Jul 26, 2014
Nathaniel Brooks
wrote
Shame on you coralvue, I thought you guys had more class, but I guess when money comes into play even the best of people loose their way.
I bought an SRO1000INT skimmer 3 years and 5 months ago, I heard so many good things about it I could not pass up a chance to try it our on my reef, have to say I was impressed and it had lived up to my expectations, until this week.
about 4 months ago I was having some issues with stray voltage, but could not figure out was wrong. about a month went by and things were getting better, then worse at times and I kept trying to place what was wrong. I got electrocuted twice while playing in the sump, but still could not find out what was wrong. I moved into a new house 2 months ago and got a new system, everything seemed to be normal again, but two weeks ago I got electrocuted while cleaning my skimmer waste bucket. but after I tested everything was fine.
this week push came to shove and the GFCI kicked off, I knew now I would have the culprit, and I did find out. disappointed at the least, I found out it was my bubble blaster pump tripping the GFCI and causing all my issues.
Now here comes the fun part, I removed the pump and set it out to dry over night (to find out if water was causing a short). once the pump was dried out, I set it on top of my work bench and plugged it in. seemed to work just fine, I could not see the needle wheel spinning very good so I reached out to tun it slightly, about 5-10 minutes after that my wife walked into the garage and found me laying on the floor, I got zapped good.
My partner and I are staring a local fish store and are planning phase for design and layout. We are also considering what equipment we want running out systems, and also what we want to sell. I was talking him into using the Reef Octopus, but after seeing how you are building in planned obsolescence (not even a month after the three year warranty, not bad work on that front) into your products there is no way I would want them in my systems, or try and sell them to my customers, not to mention the safety factors involved. I don't want one of my customers to be killed from a skimmer I sold them, but obviously you guys don't, and only want to make a buck.
I'm just waiting for the one idiot who gets one of your skimmers and dose not plug it into a GFIC and gets killed, then his family sue you out of business, there is no room in this hobby for companies like yours.
I now have a pump that "works" but could kill someone or burn down my house if I continue to use it. On the other had I have a coralife turbo sea external pump I use for my mixing station, its over 8 years old, and was once dropped into a reef tank, and then left to rust. I saw this pump at a customers house and asked about it, come to find out the bearings were rusted solid, the windings and rotor were corroded together. After 80 minutes I had the thing apart, cleaned up, bearings replaced and running like a champ again. Moral of the story is only buy equipment that is built to last not built to fail.
Ok the the question is: Why are you trying to kill your customers?
I bought an SRO1000INT skimmer 3 years and 5 months ago, I heard so many good things about it I could not pass up a chance to try it our on my reef, have to say I was impressed and it had lived up to my expectations, until this week.
about 4 months ago I was having some issues with stray voltage, but could not figure out was wrong. about a month went by and things were getting better, then worse at times and I kept trying to place what was wrong. I got electrocuted twice while playing in the sump, but still could not find out what was wrong. I moved into a new house 2 months ago and got a new system, everything seemed to be normal again, but two weeks ago I got electrocuted while cleaning my skimmer waste bucket. but after I tested everything was fine.
this week push came to shove and the GFCI kicked off, I knew now I would have the culprit, and I did find out. disappointed at the least, I found out it was my bubble blaster pump tripping the GFCI and causing all my issues.
Now here comes the fun part, I removed the pump and set it out to dry over night (to find out if water was causing a short). once the pump was dried out, I set it on top of my work bench and plugged it in. seemed to work just fine, I could not see the needle wheel spinning very good so I reached out to tun it slightly, about 5-10 minutes after that my wife walked into the garage and found me laying on the floor, I got zapped good.
My partner and I are staring a local fish store and are planning phase for design and layout. We are also considering what equipment we want running out systems, and also what we want to sell. I was talking him into using the Reef Octopus, but after seeing how you are building in planned obsolescence (not even a month after the three year warranty, not bad work on that front) into your products there is no way I would want them in my systems, or try and sell them to my customers, not to mention the safety factors involved. I don't want one of my customers to be killed from a skimmer I sold them, but obviously you guys don't, and only want to make a buck.
I'm just waiting for the one idiot who gets one of your skimmers and dose not plug it into a GFIC and gets killed, then his family sue you out of business, there is no room in this hobby for companies like yours.
I now have a pump that "works" but could kill someone or burn down my house if I continue to use it. On the other had I have a coralife turbo sea external pump I use for my mixing station, its over 8 years old, and was once dropped into a reef tank, and then left to rust. I saw this pump at a customers house and asked about it, come to find out the bearings were rusted solid, the windings and rotor were corroded together. After 80 minutes I had the thing apart, cleaned up, bearings replaced and running like a champ again. Moral of the story is only buy equipment that is built to last not built to fail.
Ok the the question is: Why are you trying to kill your customers?
Reply
2 Answers
Jul 28, 2014
Jeremy Rykiel
agent
wrote
I am sorry you are disappointed and we are in NO we are not trying to kill anyone. My question for you is, if you knew that the pump was leaking electricity why did you not test the pump appropriately, contact us regarding the issue to instruct you to do it safely or send it in for service? Also have you submitted a ticket to our support portal? I find it very unprofessional of you to make all these claims and get in touch with us via public forum accusing us of neglect when you did nothing but take maters in your own hands to blame it on others.
The possibility of the pump itself leaking voltage is almost a non occurrence with the Bubble Blaster and Water Blasters. Each and every pump we have tested that actually did test positive to leakage was due to the cord itself being compromised. Usually from glass baffles cutting and exposing live wire to water or the pump being mis handled from picking the pump up by the powercord. Each and every Bubble Blaster and Water Blaster is encapsulated using the very best epoxy which is produced by GE. The inner working of the pump is also a fully sealed mold preventing water to enter let alone a full epoxy coating.
I suggest if the pump his having electrical issue to not take matters in you own hands and either have the pump looked at by someone that knows how to service pumps or look at getting new pump.
The possibility of the pump itself leaking voltage is almost a non occurrence with the Bubble Blaster and Water Blasters. Each and every pump we have tested that actually did test positive to leakage was due to the cord itself being compromised. Usually from glass baffles cutting and exposing live wire to water or the pump being mis handled from picking the pump up by the powercord. Each and every Bubble Blaster and Water Blaster is encapsulated using the very best epoxy which is produced by GE. The inner working of the pump is also a fully sealed mold preventing water to enter let alone a full epoxy coating.
I suggest if the pump his having electrical issue to not take matters in you own hands and either have the pump looked at by someone that knows how to service pumps or look at getting new pump.
Jul 28, 2014
Nathaniel Brooks
wrote
"My question for you is, if you knew that the pump was leaking electricity why did you not test the pump appropriately, contact us regarding the issue to instruct you to do it safely or send it in for service? "
At that point I did not know where the pump was leaking voltage so I was testing it. I sat the pump on my workbench after drying, turned on my meters and pluged it in, while it was running I turned the pump to verify the shaft was rotating. I just touched the top of the pump housing (plastic). Now even if there was a voltage leak from the windings, circuit board or damaged chord, why would the plastic case be HOT, using a conductive polymer? or maybe some form of high static voltage (unlikely I think)? we will see when thats tested.
I have been working with electronics for 15 years, I also engineer circuit boards. Now I work with high power transformers, low and high voltages everyday AC/DC, but I can't believe this pump. Now you don't touch a microwave transformer, thats why they put it inside and make sure everything is grounded and isolated. However this pump plugged into a wall the way it sits with no exterior damage is deadly. And someone that did not detect a voltage leak in the first place might be dead.
"unprofessional of you to make all these claims and get in touch with us via public forum"
Yes because being concerned for others lives is unprofessional ;)
This is a very serious issue, I'm not dead but thats not to say someone might not be as lucky.
"when you did nothing but take maters in your own hands to blame it on others."
ok, so a customer buying your products, and plugging them in has nothing to do with your company?
This skimmer pump has in no way been altered other then being ran on a reef tank for just under 3 years, it was a stray voltage suspect (I didn't want to believe it), I unplugged my equipment one item at a time and found the skimmer was the likely issue.
"not test the pump appropriately"
you want someone to run a scope on the skimmer while its in the sump?
This is not about testing, this is about someone that dose not even know to suspect something is wrong getting shocked and possibly killed. I regularly clean my sump, I have my hands in the water. I was lucky I only got zapped and not killed.
"The possibility of the pump itself leaking voltage is almost a non occurrence with the Bubble Blaster and Water Blasters."
Thats what I was told, and thats why I bought it...
"Each and every pump we have tested that actually did test positive to leakage was due to the cord itself being compromised."
I can see that, but my sump has no glass baffles, just a standard 29g tank, and the cord is well kept, and the extra length is kept nice and neat with loose zip ties. the pump has always been placed/removed from the sup with first the cord coil placed on top, then the unit as a whole lifted out, nothing ever strained or stressed (I was expecting a long life from this unit).
"Each and every Bubble Blaster and Water Blaster is encapsulated using the very best epoxy which is produced by GE. The inner working of the pump is also a fully sealed mold preventing water to enter let alone a full epoxy coating. "
Thats what I was told, and one reason I ended up getting it. I guess we will see what kind of job was done with the potting material....
"have the pump looked at by someone that knows how to service pumps or look at getting new pump."
I have serviced many pumps, but I have never had a pump with issues like this, heck I had an Odessa pump with a severe internal voltage leak someone gave me. The pump was well grounded and isolated so that there was no voltage off the case. I'm going to start and see what all went wrong with this pump later today. I'm getting a new pump, but depending on what I find out we will see what brand the replacement pump will be.
At that point I did not know where the pump was leaking voltage so I was testing it. I sat the pump on my workbench after drying, turned on my meters and pluged it in, while it was running I turned the pump to verify the shaft was rotating. I just touched the top of the pump housing (plastic). Now even if there was a voltage leak from the windings, circuit board or damaged chord, why would the plastic case be HOT, using a conductive polymer? or maybe some form of high static voltage (unlikely I think)? we will see when thats tested.
I have been working with electronics for 15 years, I also engineer circuit boards. Now I work with high power transformers, low and high voltages everyday AC/DC, but I can't believe this pump. Now you don't touch a microwave transformer, thats why they put it inside and make sure everything is grounded and isolated. However this pump plugged into a wall the way it sits with no exterior damage is deadly. And someone that did not detect a voltage leak in the first place might be dead.
"unprofessional of you to make all these claims and get in touch with us via public forum"
Yes because being concerned for others lives is unprofessional ;)
This is a very serious issue, I'm not dead but thats not to say someone might not be as lucky.
"when you did nothing but take maters in your own hands to blame it on others."
ok, so a customer buying your products, and plugging them in has nothing to do with your company?
This skimmer pump has in no way been altered other then being ran on a reef tank for just under 3 years, it was a stray voltage suspect (I didn't want to believe it), I unplugged my equipment one item at a time and found the skimmer was the likely issue.
"not test the pump appropriately"
you want someone to run a scope on the skimmer while its in the sump?
This is not about testing, this is about someone that dose not even know to suspect something is wrong getting shocked and possibly killed. I regularly clean my sump, I have my hands in the water. I was lucky I only got zapped and not killed.
"The possibility of the pump itself leaking voltage is almost a non occurrence with the Bubble Blaster and Water Blasters."
Thats what I was told, and thats why I bought it...
"Each and every pump we have tested that actually did test positive to leakage was due to the cord itself being compromised."
I can see that, but my sump has no glass baffles, just a standard 29g tank, and the cord is well kept, and the extra length is kept nice and neat with loose zip ties. the pump has always been placed/removed from the sup with first the cord coil placed on top, then the unit as a whole lifted out, nothing ever strained or stressed (I was expecting a long life from this unit).
"Each and every Bubble Blaster and Water Blaster is encapsulated using the very best epoxy which is produced by GE. The inner working of the pump is also a fully sealed mold preventing water to enter let alone a full epoxy coating. "
Thats what I was told, and one reason I ended up getting it. I guess we will see what kind of job was done with the potting material....
"have the pump looked at by someone that knows how to service pumps or look at getting new pump."
I have serviced many pumps, but I have never had a pump with issues like this, heck I had an Odessa pump with a severe internal voltage leak someone gave me. The pump was well grounded and isolated so that there was no voltage off the case. I'm going to start and see what all went wrong with this pump later today. I'm getting a new pump, but depending on what I find out we will see what brand the replacement pump will be.