Pump Problems

[JT]

I am on my second pump. I am using small pond pumps for my first aquaponics system. I am doing the new "shelfponics" thing. Are these things known for going out? I have a 132 gallons per hour pump at about a 3-4 foot rise. It started out going great, now we are barely pushing out a trickle of water. Grrrrrrr. Any suggestions?

[David Waite]

When you have submersible pumps alot of people are under the impression that they cant get hot because they are water cooled. If you let the pump get fouled at the screen and the pump cant move the water over the impeller at full flow the main bearing behind the impeller gets hot. This is the main cause of failure in submersible pumps. The motor will be fine but the bearing seized due to lack of water flow over the impeller causing the main bearing to fail. This is why I dont use small filters around my pumps. I always increase the size of the screen by using a larger surface I.E. 5 gal bucket . You can check out mine If it helps. I clean once every 6 months. On jet pumps or pump that sit outside the tank the water flow is very critical as well as air flow. Lack of water will heat the shaft and cause bearing failure premature and lack of air flow will cause motor failure or rear bearing failure.If you are using large pumps wiring size is critical as well but that is another topic on amp load sizing.

[TCLynx]

even little mag drive pumps without a bearing can heat up to the point of melting/deforming plastic if you allow them to totally clog up.

Little sponge filters generally need cleaning a couple times a day once an aquaponic system gets cycled up.  I don't recommend those little sponges.  Expanding the surface area of screen for the pump's intake definitely helps.  Keeping leaves and other large debris out of the tank with the pump also helps.