Rio 1400 power head problems

ttmmm2001

Hi,
I purchased a Rio 1400 submersible power head / aqua pump second hand from a newspaper listing in my town. I talked to the guy and he seemed honest and told me it had no problems. I only paid 20 dollars so its no big deal if it is broken but i am worried it might hurt my fish.
I tested the unit first in my kitchen sink and it seemed to operate fine, i noticed it was a little loud, like a vibration noise, but since i had never used a pump like this before, assumed it is normal operation.
I placed a fluval water polisher pad( cut in half) in the grated box that fits over the intake and placed it in the tank. It seemed to run ok, besides that loud noise, and had good output with little heat.
It has now been in the tank for about a week and i removed it to clean and replace the pad. When i inspected the pump before removing it, i noticed alot of air bubbles coming out the output, even though there were no air bubbles coming into the intake. There is also an oily, dusty residue on the top of the water in my tank. To be honest, i don't think it was there before, but cant really remember. Its not like an oil slick from a leaky car, but is enough to cause me some alarm.
Upon removing the pump to go clean it in the sink, i noticed that the actual motor housing seems to have some water inside it.
This is the actual piece of the pump into which the ac cord runs into, and i'm pretty sure there isn't supposed to be any water in there, but i could be wrong, again i have no experience with these kind of pumps.

What i'm worried is that the motor housing has a leak which is not supposed to be there and has leaked potentially poisonous oil into my tank. My fish seem to be ok for now, but who knows what the effects might be.

i'm certianly not putting this pump back in my tank unless i can get several opinions from people with experience in this area!

The website for the Rio brand of pumps appears to be incomplete or broken, and i wasn't able to find any help there.

Thanks for anything you can give me, it is much appreciated by me and my fish!

Tim

Amphitrite

Have you tried taking the impellor out and giving it a clean?

ttmmm2001

Thanks for the reply, yes i have cleaned it, but i am afraid to put it back in the tank or test it out until i know if there is supposed to be water in the motor housing or not.

I dont want to risk getting more oil in there or possibly shocking my fish.

Amphitrite

If in doubt, I wouldn't put it back in the tank. I don't think there should be water in there - I don't think mine does when I take it out to clean. Perhaps the cable leading into it has been pulled and the seal has broken.

Here's the juwel link I use:

http://www.juwel-aquarium.de/en/bersicht193.htm

ttmmm2001

Ya, that was my thought also. Frankly im suprised it was running at all with water in with the motor.

I think ill try to stop by my LFS later and see what they think too.

Any one else have any ideas or can confirm?

ttmmm2001

Well, i stopped by my trusted fish store and they told me the pump is most likely trashed.
I will have to try my best to clean up the mess and get a new pump soon.

Thanks for all your ideas and help!

Age of Aquariums

I have several Rio pumps, I can't here any of them. So they aren't supposed to be loud.

Lupin

Have you tried other brands of powerheads before? If you haven't, when you tested the powerhead, did you submerged it in the water? We aren't supposed to trial them outside water level which could be the reason why you could hear loud noises.
If my theory is correct, oil cannot touch the fish. Remember, oil is lighter than water. If there was oil in the pump, then obviously the pump would have been labelled dangerous to fish prior to reports about oil leakages if any reports did exist. This is only a theory.

Are you sure it was oil from the motor? I don't remember any other powerheads I tried leaking with oil. The part where the cord was can be possibly touched by water. I had disassembled my pump last week and tried to look inside the parts. Everything is wet and not one trace of oil is found.