How to clean a Tunze pump and what to do about a driver alarm. - Page 8

matt the fiddler · 03/24/2010, 05:03 PM

Rodger,

6000 old model-

I did all the cleanings You covered here... and when I turn the pump on it moves about 1/2 a rotation then jams.... when i try to move it manually (unplugged) in the shaft- it moves fine.. it feels like the magnetic field isn't rotating, and just holding one position.

ideas?

rvitko · 03/25/2010, 09:02 AM

The bush bearing pries out with a screw driver at the notches, this is shown in the manual, the upper bearing is best removed with a hook tool, small needlenose pliers or a #12 3" screw driven into the hole in the middle and pulled up. If it is really stuck by calcium build up, I would pour some vinegar in the impeller well and let it sit over night to loosen the calcium.

Matt- it does sound like an electronic problem, I would suggest sending it in, if it is the motor this is no longer available so we do a discounted upgrade to the 6105 in this case.

shawnsharon220 · 03/28/2010, 02:58 PM

Roger, We have the tunze 6212 and have done regular maintanence on it for 2 years. We started having problems with it beeping so replaced the impellar and bearings. We still have the beep and now are getting no wave. We can turn it by hand and it will run a couple of cycles and then stops and beeps again. What else can we try?

rvitko · 03/29/2010, 10:10 AM

Typically this would mean the motor has failed if the pump still does not work with a properly installed drive unit, the only possible repair is to replace the motor.

Rukis · 03/29/2010, 03:27 PM

So Roger,
I pulled out the impeller and bush bearing, cleaned everything out really well and am still having the off and on alarm and can get it to last longer than a few seconds on. It's on for 3-5 seconds, alarming and shutting off, then a few seconds later it will turn back on, and back and forth??... What is the issue now, could it still be the impeller? What's the proper impeller for a Tunze 6260.10? Thanks

rvitko · 03/29/2010, 03:37 PM

6260 uses 6200.700 drive unit, but I would suspect it is likely the motor is going out, it would be best to send in the pump and we can figure out the best course of action as the motor is no longer made so we would have to do a discounted upgrade to the new motor, worst case scenario.

Rukis · 03/29/2010, 04:40 PM

where do I send it in? thanks

rvitko · 03/30/2010, 08:35 AM

Tunze USA
305 Victor St
Austin, TX 78753

Rukis · 03/31/2010, 07:26 PM

What all do I need to include, just the pump or the whole wavebox?

rvitko · 04/01/2010, 08:28 AM

Pump driver and power supply, I don't need the box and don't recommend shipping it.

azpoolguy · 07/07/2010, 01:27 PM

Roger, after about 6 hours of working my transformer 7410.602A keeps going off. I switched transformers from my other stream to make sure it wasn't the power head and it works fine. If I wait until the next day and plug it in it will work then repeat the same thing. Can the transformer be fixed or do I need to get a new one?

rvitko · 07/08/2010, 08:18 AM

The transformer is sealed and cannot be repaired. I would suggest sending in the pump and power supply as what you describe should only happen if the driver has a bad contact or the pump or driver is drawing enough power to trigger the thermal overload protection. It could also be the pump is just jammed with some calcium. This pump uses 45W, the power supply can provide 60W. If it is clogged with calcium or if you have a wavebox or 6200 and inadvertently swapped propellers the pump can excede the 60W limit, cause an overheat and shut down. There are modest variations that may allow another transformer to supply 65W or so.

Crabby2004 · 07/10/2010, 11:17 PM

Dear Roger,

I've got two Tunze 6201 pumps that are not working. One doesn't work at all (propeller doesn't turn) and the other works intermittently. For the one that doesn't work at all, I've tried the powersupply with other units and the powersupply seems to be working. The pump hasn't been used much. The unit that works intermittently has a strange behavior when first turned on - it vibrates and stops at about 10-15 second cycles for a few minutes and then kicks on. So, as long as that unit is just "on" it works, but if the unit is used with a wavemaker it doesn't work since it gets stuck in the vibration behavior.

Any suggestions? I've taken the propellers out and cleaned them but that didn't seem to be the problem.

Thanks,

Jonathon

rvitko · 07/12/2010, 09:28 AM

It is likely the internal electronics of the pump. Please send in the pump-

Tunze USA
305 Victor St
Austin, TX 78753

Include a return address and phone number.

Crabby2004 · 07/12/2010, 11:55 AM

Thanks, I'll send it in.

Crabby2004 · 07/21/2010, 03:06 PM

Received the replacement pump today! Thank you very much.

I'm sending the second broken pump today. It was workign for a while but now just vibrates with a klack-klack-klack-klack-klack (yes, five of them) sound every few seconds.

rvitko · 07/21/2010, 04:10 PM

OK, sounds good.

fernandoh · 07/30/2010, 03:49 PM

Hello Roger, I have two 6100.10 pumps old style (the square ones), when I conect them the driver emits an alarm and the pumps won't work, I bought them 3 years ago.

Yersterday I cleaned them as you posted at the beggining of this post and one worked for just one minute and then stoped again.

the problem began 2 months ago when one of them stop, I cleaned and I worked again for one month, then the other failed and I couldn't make it work again, three days ago the other one stoped.

For what I have read I think the problem is in my motors, what is the lifespan on these motors?

Do you think I should send them to you for an inspection?

Thank you.

Fernando.

rvitko · 08/02/2010, 07:49 AM

Fernando,

It really depends on cleaning and care and also just a bit of luck against small assembly errors, they have a two year warranty, I have seen pumps form the first ones made in 2002 that still work and occasionally we had pumps that due to a defect died within a day or two of being installed. The goal is 5 years, we build everything around a 5 year service life. I would send them in, if we can't fix them, we will discount an upgrade to the new 6105.

Tunze USA
305 Victor St
Austin, TX 78753

Mark Elliott · 09/16/2010, 07:47 AM

Hi, Can anyone help? I have two Tunze 6105s running off a 7095 controller. I'm off on vacation tomorrow and decided to clean the pumps yesterday (that was dumb - I should have done it last month!). Internally there was a trace of limescale that came off easily but nothing else except algae on the casing.

Anyway one of the 6105s now won't start up (straight after cleaning it was fine, but 24 hours later its stopped). There's power getting to it OK and the impellor twitches when the 7095 turns the pump on, but the impellor refuses to spin up, so no flow. The other pump is OK and the 7095 is fine too - swapping connections and power supplies has eliminated anything other than a problem with the specific 6105.

Iv'e taken it apart and reassembled it agin, there's nothing blocking the impellor!

Any ideas? this pump is too new and expensive to simply throw away.

Thanks

Mark

rvitko · 09/16/2010, 08:54 AM

They have a 2 year warranty so do not throw them away. The two most likely culprits are that lime has cemented the magnetic rotor and propeller to the metal shaft, it must spin freely on the metal shaft, the shaft stays stationary and the magnet spins. Clean the shaft and the hole in the magnet and make sure it spins smoothly. The other possibility I can think of would be if during cleaning one of the external electrical components got wet, this sort of issue would not be warranty but can be repaired.

Mark Elliott · 09/17/2010, 10:29 AM

Well now I'm totally confused! I took the pump out and cleaned it again. The only limescale I'd missed was in the groove cut across the rubber O ring at the base of the spindle. I gave everything a good clean and checked it all span on its bearings.

Back in the tank and.... zip! Nothing not when controlled via the 7095 or directly driven off the transformer.

So I put it on the 7095, left it and put the TV on to watch the Cricket (US citizens may need to Google that, sorry).

90 minutes later and the pump is running!

Obviously I'm not touching it again, if I had to I'd guess the internal electronics somehow went awry, but as it's sealed I'm just thankful it now works.

Mark

Mark Elliott · 10/02/2010, 05:24 AM

Well after a few more intermittent failures to start the 6105 I've eventually figured this out. Other RC users might benefit from this so....

The transformer (6101.240 - now replaced by another model 6105.240) had failed. The red light still lit up and the output was still OK at 18v (17.96v on my voltmeter). But somehow the transformer failed to peoduce enough peak current to start the pump consistently.

I'm not an electrician (shame really it would be useful) but if I had to I guess I'd say a capacitor in the transformer was leaking so the initial surge of power necessary to start the pump wasn't always generated. That meant sometimes the pump started, sometimes it didn't.

There's no obvious sign of failure but the transformer didn't get as warm as it should (since no current was being drawn). Other than that it's a puzzle how to identify the problem, and if you do the only solution is a complete new transformer unit when all that's needed is a cheap capacitor.

BTW the voltmeter is really a great gadget - inexpensive and brilliant at identifying stray voltages in a reef.

Mark

rvitko · 10/04/2010, 08:25 AM

Thanks! Yes, I have seen this as well. I am not sure it is a capacitor as with more testing you will likely find the voltage drops under load, as soon as you connect the power supply to a pump the voltage drops to nearly zero which leads me to believe it is something more involved like a safety feature (overload) responding inappropriately.

delphinus · 10/05/2010, 12:14 AM

Hi,

I have two 6100 units. One is slightly older than the other. One of the drivers is model 7420.26 and the other is the newer 7420.27. Whichever pump head I attach to the 7420.26 seems to occasionally jam and then restart. Because the problem seems to follow with the driver I suspect the motors are fine and it is the driver.

Can I send the 7420.26 in for service or upgrade, or can I simply purchase a newer 7420.27?

03/25/2010, 09:02 AM	#177
rvitko RC Sponsor Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Austin Texas USA Posts: 35,785	The bush bearing pries out with a screw driver at the notches, this is shown in the manual, the upper bearing is best removed with a hook tool, small needlenose pliers or a #12 3" screw driven into the hole in the middle and pulled up. If it is really stuck by calcium build up, I would pour some vinegar in the impeller well and let it sit over night to loosen the calcium. Matt- it does sound like an electronic problem, I would suggest sending it in, if it is the motor this is no longer available so we do a discounted upgrade to the 6105 in this case. __________________ Roger Vitko Tunze USA "He's for every one of us, stands for every one of us, he'll save every man, woman and child in a mighty Flash!" Current Tank Info: 210 gallon planted tank with Altum Angelfish

03/29/2010, 10:10 AM	#179
rvitko RC Sponsor Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Austin Texas USA Posts: 35,785	Typically this would mean the motor has failed if the pump still does not work with a properly installed drive unit, the only possible repair is to replace the motor. __________________ Roger Vitko Tunze USA "He's for every one of us, stands for every one of us, he'll save every man, woman and child in a mighty Flash!" Current Tank Info: 210 gallon planted tank with Altum Angelfish

03/29/2010, 03:37 PM	#181
rvitko RC Sponsor Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Austin Texas USA Posts: 35,785	6260 uses 6200.700 drive unit, but I would suspect it is likely the motor is going out, it would be best to send in the pump and we can figure out the best course of action as the motor is no longer made so we would have to do a discounted upgrade to the new motor, worst case scenario. __________________ Roger Vitko Tunze USA "He's for every one of us, stands for every one of us, he'll save every man, woman and child in a mighty Flash!" Current Tank Info: 210 gallon planted tank with Altum Angelfish

03/30/2010, 08:35 AM	#183
rvitko RC Sponsor Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Austin Texas USA Posts: 35,785	Tunze USA 305 Victor St Austin, TX 78753 __________________ Roger Vitko Tunze USA "He's for every one of us, stands for every one of us, he'll save every man, woman and child in a mighty Flash!" Current Tank Info: 210 gallon planted tank with Altum Angelfish

04/01/2010, 08:28 AM	#185
rvitko RC Sponsor Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Austin Texas USA Posts: 35,785	Pump driver and power supply, I don't need the box and don't recommend shipping it. __________________ Roger Vitko Tunze USA "He's for every one of us, stands for every one of us, he'll save every man, woman and child in a mighty Flash!" Current Tank Info: 210 gallon planted tank with Altum Angelfish

03/24/2010, 05:03 PM	#176
matt the fiddler Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Quad Cities Posts: 1,897	Rodger, 6000 old model- I did all the cleanings You covered here... and when I turn the pump on it moves about 1/2 a rotation then jams.... when i try to move it manually (unplugged) in the shaft- it moves fine.. it feels like the magnetic field isn't rotating, and just holding one position. ideas?

03/28/2010, 02:58 PM	#178
shawnsharon220 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 1	Roger, We have the tunze 6212 and have done regular maintanence on it for 2 years. We started having problems with it beeping so replaced the impellar and bearings. We still have the beep and now are getting no wave. We can turn it by hand and it will run a couple of cycles and then stops and beeps again. What else can we try?

03/29/2010, 03:27 PM	#180
Rukis Moved On Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Huntington Beach, CA Posts: 75	So Roger, I pulled out the impeller and bush bearing, cleaned everything out really well and am still having the off and on alarm and can get it to last longer than a few seconds on. It's on for 3-5 seconds, alarming and shutting off, then a few seconds later it will turn back on, and back and forth??... What is the issue now, could it still be the impeller? What's the proper impeller for a Tunze 6260.10? Thanks

03/29/2010, 04:40 PM	#182
Rukis Moved On Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Huntington Beach, CA Posts: 75	where do I send it in? thanks

03/31/2010, 07:26 PM	#184
Rukis Moved On Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Huntington Beach, CA Posts: 75	What all do I need to include, just the pump or the whole wavebox?

07/07/2010, 01:27 PM	#186
azpoolguy Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Gilbert, Arizona Posts: 5	Transformer keeps going out Roger, after about 6 hours of working my transformer 7410.602A keeps going off. I switched transformers from my other stream to make sure it wasn't the power head and it works fine. If I wait until the next day and plug it in it will work then repeat the same thing. Can the transformer be fixed or do I need to get a new one?

07/08/2010, 08:18 AM	#187
rvitko RC Sponsor Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Austin Texas USA Posts: 35,785	The transformer is sealed and cannot be repaired. I would suggest sending in the pump and power supply as what you describe should only happen if the driver has a bad contact or the pump or driver is drawing enough power to trigger the thermal overload protection. It could also be the pump is just jammed with some calcium. This pump uses 45W, the power supply can provide 60W. If it is clogged with calcium or if you have a wavebox or 6200 and inadvertently swapped propellers the pump can excede the 60W limit, cause an overheat and shut down. There are modest variations that may allow another transformer to supply 65W or so. __________________ Roger Vitko Tunze USA "He's for every one of us, stands for every one of us, he'll save every man, woman and child in a mighty Flash!" Current Tank Info: 210 gallon planted tank with Altum Angelfish

07/10/2010, 11:17 PM	#188
Crabby2004 Registered Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Berkeley Posts: 8	Dear Roger, I've got two Tunze 6201 pumps that are not working. One doesn't work at all (propeller doesn't turn) and the other works intermittently. For the one that doesn't work at all, I've tried the powersupply with other units and the powersupply seems to be working. The pump hasn't been used much. The unit that works intermittently has a strange behavior when first turned on - it vibrates and stops at about 10-15 second cycles for a few minutes and then kicks on. So, as long as that unit is just "on" it works, but if the unit is used with a wavemaker it doesn't work since it gets stuck in the vibration behavior. Any suggestions? I've taken the propellers out and cleaned them but that didn't seem to be the problem. Thanks, Jonathon __________________ http://rtc.sfsu.edu Current Tank Info: 210G SPS tank

07/12/2010, 09:28 AM	#189
rvitko RC Sponsor Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Austin Texas USA Posts: 35,785	It is likely the internal electronics of the pump. Please send in the pump- Tunze USA 305 Victor St Austin, TX 78753 Include a return address and phone number. __________________ Roger Vitko Tunze USA "He's for every one of us, stands for every one of us, he'll save every man, woman and child in a mighty Flash!" Current Tank Info: 210 gallon planted tank with Altum Angelfish

07/12/2010, 11:55 AM	#190
Crabby2004 Registered Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Berkeley Posts: 8	Thanks, I'll send it in. __________________ http://rtc.sfsu.edu Current Tank Info: 210G SPS tank

07/21/2010, 03:06 PM	#191
Crabby2004 Registered Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Berkeley Posts: 8	Received the replacement pump today! Thank you very much. I'm sending the second broken pump today. It was workign for a while but now just vibrates with a klack-klack-klack-klack-klack (yes, five of them) sound every few seconds. __________________ http://rtc.sfsu.edu Current Tank Info: 210G SPS tank

07/21/2010, 04:10 PM	#192
rvitko RC Sponsor Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Austin Texas USA Posts: 35,785	OK, sounds good. __________________ Roger Vitko Tunze USA "He's for every one of us, stands for every one of us, he'll save every man, woman and child in a mighty Flash!" Current Tank Info: 210 gallon planted tank with Altum Angelfish

07/30/2010, 03:49 PM	#193
fernandoh Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Tampico, Mexico Posts: 2	Hello Roger, I have two 6100.10 pumps old style (the square ones), when I conect them the driver emits an alarm and the pumps won't work, I bought them 3 years ago. Yersterday I cleaned them as you posted at the beggining of this post and one worked for just one minute and then stoped again. the problem began 2 months ago when one of them stop, I cleaned and I worked again for one month, then the other failed and I couldn't make it work again, three days ago the other one stoped. For what I have read I think the problem is in my motors, what is the lifespan on these motors? Do you think I should send them to you for an inspection? Thank you. Fernando.

08/02/2010, 07:49 AM	#194
rvitko RC Sponsor Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Austin Texas USA Posts: 35,785	Fernando, It really depends on cleaning and care and also just a bit of luck against small assembly errors, they have a two year warranty, I have seen pumps form the first ones made in 2002 that still work and occasionally we had pumps that due to a defect died within a day or two of being installed. The goal is 5 years, we build everything around a 5 year service life. I would send them in, if we can't fix them, we will discount an upgrade to the new 6105. Tunze USA 305 Victor St Austin, TX 78753 __________________ Roger Vitko Tunze USA "He's for every one of us, stands for every one of us, he'll save every man, woman and child in a mighty Flash!" Current Tank Info: 210 gallon planted tank with Altum Angelfish

09/16/2010, 07:47 AM	#195
Mark Elliott Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: South East London (UK) Posts: 33	Hi, Can anyone help? I have two Tunze 6105s running off a 7095 controller. I'm off on vacation tomorrow and decided to clean the pumps yesterday (that was dumb - I should have done it last month!). Internally there was a trace of limescale that came off easily but nothing else except algae on the casing. Anyway one of the 6105s now won't start up (straight after cleaning it was fine, but 24 hours later its stopped). There's power getting to it OK and the impellor twitches when the 7095 turns the pump on, but the impellor refuses to spin up, so no flow. The other pump is OK and the 7095 is fine too - swapping connections and power supplies has eliminated anything other than a problem with the specific 6105. Iv'e taken it apart and reassembled it agin, there's nothing blocking the impellor! Any ideas? this pump is too new and expensive to simply throw away. Thanks Mark

09/16/2010, 08:54 AM	#196
rvitko RC Sponsor Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Austin Texas USA Posts: 35,785	They have a 2 year warranty so do not throw them away. The two most likely culprits are that lime has cemented the magnetic rotor and propeller to the metal shaft, it must spin freely on the metal shaft, the shaft stays stationary and the magnet spins. Clean the shaft and the hole in the magnet and make sure it spins smoothly. The other possibility I can think of would be if during cleaning one of the external electrical components got wet, this sort of issue would not be warranty but can be repaired. __________________ Roger Vitko Tunze USA "He's for every one of us, stands for every one of us, he'll save every man, woman and child in a mighty Flash!" Current Tank Info: 210 gallon planted tank with Altum Angelfish

09/17/2010, 10:29 AM	#197
Mark Elliott Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: South East London (UK) Posts: 33	Cleaned 6105 not starting (see above) Well now I'm totally confused! I took the pump out and cleaned it again. The only limescale I'd missed was in the groove cut across the rubber O ring at the base of the spindle. I gave everything a good clean and checked it all span on its bearings. Back in the tank and.... zip! Nothing not when controlled via the 7095 or directly driven off the transformer. So I put it on the 7095, left it and put the TV on to watch the Cricket (US citizens may need to Google that, sorry). 90 minutes later and the pump is running! Obviously I'm not touching it again, if I had to I'd guess the internal electronics somehow went awry, but as it's sealed I'm just thankful it now works. Mark

10/02/2010, 05:24 AM	#198
Mark Elliott Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: South East London (UK) Posts: 33	Tunze 6105 "failure" Well after a few more intermittent failures to start the 6105 I've eventually figured this out. Other RC users might benefit from this so.... The transformer (6101.240 - now replaced by another model 6105.240) had failed. The red light still lit up and the output was still OK at 18v (17.96v on my voltmeter). But somehow the transformer failed to peoduce enough peak current to start the pump consistently. I'm not an electrician (shame really it would be useful) but if I had to I guess I'd say a capacitor in the transformer was leaking so the initial surge of power necessary to start the pump wasn't always generated. That meant sometimes the pump started, sometimes it didn't. There's no obvious sign of failure but the transformer didn't get as warm as it should (since no current was being drawn). Other than that it's a puzzle how to identify the problem, and if you do the only solution is a complete new transformer unit when all that's needed is a cheap capacitor. BTW the voltmeter is really a great gadget - inexpensive and brilliant at identifying stray voltages in a reef. Mark

10/04/2010, 08:25 AM	#199
rvitko RC Sponsor Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Austin Texas USA Posts: 35,785	Thanks! Yes, I have seen this as well. I am not sure it is a capacitor as with more testing you will likely find the voltage drops under load, as soon as you connect the power supply to a pump the voltage drops to nearly zero which leads me to believe it is something more involved like a safety feature (overload) responding inappropriately. __________________ Roger Vitko Tunze USA "He's for every one of us, stands for every one of us, he'll save every man, woman and child in a mighty Flash!" Current Tank Info: 210 gallon planted tank with Altum Angelfish

10/05/2010, 12:14 AM	#200
delphinus Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Calgary, AB., Canada Posts: 1,453	Hi, I have two 6100 units. One is slightly older than the other. One of the drivers is model 7420.26 and the other is the newer 7420.27. Whichever pump head I attach to the 7420.26 seems to occasionally jam and then restart. Because the problem seems to follow with the driver I suspect the motors are fine and it is the driver. Can I send the 7420.26 in for service or upgrade, or can I simply purchase a newer 7420.27? __________________ -Tony My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee! Current Tank Info: 280g Reef, 65g FOWLR