Magnum 250's

[Mugwump]

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.

Haven't noticed whether gaskets float or not....now I'll have to check....the floating one could be the one breaking down tho....if tiny cracks, or other imperfections, open the rubber..it'll get a little trapped air and float...my theory anyway....try 'Big Al's;...they carry most all the 'mag' parts...

[Bushkill]

The floating / sinking thing is a real head-scratcher. Both were nice and soft. These aren't rigid rubber gaskets at all. Slightly different OD too. Weird.

[EdKaz]

I put the pleated cartridge and gaskets in a bleach soak and noticed something odd about the gaskets.

There seem to be several different materials used for the gaskets. Old ones were more a "true" rubber, while the newer ones have an almost sponge like feel/consistancy to them.
 
Soaking the newer gaskets in bleach WILL MELT THEM into a pile of runny snot if left too long..................and WILL soften them and distort them in SHORT order using bleach.

I bought 20 plus used Hot magnums as part of a fishroom buyout a while ago. Some newer some older. Within the pile of filters and parts were a Bunch of pleated filters, gaskets etc.
SOMEWHERE along the line, the Mfg must have changed the specs of some of the parts, as some pleated filters (and gaskets) had a smaller center hole and wouldnt let the black center column set down into them, or even allow the "stiffener" to be inserted into them.

Like everything else they DO wear out... Ive installed new impellers in some, that would spin..........but the energizer in the bottom of the main container was too weak to spin the impeller fast enough to actually pump water outside of itself.

[Bushkill]

Thanks, Always good to share experiences.

Really ticks me off when manufacturers make changes like that.

I thought about the bleach effect on those soft gaskets. Only left them in overnight and they were fine in the AM. They were sitting in the filter for WAY too long to just rinse off.

Couldn't come up with the word in my last post, but they are "spongy" and really soft, which I can only think makes them pretty prone to not seating properly.

I found replacements at Ken's for a few bucks.