Testing a broken Eheim 1250

[Dijonase]

OK, I have a broken Eheim 1250. Basically two blades on the impeller were cracked off during shipping. I've got a buyer interested and he wants to know if it works in its current condition. He's not worried about the missing impeller blades, he just wants to know if it'll still work. What's a simple way to test it out? Can I just submerge it and plug it in?

 

[Adjust]

Yes you can.

 

[NoxTek]

You can, but the impeller is likely to shatter instantly and possibly do even more damage to the pump. You can get spare parts for the 1250 easily enough... just buy a new impeller or have him buy one.

 

[Dijonase]

You can, but the impeller is likely to shatter instantly and possibly do even more damage to the pump. You can get spare parts for the 1250 easily enough... just buy a new impeller or have him buy one.

He wants me to test it before he'll buy it. I told him that it'll probably need a new impeller, but he said he'd like to know if it works in its current state. I got the impression that he would just use it as is.

 

[kronchev]

now that i think about it they might be right. since a few fins are missing off the impeller its imbalanced, when it will spin it will be off kilter and vibrate, possibly hitting the sides of the inside of the pump and completly shattering the impeller. shouldnt hurt the pump (if theyre like mag3's theyre solid epoxy bricks) but its probabily not a good idea. the thing is you cant tell if its working without the impeller because the only moving part IS the impeller. you can always keep the front off and plug it in for a second, itll spin but there wont be any housing for the fins to hit

 

[Dijonase]

now that i think about it they might be right. since a few fins are missing off the impeller its imbalanced, when it will spin it will be off kilter and vibrate, possibly hitting the sides of the inside of the pump and completly shattering the impeller. shouldnt hurt the pump (if theyre like mag3's theyre solid epoxy bricks) but its probabily not a good idea. the thing is you cant tell if its working without the impeller because the only moving part IS the impeller. you can always keep the front off and plug it in for a second, itll spin but there wont be any housing for the fins to hit

I know the pump needs water to cool it, but I can just plug it in for a second just to make sure the impeller spins without any water, right? I just don't want to blow it up before I sell it.

 

[diredesire]

yes, but the impeller will spin faster than it should, but you can run it dry for a very short while just to see if it spins. It's not exactly good for the pump, but it won't destroy it, either (if the pump is in working condition already, i'd be wary of running it dry at all, but you've got an unbalanced impeller... )

 

[NoxTek]

The impression I get is that the guy wants to use it as-is. This simply will not work - it would be like trying to drive a car that's missing a wheel. You'll get minimal water flow (if the pump can even acheieve that) and the other impeller blades would probably shear off due to the vibration.

If it's just a matter of seeing if the pump works, I believe you can pull the plastic impeller off the shaft. Then you could just plug it in and see if the thing spins...

I'm sure it works though, the 1250 itself is near indestructable. It's like a solid brick of resin...

 

[FrozenOver2]

it will prolly work but sound like shit cause the impeller wont be balanced without 2 fins. It will prolly make a nice grinding sound or lots of vibration.