Clearwater Scrubbers - Very Disappointed Overall

[King Turkey]

I am gonna try the o rings before I make more permanent mods. I am thinking of making real small notches to help with built up gunk mine sometimes gets and clogs the spray bar causing it to spray up the bar outside of the box. Anyone think that would help besides the orings?

 

[SantaMonica]

One of the tricks developed in 2009 was to wrap a sheet of clear sandwich wrap over the pipe. This blocks all spray, but does not reduce growth.

 

[ParkPlace]

Mine overflowed for the 6th time tonight before I finally googled about it and found this post. I will try the sandwich wrap and if that doesn’t work, I’m getting rid of it.

 

[dante411x]

Having the same problem with the 100 version. It’s only two months old, from brs. I don’t know if it’s a “new” unit or not, but twice now I’ve had significant leaks caused by water going down the spray bar tube and coming out of the top cutouts that the spray tube rests on. If it’s a new unit, nothing has been fixed to prevent that.
I’ve installed some gaskets and they are preventing it from happening for now, but the damage to the floors has been done. If it happens again, I’m going to post a video of this scrubber vs a baseball bat.

 

[ParkPlace]

Having the same problem with the 100 version. It’s only two months old, from brs. I don’t know if it’s a “new” unit or not, but twice now I’ve had significant leaks caused by water going down the spray bar tube and coming out of the top cutouts that the spray tube rests on. If it’s a new unit, nothing has been fixed to prevent that.
I’ve installed some gaskets and they are preventing it from happening for now, but the damage to the floors has been done. If it happens again, I’m going to post a video of this scrubber vs a baseball bat.

I'd be curious to see a picture of how you installed gaskets as mine is still leaking even after installing the sandwich wrap. If I don't clean it thoroughly, every 4-5 days, it leaks. The people at clearwater were nice enough but they told me my flow was too high even though I barely have it flowing. They were telling other people originally on this post that this issue was too low of flow. So I think it's just a really bad design flaw that can't be fixed without re-engineering the entire device.

 

[paintman]

I have had mine up and running for about 8 months now and not a single problem! Although I will say this....mine is mounted in a way as if there was a leak it woud fall right back down into the sump. I would NEVER have a scrubber sitting remotely away from the sump. Your just asking for trouble! Regardless fo the manufacturer. Most problems are caused by poorly though out installations.

My only issue with my Clearwater is the lid. It should have a lip all the way around the edge. This would help prevent the warping caused by the light. but know big deal.

 

[dante411x]

I'd be curious to see a picture of how you installed gaskets as mine is still leaking even after installing the sandwich wrap. If I don't clean it thoroughly, every 4-5 days, it leaks. The people at clearwater were nice enough but they told me my flow was too high even though I barely have it flowing. They were telling other people originally on this post that this issue was too low of flow. So I think it's just a really bad design flaw that can't be fixed without re-engineering the entire device.

I’ll try to remember to take a photo of it when I get back, just left the house for the week for work.
I just got a couple silicone rings and put them at the edges of the pipe, on the inside, against where it sits in the cutouts. I’ve also had to turn the flow WAY down, otherwise it just splashed on the everywhere. Other than dialing the flow down, which was creating all sorts of a mess, the only leaks I had were from those cutouts where the pipe sits. Unfortunately, since the unit sits inside the stand (but not over the sump), catching them immediately is hard and it’s.. not awesome to open up the stand to find water everywhere.

 

[ParkPlace]

I’ll try to remember to take a photo of it when I get back, just left the house for the week for work.
I just got a couple silicone rings and put them at the edges of the pipe, on the inside, against where it sits in the cutouts. I’ve also had to turn the flow WAY down, otherwise it just splashed on the everywhere. Other than dialing the flow down, which was creating all sorts of a mess, the only leaks I had were from those cutouts where the pipe sits. Unfortunately, since the unit sits inside the stand (but not over the sump), catching them immediately is hard and it’s.. not awesome to open up the stand to find water everywhere.

As I started reading this, mine started leaking again. I'm gonna see if I can move it over top of my sump tomorrow. While that doesnt fix the design flaw, hopefully, it will at least give me piece of mind while I am out of town.

 

[stacksoner]

The vendor of these top-shelf priced items really took a coward's path after learning about this defect.

There was no recall or support/fix/replacement program or effort made to protect buyers from this. unforeseen flood risk.

The scrubs who made this piece of garbage should be ashamed that people on this thread are still attempting to fix their mistake.

 

[SantaMonica]

My first waterfall version in 2008 had the leakage problem, but a rubber washer on the pipe solved it. The top of the washer had to be sanded down to fit under the lid.

 

[ParkPlace]

My first waterfall version in 2008 had the leakage problem, but a rubber washer on the pipe solved it. The top of the washer had to be sanded down to fit under the lid.

Yeah, that's a great idea. Thanks for posting that. I'll give it a try.