Jebao - 3 years in

[danh]

I've been using Jebao return pumps for 3 years now and powerheads for 2. The first year of returns was freshwater. I had two running a 210. I never had to touch them. After those 12 months, it was a no brainer for me, having only used Danner mag drives prior to that, which I HATED. I had used two mag36 pumps on a 480g that were incredible loud, sucked power and lasted less than a year.



The first 12 months or so of saltwater were also fine with no real issues. I cleaned the powerheads a a couple of times because I could see they needed it. Now in the last 12 months, uncleaned return pumps started seizing. Honestly I didn't know exactly how to clean them so because I had a spare, I just replaced it. Then the spare went so I bought a new sin wave pump. It started seizing after a few weeks. At that point I was out of pumps so I started opening them up. I soaked them in vinegar and water and got a lot of gunk off. The sin pump after just a month or two wouldn't work even after being cleaned. Luckily one of the older ones is working fun. Powerheads are seizing every week or so. I take them out, quickly clean them and they get back to working.

This week I realized that 3 out of 4 power heads had a real issue with the impellers. The ceramic sleeves that house the ceramic impeller shaft were seized together. I couldn't get them off. They've been soaking for days now and I still can't get them off. I know I didn't make it a point to take them off every time I cleaned them but I know I took them off sometimes.

These pumps have given me 1-2 years a piece now and some are still working. At their price points right around $100 a piece. I could buy 3 before I buy one MP40 for the power heads or M1, cor20. I've been a little upset over the past few weeks having to clean these things so frequently. Having to check the powerheads to make sure they're all spinning. Coming home to a return that's not running. Now that I really think about it, I think I'm ok with this. I should just break down and buy new ones. I did get an SW8 at Shaq yestesrday just because he had them in stock but I feel like these are still cost effective. Getting 1-2 years of good use, with less that great cleaning. Does anyone have experience with the 2-3x cost pumps lasting 2-3 times longer?

 

[danh]

I also don't need the extra controllability in the ecos. Seems cool, but not necessary.

 

[danh]

After about 36 hours of 50% vinegar soak, I upped it to close 100%. I got several of the sleeves off. Still one left out of 6 (3 impellers). I scrubbed the inside of the sleeve and the shaft. Put them back together and they are pretty free spinning. It's back in the tank and working fine. Let's see how long this lasts after what I feel is a DEEP cleaning of the important parts. I really think the 8 is pretty much all my 160g needs.. but it's nice to have the redundancy of several in the tank.

 

[Adam]

Not sure it matters what brand of pump. If there is that much solid buildup in/on the shafts there's going to be a problem. I'm beting that big ATO kalk dump you had could have played a roll. I try to clean my pumps every 3 to 4 months. Not always successful with the return pump but PH's are easy.

Maybe stepping up the acid concentration a little may help get them free of all deposits. A soak in 3/1 or 2/1 muriatic acid and water should do the trick.

 

[danh]

Maybe you're right. The nearly 100% vinegar seemed to let the sleeves go a lot better than 50%. Just a few hours in 100% did it for most of them. Maybe I just need to make sure I am scrubbing those parts in particular.