Ocean Runner PITA Mesh Mod project

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#1
Well I finally got off my butt and decided to swap out the Eheim NW pump on my skimmer for a mesh modded OceanRunner 2500. The Eheim runs amazing but it was just too strong for the skimmer I have. Since I had to gate back that pump more than half it generated a hum that could only be heard by small woodland creatures and my wife. Therefore changing pumps became a necessity.

Modding the OR impeller was a piece of cake, as was making a venturi inlet with some plumbing pieces I had around. Connecting the pump to my skimmer should have been the easy part... its always the easy stuff that messes up my whole day.

Anyone familiar with the OR pumps has seen it has a stubby 3/4 mpt outlet sticking out of the housing. This fitting is actually an adapter that converts what looks like metric fine threads of the housing to 3/4". I started by screwing on a 3/4 female thread barb fitting by hand. Thats as far as I got, screwing it on by hand when I hear a cracking sound as the adapter fitting shears off! Nothing infuriates me more than things which are poorly designed and made from cheap materials :mad:

Looking at the threads in the hole (of the housing) is when I noticed they were fine and metric. UGH, now what?! After studying the housing it was obvious that tapping it for larger threads might be just as disastrous given how little material there appeared to be in the walls of the outlet passage. So I did what any other self respecting DIY'er would do, got out my drill and bored out those threads until I had a nice smooth outlet. Then I took an old sch80 barb fitting, cut off the barbs so only a 1/2" stub remained, and shaved it down to be the same diameter as the hole in the housing. Gobbed on some multi purpose PVC/ABS glue and jammed that sucka in so the male 3/4 threads of the hacked barb fitting now stuck out. Take that you, you, you piece of imported plastic that ruined my day :hmpf:

Finally after the glue dried I got it all hooked up again and the skimmer is running a little quieter. Time to go to bed :sleep:
 
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#4
there is a thread on RC that covers this. i think i saw it on the octopus mod thread.... i will see if i can find the link.....

post pics now!!!!
 
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#5
there is a thread on RC that covers this. i think i saw it on the octopus mod thread.... i will see if i can find the link.....

post pics now!!!!
ok ok, so demanding :laugh:

Sorry about the focus on some of these. By the time I started breaking stuff I was in no mood to take pictures so I only have pics of the mesh. Shot 1 is of the impeller before the mod. Second is the impeller with the paddles trimmed down, and the last two show a few layers of enkamat fastened on with some zip ties.
 

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#6
when i did my OR. I notched a fw on the paddles in order to fasten the zip ties. you need to try and keep the clasps of the ties facing you (or looking down at the top of the impeller. the bottom part near the magnet will rub on the housing if you dont position them correctly....

I will see if i can dig up pics of mine
 
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#8
I tried running it with the zip tie clasps facing back but they were rubbing. Since I had already trimmed down the paddles there wasn't enough material to support additionally notching them further. It seems to work fine with the clasps twisted to the side. Th only other option I thought of is to tie it on with fishing line.
 
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#9
Not sure if this is typical with OR pumps or just after modding, but this is the third time its seized on me. Following a power outage or surge (like tonight with the winds) the pump tries to restart then shuts down. When trying to restart it doesn't even hum. Last time I had to disassemble it, found nothing wrong, reassembled and it ran fine. Anyone have similar problems? I like how cool and quiet this pump runs but I'm losing patience.
 
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#10
I think these pumps must have some sort of internal circuit breaker. I left the pump alone last night and tried to restart again this morning. Sure enough it started right up. The power surge last night must have tripped it and it had to sit a while.

Anyway, all is well now and the pump is running fine. I think I should attach it to my UPS like my return pump to keep it online the next time this happens.
 

lth03

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#11
It seize on you because the motor doesn't has enough power to turn the mesh wheel after it cut off power,impeller was lock up in one position and need a little boost to move again,you have to plug and unplug it few time to restart it,I ran 2 sedra 5000,one with needle wheel,newer than the one with mesh wheel is older pump,one time it seize on me and I switch the body,newer pump with mesh wheel,older pump with needle wheel and everything work normal again
 

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