Koralia 3 shaft broken

[moze229]

I received the Koralia 3 today. Pulled it out to hook it up and a piece of plastic fell out of the shroud - it was part of the shaft that the impeller rides on I would say the bottom 1/3 of the shaft is still in tact - the part that the impeller sits on. The part that was broke was from the top of the impeller to the center part of the shroud. I just went through a major ordeal in returning a product to this particular company. I plugged the pump in and it seems to work fine this way. Can I just use this thing like it is? I'd rather do that than deal with another return. There is no noise or anything and water movement seems adequate. Opinions would be appreciated.

Maybe there is a way for me to fix this thing myself?

Matt

[shag26272]

mjmods.com sells shafts you just need to see what size fits it ,actually tommorrow if you dont have an answer ill put an MJ1200 shaft in my hydor 3 to see if it fits

[moze229]

How the heck to you get the thing out? I tried playing with it a little bit but I didn't want to break what was left on there. It seems pretty brittle. Excuse my ignorance but I've not played with any of these devices yet. I'm used to the good ol' power heads

I appreciate you trying that out for me shag.

Matt

[shag26272]

well I broke one too unfortunately , they sent me a replacement #3 for the recalled one, the old ones had a metal shaft, I couldnt get the piece with the magnet to fit in the hole in the back of the pump so I took out the impeller and shaft so i could force it without breaking the shroud, I ended up breaking the ceramic shaft that came with the new one so I just switched it out with the metal one with the old pump, I think I just grabbed it with a pliers

[moze229]

What's even stranger is that they do not appear to have it as a replacement part. I GUARANTEE that people are going to be breaking these things left and right, along with getting broke in shipping or whatever. The only replacement parts they appear to have available are the impeller (that only includes the impeller/magnet assembly), the mounting magnet, and the shroud. That's it. I wonder what was wrong with the metal one? At least it wouldn't break. I've heard of some of the Tunze metal shafts rusting and falling apart though.

But back to my original question - can I run this thing as-is? It still seems to be running like a champ with 1/3 of a shaft I suppose it's OK as long as it works?

Matt

[kroe]

The koralia shafts are the same diameter as a maxi-jet shaft (forget the measurements, but they are easy to find).

[jacmyoung]

If it is running without noise, I will leave it as is not to worry. I have run pumps without shaft at all so far no problem only a little noiser. In the long run you may have more wear on the magnet but that can take a while. Water is a very good lubricant.

The only issue I see with K pumps is without the full length of the shaft, the startup correction may not be complete sometimes because the prop shoots out and can fall into the shroud, not guided back into the motor.

[moze229]

Thanks jacmyoung. I will leave as is for now I suppose. Although if the MJMOD shaft is the same size, I may pick one up eventually. shag26272 is going to take one of his 1200 shafts and put in the koralia just to make sure its the same.

I know what you mean about the startup. The prop likes to bounce forward. This isn't going to tear anything up eventually is it?

Matt

[DarG]

Great ... I am supposed to send my 3's back in for recall. So the new ones have friggin brittle shafts? Maybe I should just ship the one "bad" one back and keep my other 2. My GFCI's arent tripping so Im not sure what the stray voltage thing is all about. But I can't imagine those pumps using ceramic or plastic shafts. The shaft is too thin to use anything but metal without worrying about breakage.

[moze229]

Yep - one little plastic/ceramic (too small to tell) shaft that's about 5" long. Apparently if you touch it the wrong way it will snap. Mine snapped in shipping or on the way to the vendor I got it from. Maybe there will be another recall on top of the recall

There is also a paper inside that boasts "New improved design". I'm not sure why the material they are using now is better than metal.

Matt

[sgallagher7]

Just broke 2 of them with my gorilla like fingers. This sucks. So the MJ shawt will fit and I dont have to toss the motors?

[kroe]

The mj shaft will fit. I modified my k4 and needed a longer shaft so I just used some titanium rod I had hanging around from MJ mods.

[jacmyoung]

Originally posted by kroe
The mj shaft will fit. I modified my k4 and needed a longer shaft so I just used some titanium rod I had hanging around from MJ mods.

Why did you need a longer shaft with the mod? What do you think the long term prospect of over-driving the 12W motor? My modded K4 is drawing 17W and pumping out about 1,600gph now.

Is it possible to order just the front cover from Hydor? I actually like to order the new ceramic shaft for my K4, there must be a good reason they called it the "improved" version.

[moze229]

Just to let everyone know, Bruce at Hydor USA was very helpful in solving my problem. I e-mailed Hydor about the broken shaft and he sent a replacement immediately. Not only did they send a replacement ceramic shaft, but they also sent a metal shaft! He also apologized for a problem that was not even their fault. I just wanted to pass this message along about Hydor's exceptional customer service. It seems that all we hear about on here sometimes are the bad experiences.

I will purchase Hydor products again without hesitation.

Matt

[Lo0seR]

My 3 broke, went to hobby shop and spent $2.00 on a ceramic shaft and cut it to size with my dremel. O ya my fault it broke.

[jacmyoung]

I was at Hydor's office a few weeks ago picking up some parts for my K4, Bruce and I had a little good chat, he was aware of the ceramic shaft issue during shipping. They tested the new shaft to be quieter running and with less friction, apparently they did not think of testing them by throwing a bunch of them at the mailman

I would use the ceramic one, it is not going to break in actual use, just not easy to handle.

[nebraskareef]

I too just received a replacement ceramic and metal shaft. I ordered from premium aquatics so I let them talk to hydor. I am very pleased w/ the quick turn around for replacement parts.

[dhnguyen]

bad idea on Hydor's part on switching from stainless steel to ceramic. Ceramic breaks extremely easily. I can't even remember how many times I've broken ceramic shafts from my skimmer pumps. Better to go back to stainless steel, carbon fiber or graphite shafts.

[moze229]

Originally posted by jacmyoung
I was at Hydor's office a few weeks ago picking up some parts for my K4, Bruce and I had a little good chat, he was aware of the ceramic shaft issue during shipping. They tested the new shaft to be quieter running and with less friction, apparently they did not think of testing them by throwing a bunch of them at the mailman

I would use the ceramic one, it is not going to break in actual use, just not easy to handle.

It looks like they might be going back to metal or moving to carbon if they cannot withstand shipping. Also, I'm not sure how much improvement your really going to get using ceramic over metal anyway. It doesn't seem the GPH flow improvement would have even been worth the product changeover cost. They would have had to change the production line, order new parts, etc. I popped the metal one in there and kept the ceramic on laying on a bed of cotton in a box I'm scared to touch it.

Hydor should look into getting their own forum here. I think it would help move the products they sell. The Koralias and FLO's have really done well.

Matt

[tkeracer619]

All new products go through production changes. Thats just part of the territory.

Hydor has excellent customer support, something that is so very important during these first stages of production.

TBH if I was manufacturing these........ I would have found the problem after tossing a few of them at the closest wall.

You would be surprised at some of the test methods companies use ^^.

[dhnguyen]

Yes but why change something that wasn't broken in the first place?

The smart thing here would have been to learn from others' mistakes too. How often have you heard about people breaking their ceramic shafts from Sedra, OceanRunner, ...insert brand name here... pumps. You'd think they would have done at least some research beforehand prior to switching.

Personally I have no clue why companies keep on insisting using ceramic shafts in pumps. The minimal resistance that ceramic afford doesn't really lend much to the pump's performance at all. Ceramic is also a great deal more difficult and expensive to manufacture.

[D.Blaine]

anyone have contact info for Hydor cant seem to find it, need to get a replacement shaft here also. Another thing has anyone noticed an irregular flow out of these pumps I hve one that has a nice even flow but the other comes out in sort of a V pattern.

[moze229]

http://www.hydor.it/default.htm

Send an e-mail, and it should be forwarded to the US distributor's office. They were very helpful to me.

As far as the flow, the flow should be dispersed slightly to the sides rather than coming straight out of the front. These are not designed like the modded maxi jets where there is one straight current from the front.

Matt