Vortech Repairs. Have you done it? (1 Viewer)

[jlanger]

In the last month or so, my older Vortech water pumps (MP40wES and MP10wES) have started to break down.

The two MP40's are having issues with the wetside impeller coming loose from the internal magnet. It seems that the nut is becoming loose which allows the magnet to wobble; which leads to rattling or seizing of the pump. I've taken both of them apart to inspect for damage and I found that both of the magnets had scratches from grinding on the housing, and one of the magnets was even cracked! I have mixed the parts from the two wetside assemblies to make one "workable" wetside. The pump will run but starts to rattle as soon as it runs over 15%. The controller also flashes "white/off", but the pump still operates. I'm planning on purchasing two new wetside assemblies once they get back in stock.
If anyone has done any modifications to keep the wetside from loosening up, I'd be interested to hear what you've done.

Now here's where I'm looking for some experienced input.

One of my MP10wES pumps is rattling/grinding from the dryside assembly.
Has anyone taken their dryside assembly apart and replaced the bearings?
I read a couple of threads where people have done it, and I even started to do it myself. But to get the housing popped open is going to require some cutting/cracking/grunting to break the seal; which will mar the appearance of the dryside. So before I proceed any further, I just thought I would check to see if anyone has done this before; successfully.
Or if anyone has an old MP10wES dryside sitting around, let me know.

 

[capman]

I don't have any knowledge to contribute here, but I'm curious how long these units had been in use? (Just doing some advance window shopping, so to speak.)

 

[jlanger]

I don't have any knowledge to contribute here, but I'm curious how long these units had been in use? (Just doing some advance window shopping, so to speak.)

The MP10wES pump was purchased in 2011.
The MP40wES pumps were purchased in 2012.

The pumps ran in one of the EcoSmart Modes the entire duration so there was plenty of variable speed settings.
I'm thinking that there's the possibility that the crack in the one magnet could've been due to over tightening of the nut on the bolt, but that's pure speculation.

 

[Fish'InMN]

I have had an MP10ES since April of 2011 and have replaced the bearings two times; it currently needs new bearings but I have stopped using it. It seems like bearing replacement should be done proactively every 18 months if you want to avoid the grinding and possible damage to the dry side. Or you could spend your money with a company that doesn't design products such that common failure points (bearings) are impossible to replace or repair by an end user.

The repair procedure does involve cracking the dry side open which yes, will leave cut or scrap marks on the plastic. I would be more surprised to find a 2011 VorTech pump WITHOUT these marks than WITH them because it means either the bearings have never been replaced shocked or the owner purchased (or received via warranty, also :shocked a new dry side instead.

A grinding, loud and potentially broken dry side is now part of the ownership experience with the VorTech pumps. If you have money, you buy a new dry side; otherwise, you repair it. Which does require literally breaking the thing apart because it was never designed to be repaired, despite the cheap bearings.

 

[capman]

Interesting.

It sounds like Jason did pretty well with his (4 - 5 years), though it sounds like that isn't always the case.

The Vortechs seem really appealing due to the ease of swapping out the wet side for cleaning, but it would be nice for them to be more reliable.

Maybe this is as reliable as one can reasonably expect though for such an item???

 

[jlanger]

My thoughts about the MP10 bearings wearing out could be that I've been using them in my 120gal; to push water behind my aquascaping. The pumps spent the better part of over three years running near 100% most of the time. Those little pumps were required to move a lot of water. If the pumps were still in a smaller system and didn't need to run so hard, I'm sure they could've lasted much longer.

 

[Pumbooris]

I have replaced bearings in my mp10s it's pretty easy...I followed a tutorial and got it done pretty quickly. If I remember correctly I got 10 bearings for pretty cheap and only ended up using 2 or 4 of them

 

[capman]

Where does one get the bearings?

 

[Pumbooris]

Where does one get the bearings?

I will try and look and see where I bought them. EDIT... I got them from a website called www.vxb.com and the bearing size is S687ZZ 7x14x5 ceramic stainless steel bearing