Air pump salvage

MusiclyDeclined · 2026-07-31T14:14:49-0400

I was today years old when I found out how these common little air pumps work. You ever had one of these pumps fail on you and just threw it away? Today one of my old ones quit working. Just one that circulates one of my ro storage barrels. I took the pump apart, Just 4 screws and in the little round plastic diaphragm there are 2 little rubber flaps that act as check valves covering tiny inlet and outlet holes. One of the rubber flaps ripped causing the whole pump to fail after many years. I noticed I still have like 4 of these pumps in a junk box that all have the same problem. Turns out you can just take the 1 still good rubber check valve flap from each pump and turn 2 broken pumps into 1 functioning one. I was about to throw them all away but apparently being a aquarium equipment hoarder paid off a little bit

. Probably irrelevant to most people but it just made me wonder how many of these common pumps have been thrown away over a simple tiny rubber flap lol Anyway this has been my aquarium story for the day, Have a good day and keep reefing

KrisReef · 2026-07-31T16:03:19-0400

They used to sell replacement "flapper valves" for the air pumps that were available, but today it's simpler to just toss out the old and buy a complete new one.

The new economy has no heart surgery exemption?

MusiclyDeclined · 2026-07-31T16:08:28-0400

KrisReef said:
They used to sell replacement "flapper valves" for the air pumps that were available, but today it's simpler to just toss out the old and buy a complete new one.

The new economy has no heart surgery exemption?

Nice! I never knew they sold maintenence kits or replacement parts for them

KrisReef · 2026-07-31T16:21:32-0400

MusiclyDeclined said:
Nice! I never knew they sold maintenence kits or replacement parts for them

I went on line for a look and they seem to be available for Tetra- whisper pumps.

I think They were just Whisper pumps, and I guess Tetra bought the company?

The LFS I got my air pumps from has some other brand, and I didn’t see any replacement parts in the store for that brand (?) I forget what it’s called

I have fond memories of rebuilding air pumps about 1x/year when I lived at home and kept guppies in a 10 gallon tank.