Sealed unit powerhead

[esoxlucius]

I have a Jebao RW20 powerhead on my 360. It's been running flawlessly since the tank was set up in June 2019. It's on a timer so comes on intermittently during the day, and is off all night.

Well it packed in for some reason this morning. I took it out of the tank and replaced it with another one. I have spares for everything on the shelf just in case of emergencies such as this.

Anyway I was messing with the old one in the sink and it will work, but only when prompted by flicking the blades of the impeller with the tip of a knife. Obviously this situation is far from ideal when it's in 3 feet of water in my tank, lol.

The problem is, these things are sealed units so I can't do nothing with it really as far as checking the insides and such.

I've had about 3 years out of it intermittently coming on and off and on and off. Whether this has anything to do with its failure, as opposed to having it on continually I don't know.

Has anyone had similar problems and ended up fixing one, or is it doomed to the bin?

 

[fishdance]

Give the impeller and the well it sits in, a good clean. I use a bottle brush for the well. To remove all biofilm buildup.

It's also possible the pump needs re-wind of the wire (used to create the electric magnet) in which case, it's not worth repairing.

 

[Red Cichlids]

I think the constant starts and stops may have damaged the impeller. Can you replace the impeller? If cleaning the impeller well and impeller as Fushdancd suggested doesn’t fix it, a new impeller usually solves the problem in my experience.