Vertex Alpha 170 Humming Noise

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clowndude

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I just installed my new vertex alpha skimmer Tuesday and upon plugging it in the pump was dead silent. Well after a few hours running it slowly starts to make a humming sound. After some time the noise gets louder. I can render this noise by simply unplugging the skimmer and plugging it back in. It's done this a few days over the last couple of days and is always fixed by unplugging the skimmer and plugging it back in. Does anybody have issues like this with their red dragon pump?
 
Seems now the pump is starting to make a rattling noise. No quite sure what it is, just know unplugging the pump and plugging it back in fixes it. Guess I will tear the pump apart sometime tonight.
 
I just had a similar problem with my bkmini180 where the skimmer would make a loud whistling or hissing sound well after giving the whole skimmer a cleaning the problem was fixed goodluck with that
 
I have the 250. If it uses the same dragon pump, take the pump apart and "unseat" the impeller. make sure nothing is cloggeg or got taken up into the pump.

also, there is another super tiny gasket inside the pump. make sure its not torn and that it is seated properly or you will get that noise. you can download the pdf manual on line and there are some pretty decent photos of what i am talking about. be very careful if you decide to take the tiny gasket out. its tough to reach and pull out and then put back in. you may need a flash light to see down in the pump and check if its seated all the way.

then re assemble. also when you reassemble, make sure you line up the arrows correctly. again, download the manual, as they have very descriptive photos.
 

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