calling all panworld pump experts!

[oneradtek202]

so this is my 2nd panworld 150px pump. and both after a month or 2 have quit on me. fortunately if i just unplug it and let it spool down all the way i can plug it back in and it works great again. i dont know what is making this happen. i have an ato that keeps the water level the same , so its not sucking air. i do though, have a 90 degree elbow to my intake of the pump and theres a total of about a foot a piping.also there is a ball valve on my intake side, but thats left open all the time unless im unhooking my pump for service. since i do not need all the power of this pump i have a ball valve on the return , that can T some water off into the return chamber of my sump.

2 things are on my mind, either my plumbing is wrong or my kalk ATO is gunking up my pump, since it only starts happening after a month or two.


the 90 elbow in my bulkhead is not there anymore either

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j141/oneradtek202/IMG_3005.jpg

[Av8bluewater]

I've had 3 Panworlds... Too noisy for me. Didn't have any failures though.

[oneradtek202]

in teh basement theyre great lol

[Crowed]

I cannot tell excatly what makes problems in your case, but 90' elbow on intake can affect pump flow and suction capabilities a lot.. such water pumps are a lot 'weaker' on input than output. If is possible, always use bow or two 45' elbows insted one 90'.

[Av8bluewater]

I cannot tell excatly what makes problems in your case, but 90' elbow on intake can affect pump flow and suction capabilities a lot.. such water pumps are a lot 'weaker' on input than output. If is possible, always use bow or two 45' elbows insted one 90'.
True.. you should not have a 90 elbow like that. Especially that close to the pump.

[ceci1357]

I have two and aside from the noise which I have gotten used to, they are pretty dependable. You haven't over exceeded the head have you? They will calcify over time if you use kalk and the impellers are a pain to get off the shaft if it does

[tkeracer619]

I have removed them from my vendors list because of failures. You can have a 90 elbow anywhere in the plumbing. That is not an issue. The issue is the pump itself.

[ToddG.]

Ive had a 200ps model for 4 yrs straight never shut down only once in a while and never cleaned never gave me a prob yet could be the model dnt know but i can tell you that that 90 would prob give you problems if you dnt have that much head pressure the pump would not get water fast enough and cavitate the pump and cause micro bubble problems with your head pressure its balancing out i expect but your losing a lot of flow with the restricted intake and high head may just be ocasinally over heating looks like you got a 90 at the bulkhed too geez take that one off for sure looks like your under water plenty never mind you did lol

[ceci1357]

I've had mine for four years too,only problem was me dropping an impeller.

[tkeracer619]

I don't see any issues with 90's prior to the pump. Most external pumps are plumbed that way for space constraints. Why is this pump any different?

The 90's are not causing the issues... the pumps are defective. The one that made me toss them to the curb is the same pump you have. Died in 8 months, same way yours did. Only it was on a customers tank and after walking in twice to a clean pump that shut off on its own half way through the week it got tossed in a trash can and replaced by a higher quality iwaki.

[ceci1357]

Yea both of mine are plumbed with 90's(6" away from the pump) and they just keep on pumping.

[ToddG.]

the reason i say 90s can cause problems is because if you dont have enough head pressure which he has plenty the pump can cavitate from restricting the suction just a little. Ive experienced this first hand i have a little giant pump on a closed loop had micro problems couldnt figure it out eventually they went away well over time the output slowly got a kink in the hose restricting the flow out which fixed the micro bubble problems I came along saw the kink put a 90 hose barb in the spot opening it up and bam microbubbles again played around with it took the 90 and strainer of suction side and cleared up with freeing her up she wants to pump and i even get close to the suction she starts makin a lot of noise and bubbles

[tkeracer619]

Little Giant pumps are already considerably restricted on the intake side. I can see that happening on a closed loop with one.