Problems with Ecotech Marine Vectra M1 pump

[ReeferDave01]

Whats that black thing on the intake? That's probably restricting water intake and that's why its making the noise. The pump is very powerful and anything that will restrict it I imagine will make noises. Take it out and see what happens

 

[Pongo]

What's the black thing on the inlet side of the M1?

Screen for debris such as cheato which is now growing in the front half of the skimmer compartment.

I don't have noise problems.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Mine is dead silent. However I have 2 mp40 QD. 1 is silent and 1 makes some noise. Could be just a issue with your

 

[BoomCorals]

My vectra was dead quiet. But I sold it and got a jebao which is doing just as well and just as quiet.

 

[nero0762]

Ok, the 3rd pump showed up tonight, and I tried a ton of different things…

The short answer is… all 3 pumps worked the same. They were silent when run with zero back pressure. They all whine when hooked up to the RedSea Reefer 425 return plumbing. Some adjustments made the noise a bit more tolerable (a little quieter, and deeper in pitch). But its still there.


The longer answer...

The 3rd pump showed up tonight, and at first I put it in place of the previous one, running through my manifold at about 50%. It was considerably louder than either of the first two. So much so that it was clear that something wasn’t right. There was a loud rattling noise, you can hear it here and here.

I knew the Ecotech support folks would ask me to take the pump apart, and send them pics/videos of the noisy 3rd pump as they did the first two, so I went ahead and did that. I noticed a little “grit” on the magnet, so I wiped the whole thing down, rinsed it off, and put it back together. And, now it sounded just like the first two, as you can hear here. I should also note that I added a silicone pad under the pump to eliminate any noise from vibration against the bottom.
So, if you get a new really loud M1, start by cleaning it.

At this point, pump number 3 was behaving just like the first two, so my conclusion is that the pumps weren’t “broken”. Chances of all 3 not functioning as designed while functioning identically seems slim. So I decided to experiment to see what part of my system was making this pump loud when it works silently for others.

I tried the following tests:

• Running the pump from the skimmer chamber with no manifold. I used soft tubing to connect directly to the RSR return plumbing. Still loud. Click here to see this test.
• Running the pump from the return pump chamber with no manifold. Still loud. Click here to see this test.
• Running the pump through ~10’ of 5/8” ID tubing back into the sump. Click here to see this test. This one surprised me. I knew by this point that back pressure was making the pump loud, but I didn’t think there would be enough back pressure from some tubing. Yes, the tubing wasn’t perfectly smooth since the 5/8” tubing was stuck inside ~18” of 3/4" ID tubing, but still… As you can hear, this caused the pump to strain enough to make noticeable noise.
• So, next I tried running the pump just through the ~18” of 3/4" ID tubing. At 50% it was pretty quiet. At 100% it made some noise, but not too bad. Click here to see this test.
• Swapping between the stock return nozzle and the loc-line splitter return nozzle. When I took a look at the tiny diameter of the loc-line splitter segment, it was clear that this was also adding back pressure. To prove this out, I put the stock nozzle in place, and dialed in the overflow dial until the overflow was running optimally. Then I switched in the loc-line splitter and the water level in the sump started to drop. Clearly less water was coming through the splitter.

So, my conclusion is that these pumps get noisy with back pressure. Just running the pump with no plumbing and blocking the outlet a little with my fingers demonstrated this easily. And, while I love almost everything about this tank, the return elbow (see below) is clearly a weak link. Look at the diameter relative to the rest of the plumbing! My guess is that this is what’s causing the majority of the back pressure when I run the pump hooked directly to the return plumbing. Unfortunately, this is a custom fitting, and I don’t know of an easy way to replace it. And I still don’t know why this isn’t causing issues for others running RedSea Reefers with this pump.

At this point, I think I’ll have to live with this. I’m not sure I can return a pump that’s functioning “normally”, but operates loudly in my Reefer. And even if I could return it, I don’t know what I’d replace it with.

 

[justingraham]

Do you have a reeflink?
If so update the firm ware ur problem might be on the controller side of it

 

[nero0762]

Do you have a reeflink?
If so update the firm ware ur problem might be on the controller side of it

Nope, no reeflink. And I'm not inclined to give Ecotech more money this week.

 

[Monkeynaut]

Nope, no reeflink. And I'm not inclined to give Ecotech more money this week.

Do you have to have a reef link to update firmware?

 

[lariat8099]

I haft to check mine every so often to make sure it's running it's so quite. And it's at max speed

 

[ReeferRoo]

Here's a pic

I run my M1 around 90%, have a manifold that runs in a separate direction of my return plumbing and have even played with back pressure through the manifold and the pump runs very very quietly.

The one thing I can say is that I use silicone tubing vs nylon braided tubing or hard plumbing from the pump and then 3/4" plumbing for everything else and I never hear the pump, Also all of my plumbing is inline, it doesn't make the loop yours has at the end going up to the DT. I am using the M1 Barb Kit with Strainer.

my question to you is...Am I seeing a 3/4" barb fitting from the pump into the manifold to 1/2" barb from your manifold to your DT? Or is that an optical illusion...the M1 has a 3/4" outlet. If what I am seeing is correct the reduction could be creating the issue if your flow is set high as you could get back pressure or buffeting from the reduction down to the pump, as I stated my system is all 3/4" plumbing.

again...it could just be an optical illusion but I figured it would be worth mentioning if it isn't.

 

[nero0762]

I run my M1 around 90%, have a manifold that runs in a separate direction of my return plumbing and have even played with back pressure through the manifold and the pump runs very very quietly.

The one thing I can say is that I use silicone tubing vs nylon braided tubing or hard plumbing from the pump and then 3/4" plumbing for everything else and I never hear the pump, Also all of my plumbing is inline, it doesn't make the loop yours has at the end going up to the DT. I am using the M1 Barb Kit with Strainer.

my question to you is...Am I seeing a 3/4" barb fitting from the pump into the manifold to 1/2" barb from your manifold to your DT? Or is that an optical illusion...the M1 has a 3/4" outlet. If what I am seeing is correct the reduction could be creating the issue if your flow is set high as you could get back pressure or buffeting from the reduction down to the pump, as I stated my system is all 3/4" plumbing.

again...it could just be an optical illusion but I figured it would be worth mentioning if it isn't.

Not an optical illusion! But the first barb fitting, and everything up to the far end of the manifold is 1". Then, the barb at the end of the manifold is 3/4" and this may be causing some back pressure, but even that 3/4" barb is bigger around (and straighter) than that final RedSea "elbow" before the return nozzle in the DT.

 

[ReeferRoo]

Then i wouldn't believe there should be any back pressure then. At least nothing significant.

You said your running an M1? So what is your connection from the pump output which is 3/4" to the 1" silicone?

 

[ReeferRoo]

I just had a chance to watch ur videos. Sounds like air or some of the sand/gravel getting into the intake and messing up the impeller. Mechanically i dont see how there is anything that would make that sound on its own. It does calm down after it starts up, and from what i saw only started up again after being moved. The hum is louder than expected but in my sump i hear more water flow from the overflow than i do anything else. But i also have a wider, by maybe 2" return section so maybe the additional water is acting like a noise dampener. I did notice there was no additional noise when the pump was up against the sump wall so i dont believe it is vibration.

How is the noise outside the cabinet with the doors closed?

 

[justingraham]

Well my pumps go from one inch to 3/4 so I highly doubt that's the problem

I honestly think u have a problem with the controller it's not synced up or something

If u live near jersey hit me up as I have a reeflink so we can update and mess around to get ur pump quiet

 

[nero0762]

You said your running an M1? So what is your connection from the pump output which is 3/4" to the 1" silicone?

I'm using a 3/4" MPT x 1" barb adapter.

 

[nero0762]

I just had a chance to watch ur videos. Sounds like air or some of the sand/gravel getting into the intake and messing up the impeller. Mechanically i dont see how there is anything that would make that sound on its own. It does calm down after it starts up, and from what i saw only started up again after being moved. The hum is louder than expected but in my sump i hear more water flow from the overflow than i do anything else. But i also have a wider, by maybe 2" return section so maybe the additional water is acting like a noise dampener. I did notice there was no additional noise when the pump was up against the sump wall so i dont believe it is vibration.

How is the noise outside the cabinet with the doors closed?

I'd agree that it sounds like something is in the pump, but the noise is there even after I take the pump apart and clean/rinse it thoroughly. And if I run the pump with zero back pressure, it goes away. Then if I block the outlet of the pump even slightly with my thumb (never taking it out of the water, so no air in it) the noise returns.

Also, to be fair, when I made those videos nothing else was running. The powerheads and skimmer were off, so there's nothing to hide the pump noise.

With the cabinet doors closed, it sounds a lot like an old, dusty computer fan is running in there.

 

[nero0762]

Well my pumps go from one inch to 3/4 so I highly doubt that's the problem

I honestly think u have a problem with the controller it's not synced up or something

If u live near jersey hit me up as I have a reeflink so we can update and mess around to get ur pump quiet

That's a great offer (this is an awesome forum!), but I'm up in Boston. I may push the Ecotech guys to either send me a new pump and controller that they've "tuned" or ask them to "loan" me a reeflink.
Thanks again for the offer.

 

[ReeferRoo]

That's a great offer (this is an awesome forum!), but I'm up in Boston. I may push the Ecotech guys to either send me a new pump and controller that they've "tuned" or ask them to "loan" me a reeflink.
Thanks again for the offer.

I think a new pump with controller is the next step a well, good idea @justingraham. Last night before I went to bed I went downstairs and listened to my pump and its pretty darn silent and I only have 3mi PVC as paneling for the moment enclosing my sump area and its quiet with nothing else running the the PVC removed.

 

[nero0762]

I replied to my open support case with Ecotech this morning and asked for a new controller with the latest firmware and a new power supply... the only pieces I haven't swapped out yet. We'll see what they say.

 

[nero0762]

...
How is the noise outside the cabinet with the doors closed?

Here's a link to a video showing the noise with the doors closed (and open).