Magnum 250's

[LizStreithorst]

I just tossed a bunch of Magnums that I can't fix.  They are old.  I can dig them out of the trash if somebody can tell me how to fix them.  They run but don't push up water.  I've replaced impellers.  The only thing that I can figure is the rubber tip from an old impeller might be stuck down in the hole.  I've turned them upside down and hit them against the concrete and nothing comes out.  I've dug down into the hole with a little phillips screwdriver and tried to pry them out but get nothing.  I'm not even sure if that is the problem.  I've looked with a flash light but can't tell because everything is the same color, black.  Anyone have any ideas? 

Amazon has a good deal on these but I really can't afford to buy new ones ATM.  I sure would like to be able to make these work.  Like they said, they're all old.

[PaulineMi]

Liz I hope someone has a solution for you. I had an old Magnum that I couldn't fix. I  pitched it and bought a new one. The new Magnum is nowhere near the quality of the old ones.

If you end up getting a new one I'd suggest hanging on to the old one. The entire top assembly of the new ones are pretty flimsy. (I hate it.) You may be able to switch out the old top with the uptake and output parts and use it on the new unit. It will save you a lot of headaches.

[LizStreithorst]

I've saved the top assembly's.  Don't know why, but I did.  I also saved impellers and impeller assemblies that seemed good.  If it were just one I'd buy another but I tossed 4 or 5 of them

[Mugwump]

When I start tossing old/busted equipment, I try to keep all the operating, movable parts, etc...the're good for a spare parts box....when they update those Mag's they use a lot of the same parts...some of those big Mag parts fir a lot of the smaller, or newer rigs...hoses, intakes, out flow fittings especially.....even some impellers....they may change the body styles a bit (read cheaper plastic) but under the hood lies very similar workings....

[LizStreithorst]

I'll save the possibly usable stuff for a while.  I'm messy enough without saving stuff I'll never use.  I just looked at Big Al's.  They have new ones for $56.  Oh well, I still have 4 that work and it's not like they're a necessity.

[Bushkill]

About 20 years ago I went full-bore on Taam Rio powerheads and pumps. They were half the price of anything else out there. But I live way up in the hills and back then the power supply was just a guessing game. We would have little mini-brownouts when it just didn't seem to make sense. But those little brown-outs or power flickers would just hammer those pumps. I was losing one a week and I finally gave up on Rios altogether.

But the ONLY neat part about all those Rio products is that they came with SO many different "extras" it was crazy. Everything from mini ball valves, bushings, and attaching brackets for any size tank. I still have a ton of that stuff in a box and find myself digging through it every so often.

If you love to tinker (or live a half hour from a hardware store), you can never have too much junk.

[Bushkill]

More to the point, I bought 2 HOT's a while back and had a similar experience. One basically stopped working within a week, but the other still runs fine. I'm keeping he bad to cannibalize at some point. I still miss my old Diatom filter!

[Mugwump]

More to the point, I bought 2 HOT's a while back and had a similar experience. One basically stopped working within a week, but the other still runs fine. I'm keeping he bad to cannibalize at some point. I still miss my old Diatom filter!

LOL...I would never part with my Diatom filters either......I have three, and the 'big' boy is running on the 130 as I write this....I run my HOT's constantly.....what did yours do when it stopped??...motor, or something else??.....

[Bushkill]

Kind of what happened to Liz. Motor works, but would lift water. Honestly, I ran out of patience with it and was happy one worked. Gottem' pretty cheap.

[PaulineMi]

The same thing happened to mine.

[Mugwump]

Kind of what happened to Liz. Motor works, but would lift water. Honestly, I ran out of patience with it and was happy one worked. Gottem' pretty cheap.

Almost sounds like the gaskets.....or that little straw tube along the side of the chimney...just one of any of those gaskets, or rings, can throw em off...

[wsantia1]

Kind of what happened to Liz. Motor works, but would lift water. Honestly, I ran out of patience with it and was happy one worked. Gottem' pretty cheap.

Almost sounds like the gaskets.....or that little straw tube along the side of the chimney...just one of any of those gaskets, or rings, can throw em off...

That little straw got me.  Once i cleaned it my HM started working again.  I also put a little Vaseline on the intake tube (around the gasket) going into the cover.

[Mugwump]

Kind of what happened to Liz. Motor works, but would lift water. Honestly, I ran out of patience with it and was happy one worked. Gottem' pretty cheap.

Almost sounds like the gaskets.....or that little straw tube along the side of the chimney...just one of any of those gaskets, or rings, can throw em off...

That little straw got me.  Once i cleaned it my HM started working again.  I also put a little Vaseline on the intake tube (around the gasket) going into the cover.

Yep, and if the chimney doesn't seat all the way down to the impeller housing nipple...the top will snap shut but it won't drive the water out right ....

[LizStreithorst]

I may just pull my canisters out of the trash.  I had one with a bad motor and it's a gonner for sure.  But the other 3 or 4, I don't know.  The motor would run just fine.  I emptied out all the parts from the canisters, I added just one qt of water. and put the impeller assembly in, then the cover to the impeller assembly.  I put my hand on the impeller cover, turned it on and felt water movement and heard the motor, but water should have been coming up aggressively and it was not.  Surely I can figure out why.

It will be hard for me to get in the mood to tackle them again.  Same as it's hard for me to resilicone my 120.  Failing at something several times makes me reluctant to try yet another time.

[Bushkill]

Well I put my one "working" Magnum on the 125G yesterday. At first it balked. I took the cover off and re-seated the cartridge, closed it up and it was fine.

Decided to finally start yanking parts off the one I think is crud. I put the pleated cartridge and gaskets in a bleach soak and noticed something odd about the gaskets. They are slightly different sizes. Even weirder, one floats and the other sinks. I'm convinced that the key to getting these buggers to work right is seating the gaskets properly. I'll be checking around for replacements / spares and give the "cruddy" one another shot. May take a while though. Any thoughts on the floating/sinking gaskets? They didn't feel any different from each other.