Path: utzoo!hoptoad!amdcad!decwrl!reid
From: reid@decwrl.dec.com (Brian Reid)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Re: motor burnout on AquaClear filters?
Message-ID: <364@bacchus.DEC.COM>
Date: 11 Apr 88 16:51:33 GMT
References: <363@bacchus.DEC.COM> <5180@ihlpg.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: reid@decwrl.UUCP (Brian Reid)
Organization: DEC Western Research
Lines: 22


I took one of my AquaClear 1200 filters offline and did some experiments with
it to see about the motor failure problem. Here's the poop.

If you turn the power off for a second or two and then turn it back on again,
the motor might or might not start. It seems random. If you turn the power off
for a minute or two and then turn it back on again, it almost always starts.
I suspect that this has to do with reverse flow of water siphoning backwards
through the input tube: until that reverse flow is finished, the motor has a
little bit more work to do when starting.

If the motor doesn't start turning when it is first powered on, then it will
never start on its own. 

The more the filter is in need of cleaning, the more likely it is to fail to
start after a short power interruption.

I am guessing that the motor burnout comes from several days of sitting there
being plugged in but not running. The motors probably depend on the flow of
water for cooling.

Brian