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Weird Pump question

So I have a submersible pump that I recently turned off and pulled for cleaning. It has been running great by the way. After cleaning, I put it back together and reinstalled it. Turned it on and it started trying to pump water but only moved it a couple of feet inside the tube and just wouldn't kick in and it vibrated pretty badly during this. So I turned it off to make sure I had everything installed properly, which I did, so I plugged it back in and the same thing happened. This time with the pump still on I pulled it to the surface a bit and as soon a bit of air pulled in it started working perfectly. This is not the first pump I had that did this so I figured I would poll the masses to see if anyone has a clue as to whats happening.
 
This often happens it there is an air pocket in the pump after it was submerged. The extra air that ran through by pulling it to the surface was enough to fishing dislodge the larger pocket of air
 
OK makes sense. Just weird that it seems to happen all the time. For the heck of it I turned it off, never took it out of the water and when I went to turn it back on a few seconds later same thing happened. Pulled it a bit out of the water and going good again. Guess ill have to keep an eye on it, if this happens after a power outage that would suck.
 
Does the impeller shaft slide through the magnet easily? It should move freely. Deposits of the shaft to stop it from sliding inside the magnet which often causes pump issues. Did you clean in vinegar?
 
Everything seemed smooth and free spinning. I suppose I'll pull it again tomorrow and give it a few hrs running in vinegar.
 

horseplay

NJRC Member
What an coincidence. We had an outage last night after which the pump output was much lower than usual which caused the sump water level much higher than usual. This only happens to my rio pumps. I am thinking about replacing the rio pump eventually. When the water level is high the skimmer overflows. Not a good scenario when I am away.
 
This only happens to my rio pumps.

Well
Since you mentioned it. The pump im having issues with is a Rio HyperFlow 32. I didn't want to mention the name originally cause people tend to blame the easiest thing when something is wrong. Rio is not exactly the top name in pumps.
 

kschweer

Administrator
Staff member
Officer Emeritus
Moderator
I have seen this happen with a few different brands of submersible pumps. From rio to mag drive. I'm not exactly positive what the cause is but if I had to guess I would agree with saltkreep, an air pocket or some cavitation in the pump. Let us know if it happens still after running in vinegar.


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