Powerhead Not Working...

[Mr.September15]

My powerhead is about 2 weeks old and it just suddenly stopped working after 2 days of being in my emergency tub thing. I think it may have been because of the particles inside the tub that got stuck into the powerhead but the thing is, is that you can't open the powerhead to check. When I plug it in it makes a little vibrating noise but nothing gets pumped. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do?

 

[Tolak]

Unplug it and hold a hose with a good stream of water coming out to the output. This flushes water in the opposite direction it pumps, often dislodging anything stuck in the impeller.

 

[Mr.September15]

It still wont start

 

[mr.dark-saint]

First thing unplug it and pull it out (just in case it kicks on and wets you ). Give a light shake and plug it in (does it vibrate? sit there like a rock?) if it comes on place it back in to the system. If it vibrates but not spin the impeller you have a blockage (so you'll have to do the following ).

Most powerheads will allow you to take it apart. The thing to do first is unplug it. Then hold the top portion (the square-ish part) and look at the nozzle area to see a separation notch. Basically if you "twist" the top one way and the bottom another it comes apart at the notch with "Very Little Force" (if you have to gorilla it you'll break it). Who's the maker? Hagen, Penguine, Maxi-Jet and few others separate this way. Now with the powerhead in two you'll see the impeller/mag-drive (some will have a rubber cap on the stem "DON"T LOSE THIS"). Now pull the cluster out, it should come up in one piece, if not that is why it's broke. Now if the cluster is intact then see if the stop notch on the plastic body of the impeller is there to stop at a certain point if not that is your problem. Both these issues can be fixed with epoxy (I'll explain how if this is the problem). If everything is peachie-keen see if there is grit or gunk in the hole the cluster came out of (the square-ish) the top. It should be slightly slimey but that's about it (old tooth brush and once over by the tap will do the trick ). Put everything back together in sequence. Plug it in and it should work.

If not give a "light shake" to get it started.

 

[Mr.September15]

First thing unplug it and pull it out (just in case it kicks on and wets you ). Give a light shake and plug it in (does it vibrate? sit there like a rock?) if it comes on place it back in to the system. If it vibrates but not spin the impeller you have a blockage (so you'll have to do the following ).

Most powerheads will allow you to take it apart. The thing to do first is unplug it. Then hold the top portion (the square-ish part) and look at the nozzle area to see a separation notch. Basically if you "twist" the top one way and the bottom another it comes apart at the notch with "Very Little Force" (if you have to gorilla it you'll break it). Who's the maker? Hagen, Penguine, Maxi-Jet and few others separate this way. Now with the powerhead in two you'll see the impeller/mag-drive (some will have a rubber cap on the stem "DON"T LOSE THIS"). Now pull the cluster out, it should come up in one piece, if not that is why it's broke. Now if the cluster is intact then see if the stop notch on the plastic body of the impeller is there to stop at a certain point if not that is your problem. Both these issues can be fixed with epoxy (I'll explain how if this is the problem). If everything is peachie-keen see if there is grit or gunk in the hole the cluster came out of (the square-ish) the top. It should be slightly slimey but that's about it (old tooth brush and once over by the tap will do the trick ). Put everything back together in sequence. Plug it in and it should work.

If not give a "light shake" to get it started.

Yay! It works again! I was just about to go to the store and spend another 30bucks on a new one. Ah thanks a lot . I just opened it and poked the rubber thing with a toothpick and it started moving again, something must of jammed it or something