounds a bit strange with that many EcoTechs breaking for you. I wonder if maybe something is wrong with the dry side that's causing problems?

As to noisy VorTechs... I've had mine for about 3 years and the only time I hear mine is when I have it on Nutrient Export Mode. On the short pulses I hear a low vrmmmph sound but it's not that loud really. I don't even notice it unless I'm trying to hear it.

Also, I bought mine used and still using the original wet side. So 3+ years and no problems with mine. (knocks on wood)

For the price, those Sicce Voyagers look pretty nice. You still have the motor/wires in the tank like a tunze, but that's about the only negative think I can see.
 
Fish Brain

Fish Brain

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
howze01 said:
Well, on top of everything else yesterday, my new wetside decided to break in the same exact way. I emailed them about it. Not sure if they recently changed anything in the manufacturing but this stinks. We thought maybe it could be from a snail or something crawling in it but it hasn't happened to any other ones.
Click to expand...

Are you sure you just haven't found the "sweet spot" for the wetside? On my one pump the sweet spot is almost an 1/8" off center of the drive motor.
 
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