Tunze 9012 skimmer.....sudden loud rattling

[Mark Taber]

I have had my 9012 skimmer for just over a year and has been running well up until now. If the air intake is turned right down, it works fine but when I open the air intake a bit to try and get a wet skim, it runs OK for a few hours and then makes a real loud rattling noise. Turning the skimmer off and back on again or closing the air intake down returns the skimmer to normal until I try and open up the air intake a bit more and then it does the same thing. Never had this problem in past so any ideas? When it starts rattling, the cup begins to overflow as well.

 

[rvitko]

How deep is it submerged? Usually noise will be from some obstruction of the air flow, I have had this happen from water in my silencer, which happens to me because I pump in outside air and the humid outside air condenses in the line. It can also be due to salt creep plugging the air intake at the pump or from being too deep. At most half of the front intake grate should be submerged, I find the ideal to be about 1/3rd submerged.

 

[Mark Taber]

The air intake is clean so it's not that but it's interesting what you mentions about the skimmer submerged as my intake grate is about 1/2 to 3/4 submerged so I will raise the skimmer and see if that solves it.
Many thanks for the tip.

 

[rvitko]

The less it is submerged the better it will surface skim as well. 1/2 is really the maximum and about a 1/4 is the minimum for best results.

 

[Mark Taber]

I raised the skimmer quite high so 3/4 of the grill was out of the water leaving the remaining 1/4 submerged and opened up the air a bit more. Within 2 hours, it started rattling again. It doesn't seem to matter how high or low the skimmer is, as soon as I open up the air intake to get a wettish skim, it starts to rattle like mad. Not right away, but within a few hours. Any other ideas?

 

[rvitko]

Are you sure everything inside the skimmer is clean, no plugged air intake at the pump, impeller is clean, etc? If everything is clean and correctly reassembled my assumption would be the impeller is wearing out.

 

[Mark Taber]

Thanks it has been cleaned 3 times since the problem occurred so maybe the impeller is wearing

 

[rvitko]

Mark,

If you can email me your invoice and it is less than 2 years old we would send one under warranty- [email protected]

 

[Clownfishy]

Thanks, I have checked and it is under 2 years old and have just forwarded on the invoice to the email address listed above. Many thanks for such great service. For information, the skimmer now has to be set so low, it is hardly pulling out any skimmate and I am seeing hair algae return which shows how well it was running before this problem occurred!

 

[nashvillian]

Your is impeller is probably imbalanced and spinning off axis

 

[Clownfishy]

So basically, a new impeller? What would cause this, just down to wear?

 

[rvitko]

It is likely the impeller and most probable would be a factory defect. I got your email, I am in the US, the UK uses different impellers (50Hz vs 60Hz) so you will need to contact Tunze UK for a replacement.

 

[Clownfishy]

How about that for outstanding service. Tunze UK already contacted and in less than 10 minutes from receiving my email, they are sending me a new impeller. Outstanding, and that is why I buy Tunze products

Thanks for all your help.

 

[rvitko]

Great news, Gary and Karen are really great people and I am happy you were able to get a resolution.

 

[Clownfishy]

Received the impeller 2 days after I sent my email and it has solved the problem. The old impeller looks fine and does not appear to be damaged.

A big THANK YOU to Tunze for jumping in on this thread and sending me a new impeller. Fantastic service.