do all Mag Drive pumps leak?

[customclimates]

All of mine have leaked. Mag 7, 9 & 12. The gasket seems too small around the impeller housing. Almost like it should be twice the thickness. Never noticed the leak until I moved them outside my sump!

 

[Greg Hiller]

>I agree, ehiem's are IMO about 300x's better pumps than Mag's.<

I also agree, but Ehiem's will eventually leak too. I had one start to leak, I purchased a new, factory supplied o-ring.....still leaked. I've also had Mag pumps leak in time. If at all possible it's always best to run a calcium reactor IN the sump if you are using a submersible pump.

 

[Jill & Brian]

i had the same problem with my mags on my calcium reactor. had a mag 2 that wouldn't restart... replaced it with a new mag 3 that leaked. I used silicone, and have not had a problem since. the leak was in november.

I agree with greg, if you can manage it in your setup, run it in your sump

 

[JohnK]

I did have a brand new ehiem start to leak a little last wk (after my dog tried to kill my tank if you've seen that thread).

I started to feel really frustrated, but the first thing I did was to loosen the locking collar and twist the housing cover back and forth a little (to dislodge any debris that may be interfering with the o-ring seal), then tighten the locking collar again. No more leak. Good luck fixing a mag pump that easily .

I agree, in sump applications prevent this from ever becoming an issue, but hey, personally my reactor is a DIY and I'm too stubborn to admit that anything could ever go wrong with it .

One caution about ehiems though,
If your dog knocks a 10lb Co2 tank into your Ca reactor and it bounces off and lands square on the inlet fittings of an Ehiem pump, the pump may not hold up very well!

Edit;
Just to add, IME Mag pumps not restarting is totally normal for them. It also seems very consistent that the more you rely on the reliabilty of a mag pump, the more often it freezes up or won't start. If it's the circ pump, it will freeze up after EVERY power outage, cleaning, or sneeze. If it's the stir pump for water change water your not planning on using soon, it will never have a problem.

Mag pumps do make great door stops and paperweights though! I would highly reccomend them for those applications

 

[stnmasn]

well I am not so glad to see that I am not alone with the leaky mag problem. I will attack it again tomorrow... I am going to try the silicone idea. I'd like to keep the pump out of the sump it is already crowded and warm in there.

I am going to go eheim by the sounds of it too. Do they freeze up like mags? Sounds like they dont leak as much.

I forsee my mag being a paper weight soon too.

 

[Dtilton]

I have no experience with Mags, but I agree with John that the Eheims are great, but a pain to connect to anything with those darn german metric threads! 2 different sizes of flex tube, 4 hose clamps, and 2 barb x MIPT adapters later, plus about 8 vertical inches, and I have something I can connect to 1" pvc!

-Danny

 

[emabie]

I have 2 mags pumps that have been around a while. I bought them from a used set up and have had them over a year. The mag 12 runs my skimmer and is in the sump so I can't tell if it leaks. My Mag 24 is my main return pump and it leaks. It's always had a slow drip around the impeller housing. I have replaced the housing and the o-ring 2 times but it always dripped. I finally got out the silicone and this solved the leak.

Besides the leak I really hate the Mag 24 because it's way to noisy, not very efficient, and gets too warm for in sump use.