Blowhole pump plumbing help.

JABlacher · Apr 28, 2013

Hey guys,
I installed my new blowhole 2700 pump yesterday and it proceeded to pour smoke out of the side of it about 5 minutes into it running. I am running it on my 150 gallon reef and the input line is 2 inch coming out of my sump and directly into a check valve. It is reduced at the output of the check valve down to 1 1/4" which is the exact size of the pumps input. Out of the pump my plan was to T'ee off to feed my reactors(not plumbed yet) and the 1 1/4" splits into the 2 independent 3/4" returns up to my tank. Prior to running the pump I flooded the lines to prime it and water flowed all the way to the check valve. Thats when things went south.
I started the pump on speed 3 as per the instructions and everything went great. Speed 2 and 1 seemed to work okay and then completely stopped flowing only allowing me to run it on speed 3 which is a bit fast for my tank. After restarting the pump, my living room lights flickered and smoke came out of the motor housing. I am assuming this is an electrical issue on the pumps behalf but I was hoping someone might look over my plumbing and make sure I am not doing something wrong. I appreciate the help.

bad santa · Apr 28, 2013

Is that pump made to be set up like that? I don't think the pump actually sucks in the water but its supposed to passively go through the inlet.

JABlacher · Apr 28, 2013

The manual for the pump states that you can run it like this as they refer to it as a "suction lift". The only restriction is that you must run a check valve as to keep the pump primed if it turns off so you don't run it dry. Also they note that you need to backfill the system until air is forced out as to drown the pump. Basically the pump needs to have water in it as it will not suck water if there is none (it's not self-priming)

JABlacher · Apr 28, 2013

Any more advice out there?

bvysochin · Apr 29, 2013

Not familiar with that particular model, but I'm surprised the manual would suggest for the pump to be setup in that configuration. I've run external pumps before, without drilling the sump, using some PVC to go up and over, and then back down to the pump, and then priming it, so that gravity keeps the water flowing to the pump.. In my configuration, the pump is below the water level, so in the event that the power goes out, there would always be water in the pump. From what I recall, Vivid has their pumps set up in this manner. Aside from peristaltic pumps, I believe most pumps for our application are better at pushing water, as opposed to sucking..

Seems like the pump was trying to draw quite a bit of power if your lights were flickering, and then it started smoking. What else is on that particular circuit? Can you test the voltage at that outlet? Are you using an extension cord? Just throwing this out, but the check valve is not installed backwards, right? I'm not an electrician, but maybe some one else can chime in.. Maybe it's as simple as a defective pump.. If I had to guess, I'd guess that the motor burnt out/was damaged from difficulty sucking the water, and then pushing it up.. Good luck.

bvysochin · Apr 29, 2013

Don't know if this will help you, but just for reference, the "up and over" configuration for one of my tanks.. Allows you to use an external pump without drilling your sump. No check valves required, power has gone out multiple times, never any issue.

JABlacher · Apr 29, 2013

Thanks for the reply. As far as I can tell, this should all have worked. Not using an extension cord, and the check valve is definitely not backwards ( checked that first). I was running a snapper pump from reeflo prior to this and it worked great but for my application I need the speed of a high pressure pump.

bad santa · May 1, 2013

Any update on what went wrong?

Blowhole pump plumbing help.

JABlacher

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bad santa

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JABlacher

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JABlacher

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bvysochin

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bvysochin

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JABlacher

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bad santa

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