Needlewheel on mce600 broke after about one month

[tankfly]

Hi,
I sent Marvin an email just now. I purchased a MCE 600 from marine depot on 01/12/12. And today the shaft on the impeller is broken. Is there a warranty on this? It would always rattle a little when starting, and once started was very quiet. But after cleaning the cup today it rattled and then just hummed. Took it apart and found about a 1 inch piece of the shaft broken off.

Thanks

[Phil Gilbert]

Hello Tankfly,

I am sorry for the trouble you have with your new equipement. The MCE600 is the product we sell the most in America and, sometimes, we have request for broken shaft that are either due to shipping or mis-handling by customers (It is easy to drop and break ceramic shaft when cleaning them)

Ratling can happen when starting a needlwheel skimmer and, usually, stops after some seconds exactly as in your case. I still need more information about this particular situation thought since it is possible that the impeller was faulty but if there's a weak spot on a ceramic shaft it will most likely fail after minutes of initial use.

Please send me couples pictures of the shaft on my email phil@theaquariumsolution.com and ill be happy to review them and have Tony check into this with me

Best regards

[tankfly]

Got it back up and running today. After several emails back and forth with Marvin, just superglued the piece of shaft back in the front of the needlewheel and it seems to be even more quiet than before. And seems to not rattle as much when starting. It may have been loose or broke to begin with. Anyway thanks, Marvin.

[D-D admin]

Hi

Keep an eye on the shaft as although the super glue is a good idea it may break again.

Regards Tony

[tankfly]

How is the shaft attached from the factory? It is strange that it broke on the inside. Since about a half inch of it went into the hole in the front of the needlewheel, I just filled the hole with glue and pushed the shaft in. So I think the repair should hold. If it had been broken more toward the end, meaning just gluing two pieces of shaft together, then no way gluing it would work.

[D-D admin]

Hi

The shaft is pressed in at the factory as far as in aware, the shaft may have cracked within the magnet due to a shock of some kind. I didnt realise you had that much insert length so that should be fine.

regards Tony