Tetra Tec Ex1200Leaking

[onebto]

I get that you ended up finding your hose adapter was the problem. I hope my hint helped there. The many posts that I see about using a seal lubricant seem to me to indicate a weakness in the original design of filters. I have only been using Rena canister type filters for 7 years now but have yet to use any form of seal lubricant on my filters. My guess is that filters that require some form of seal lubricant have a design flaw. Properly designed filters should not require any particular seal lubricants.

A weakness in the original design? You maybe correct

Really its a failure of the manufacturer to point out to customers that the O rings need lubricating I have never seen any instructions on the fluval and Tetratec I have.

I have always added lubricant to my O rings because through my profession and experience it will extend the O rings life. There are very few applications were using a lubricant will either be dangerous or to the detriment of the O ring or the equipment involved.

I am sure that in the case of your rena's which I have no experience they are obviously using better quality O rings or they have looked into there design a little better than others allowing for more accurate tolerances in design and manufacture so your dry O rings are not wearing as the ring is compressed which is usually the problem with O rings not just in this application but many others.

I must say though by your experience of Rena's next time I need to buy a new canister filter I am going to look into getting one of those

Are they quiet?

Regards onebto

 

[elaine128]

actually there is nothing in the tetratec manual telling you to use grease/vaseline,prob why i have never used it(my excuse anyway)i havent had to pay for the spare part for the filter,there`s a 3 year guarantee on all tetra`s,i`v got one year left,but still looking out for a spare filter.

 

[onebto]

actually there is nothing in the tetratec manual telling you to use grease/vaseline I know I had a good look myself thats the problem in my hummble opinion
,prob why i have never used it(my excuse anyway)i havent had to pay for the spare part for the filter,there`s a 3 year guarantee on all tetra`s,i`v got one year left,but still looking out for a spare filter.

Regards onebto

 

[spidergravy]

I had the same problem with my EX1200, which leaked into my cabinet without me realising (I thought my water was just evaporating more since the central heating was on) and I phoned Tetratec who were so helpful, nice, efficient and really good! They sent me the new hose adaptor without charge even though I said that I didn't think it was the hose adaptor as the water was coming out of the join between the lid and the canister itself. I tried the hose adaptor anyway, and it made no difference. I waited for a few weeks (with the filter in a bucket) and called them again today to explain, and they are sending me a new filter head unit. Once again they were quick, efficient, helpful and polite, and I have only had such good customer service from one other company. Have to say I'm really, really impressed with them.

 

[Slyspy]

To be fair to Tetratec, in the manual for my ex1200 it does mention using vaseline in the troubleshooting section.

Unfortunately mine has recently started to hum loudly and sometimes rattle and I've been unable to determine why.

 

[rusper]

To be fair to Tetratec, in the manual for my ex1200 it does mention using vaseline in the troubleshooting section.

Unfortunately mine has recently started to hum loudly and sometimes rattle and I've been unable to determine why.

You will probably find the impeller has worn / been damaged.. they are service items and available as spares. But try removing the impeller and cleaning it and its housing first.

 

[Sanj]

Leaking tetratec ex1200s isnt exactly a rare occurance, i have seen numerous people have laeking issues with them, far more than any other filter. Tetratec customer services are good, but why should this be happening to so many people?

I have two 3 year old Tetratecs ex1200s. One has been fine the other has had leaking issues. Customer services are aware of the issues, but it is not always down to one part. They replaced the hose connectors for me and this solved the problem for a while and then it surfaced a again some months later. That Tetrtec has been replaced with another external and is currently out of service until i get around to trying fix it.

 

[OldMan47]

I have a Marineland C series filter that looks to me to be just exactly like a Tetra-tec filter.
Since it has no indication of any need for a gasket or seal lubricant, I have been operating my filter "dry". The end result, after about 5 years, has been a non-leaking filter. The filter must be operated at the delta-pressure indicated in the literature and should be maintained regularly but it does not seem to have any problem related to seal lubrication. Although I cannot say that the tetra-tec filter responds in an identical manner, I have yet to see a problem with running my filter dry.
Tetra-tec filters are not available to me for experimenting.

 

[Slyspy]

Yesterday the start button on my tetratec jammed down when restarting following a water change. Eventually it popped back up, but now I think about it I don't think it has been popping back up to the original position, which may explain the noise from the filter. Not to sure how to fix it though since I think I'm out of warranty.