Equipment Review and Discussion :: finicky filter...

[mackadocious]

so i have an xp3 for roughly 70-80 gallons of water at the moment and 1 turtle....i spent about 3 hours today trying to get the effin thing to run after doing a water change (it had been a while, but the water wasn't murky or anything)....

i replaced all the old filters in it other than biomedia before refilling and was this time able to get adequate suction to actually fill the canister (two weeks ago couldn't even get that to happen) and still had the hardest time getting good flow (kept making the farting noise with no output)....

this is a frequent problem for me and i live out in the woods, so the power goes out a lot...resulting in me needing to re-vacuum or whatever you wanna call it the intake to get water flowing again....it gives me the worst time every time and i spend at least 30 minutes getting it to work and often over an hour.....needless to say it's VERY frustrating and i often think to myself that something i paid 130 bucks for should work better....

did i just get a bad apple, or does anyone else have this problem??....if so, any tips, tricks or suggestions for easier use in the future??....and yes i've read thru the manual that comes with it--i just about have the troubleshooting section memorized

[Rubicon]

On the inlet tube (the part that U's over the tank) does it have a cap that you can remove? My XP4 came with that and a small funnel. I just filled the XP4 with water and put the lid on. Then I filled the tubing from the small fill port and plugged it in. All the air was pushed out instantly.

[Rubicon]

Item G in this picture:

[Bascomb]

Mac-do - I am not familiar with this pump, but one of two thing are happening. Your pump is getting air from the suction side of the pump or the impeller is cavatating. Ru-con may be on to something. b.

[mackadocious]

yeah, yesterday for the 3 hours i was fooling with it, i must have tried priming the intake at the cap at least a dozen times....i even tried leaving the snap part down on the top of the canister so that water poured in pushed straight thru to the output (which has worked in the past) but repeatedly had problems....and i'm pretty sure i'm doing that part right, like i said, i practically know the trouble shooting part by heart....

bascomb--what part is the impeller??....would that be the motor on the top of the canister??....and how/where could it possibly be getting air from??....sorry, know you said you aren't familiar with the pump, but...

does anyone else know that is familiar???......answer makes sense logically, but that's what i haven't been able to figure out....where's air getting into the system if i'm able to create enough vacuum to pull water into the canister in the first place??....all connecting points are well secured with at least 1/2" overlap and very tight (haven't been able to take them apart to clean the hosing since original assembly) with the only possibility i can see (i'm no expert with filters, mechanics, etc) is a poor seal at the piece that hosing is attached to on the canister top (the only piece that's not molded on, sticking up in pic on canister)

[mackadocious]

oh, and rubicon--you don't even have to fill the canister with water....if you fill the tube first with the snap part up where hosing connects, then push that down after replacing the cap, it should pull water from your tank without any problem, theoretically removing all air from the system.....my prob is, after all air is theoretically removed and i've let it set for several minutes just in case (it recommends at least 2) i'm still getting no output....

[steve]

A power outage should not affect the priming of a canister unless the filter not under the tank.

Here is what I do to get the priming going:

Have the canister empty.
Make sure the gray lever is in the up position.
Add water into the intake tube using the supplied funnel and screw the cap back on.
Push down the gray lever and it will start priming and will take just a few minutes.
Plug filter in.

IF it is priming but not working after you plug it is, is the motor still running? Can you feel the air escaping from the output nozzle?

[marisa]

The impeller is the part that looks like a propeller in the motor case.


How long are the hoses?

[Bascomb]

Thanks, Mar-mod -- I was just in the process of trying to describe it as the "thing" that has little wings on the other side of the magnet spinning "thing" that propels the water -- I am glad she didn't ask about cavatation, WHEW!!

[mackadocious]

ok, i figured, but you know what they say when you assume...and the motor is encased, so i can't see any of the guts of the motor without pulling out a screwdriver....


steve--that's what i don't get....power went out today incidentally, and i had to re-prime it....thankfully, i was able to get it working in one shot so i wasn't pulling my hair out for once dealin with it.....

the tank base is 3 feet off the floor (+/- an inch or 2) with the intake positioned at the middle of the tank and the output at the end of the tank....the canister is underneath the tank in between input/output...

i always prime and everything in exactly the same sequence you described above....yes the motor is running as it's making very loud noises...now whether or not i can feel air coming out the output, i don't know....never thought to feel for that....i will say sometimes you can see a water line in the intake hose moving up and down 4-5 inches and then sometimes the same thing in the output hose when it's not working....i suspect i would feel nothing though if i'm seeing the water move up/down in the hosing like that though...

[mackadocious]

there are pics of my set up in the post below (don't know that they really help, but you can see how i got the filter set up)....the pics are from a year ago, but the set up is pretty much the same other than i removed the dirt from the dry area as it was snubbed for nesting...

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... light=tank

[mackadocious]

oh, an marisa--i guess you would be able to tell from pics, but let's say roughly 3 ft??--i'm eyeballing....

and just to make clear...the filter is only loud when it's not pumping water.....once running, like right now, all i can hear is water....and once it's going, no problems like decreased flow or interrupted output unless the power goes out....

[steve]

When you are priming and the filter is filling up, do you feel air escaping through the output nozzle? And a little water dripping out once it's done priming? I wonder if adding a little more water will help.

My motor also occasionally doesn't start up... you might want to see if you are covered by the 2-year warranty.

[mackadocious]

when i fool with it for a while, i do try adding extra water after it's primed till i see water dripping out of the output....sometimes it works, sometimes no, and i re-prime repeatedly till it finally works....based on everyone's responses, yeah i'm starting to wonder if i should try to get into the warranty thing....now i just have to hope my boyfriend put the packing slip in the box...

[mikee]

mac-a-do -- You should not have to prime your pump each time the power goes out. Your system is getting air into it some how and causing the problem. As per above is most likely is on the suction side of the pump. m.