So - I know these aren't terribly popular in the hobby, but I wanted to post my experience with the product and customer service.
First off, they're the same thing as older Quiet One pumps. From all I can tell anyway. I have 2 of the Triton 5 (1350gph) on my freshwater tank. They're running external and are pushing around 4' head through 3/4" PVC with no restriction.
After 8 months of use they chatter like crazy. One will run for about 10 minutes then buzz like it's going to explode. The other sounds like it ingested bb's. I actually shut the real noisy one off, removed it, and tore it down to inspect. Magnet is fine. Impeller is fine. No signs of wear. Shaft seems straight. Called Deep Blue. Customer service is pretty great, and they've been very helpful in troubleshooting. With their instruction, I reassembled the pump and reinstalled. Noisy. Called again and went through some more troubleshooting to no avail. Even swapped impellers with the other pump with no change. After more fiddling, I noticed a lot of play in the assembly (up and down play on the shaft - like slides back and forth) and noticed I could pinch the assembly back together with a bit of effort. Asked Deep Blue if this was supposed to happen, they said no. Asked if the impeller assembly is a "wear item" and they advised it is. At 30-40 bucks, if I've got to replace these every 6-8 months, that will quickly pass the price of the pump @ ~100ea. Since tightening up the impeller, I haven't re-installed but plan to this weekend. Not sure if the chatter on the other one is from the same thing, but will be curious to see.
The bottom line - these things move a ton of water. They run cool and only use like 50-60W power. But holy crap they're not maintenance free. Unless both mine were just poorly assembled from the get-go, but that's left to be determined.
Has anyone seen similar issues with this brand, or quiet one, or even an impeller from something else? I'm not expecting quiet or silent, but wasn't expecting annoying, tank disturbing chatter either. I can't imagine something so simple in design can have parameters that need to be super tight. Aside from the actual impeller NOT vibrating. If it's not the play in the shaft I found earlier, any other thoughts? I though magdriven pumps were basically maintenance free with an impeller replacement here and there. ??
First off, they're the same thing as older Quiet One pumps. From all I can tell anyway. I have 2 of the Triton 5 (1350gph) on my freshwater tank. They're running external and are pushing around 4' head through 3/4" PVC with no restriction.
After 8 months of use they chatter like crazy. One will run for about 10 minutes then buzz like it's going to explode. The other sounds like it ingested bb's. I actually shut the real noisy one off, removed it, and tore it down to inspect. Magnet is fine. Impeller is fine. No signs of wear. Shaft seems straight. Called Deep Blue. Customer service is pretty great, and they've been very helpful in troubleshooting. With their instruction, I reassembled the pump and reinstalled. Noisy. Called again and went through some more troubleshooting to no avail. Even swapped impellers with the other pump with no change. After more fiddling, I noticed a lot of play in the assembly (up and down play on the shaft - like slides back and forth) and noticed I could pinch the assembly back together with a bit of effort. Asked Deep Blue if this was supposed to happen, they said no. Asked if the impeller assembly is a "wear item" and they advised it is. At 30-40 bucks, if I've got to replace these every 6-8 months, that will quickly pass the price of the pump @ ~100ea. Since tightening up the impeller, I haven't re-installed but plan to this weekend. Not sure if the chatter on the other one is from the same thing, but will be curious to see.
The bottom line - these things move a ton of water. They run cool and only use like 50-60W power. But holy crap they're not maintenance free. Unless both mine were just poorly assembled from the get-go, but that's left to be determined.
Has anyone seen similar issues with this brand, or quiet one, or even an impeller from something else? I'm not expecting quiet or silent, but wasn't expecting annoying, tank disturbing chatter either. I can't imagine something so simple in design can have parameters that need to be super tight. Aside from the actual impeller NOT vibrating. If it's not the play in the shaft I found earlier, any other thoughts? I though magdriven pumps were basically maintenance free with an impeller replacement here and there. ??
