Wiring a Mag Drive Pump

Yesterday during water changes, I noticed that the insulation on the power cord for my Mag 7 water pump had pulled away from the pump casing, exposing the individual (still insulated) conductors within the cord. I did not experience any electrical current in the water, but I'm not thrilled with the chance that it may happen. Any one have experience with rewiring one of these? The pump worked fine, as I noticed it while draining the last tank of the day, so I'd hate to trash an $80 pump that still works.

It runs on AC power, right? I'm not sure if you will be taking the case apart or if there's enough of a lead left on the wiring to splice it, but it should be pretty simple. If you have to basically smash the thing open to get inside, then that may change.

Bring it to the PVAS auction and some of us can give you some advice. Whether it has anything to do with a mag pump remains to be seen of course.

Jon - If you can't fix it, I have a Mag 7 that you can have for $45.

Thanks Viktor. I'll let you know if I decide to buy another pump.

Jon

halak said:

Jon - If you can't fix it, I have a Mag 7 that you can have for $45.

Click to expand...

If Jon doesn't need it, I'd love to take that off your hands, Viktor. My RO reservoir pump is in bad need of replacement.

Go ahead and take it, Tony. Unless you want a potential electrical hazard for free!

I have tried to fix a couple of my Mag drive pumps with cord problems without success. The end casing through which the cord goes does come off. Inside you will find a space of maybe half an inch, but then the cord goes into a hard resin. That resin prevents any repair though it does protect the internals from water contact.

I have all my electrical outlets through ground fault interrupter circuits (GFIC), so in case there is a short, no problem. One of my mag drive pumps has a short inside and every once in a while when its housing touches the cord side to something hard like a tank wall, rock or bucket side, it trips the circuit. I think it is a broken wire in the cord where it enters the resin, so it is still protected/insulated. Just moving the pump away from the object and resetting the GFIC, and the pump runs as it should.

Jon,

You could try using a water sealing foam, like they use for waterfalls, which might work to insulate it. You can also just use it externally, which would be fine. Personally, I'd either use it externally or throw it away -- they pull a lot of amperage (1.3 amps), which would be somewhat... unpleasant to you, and ... stressful ... on any fish in the tank.

Thanks for the input, folks.

Joshua - my thoughts exactly. Any tips for how to hook it up externally, understanding that I use it mainly for draining tanks during water changes? I've tried in the past to rig something up and always had issues getting the pump "primed" (if that is the right term. It seems that the pump "pushes" water out much more than it "sucks" water in, if that makes any sense.

Jon,

Your description makes sense. I've had the same issue with other pumps. Maybe put a tube with one of those siphons on the input to the pump?

Matt

A thousand words

Since Lane has not posted in this thread, here's a contribution of the sort he would make:

CCA Board Meeting?

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