Lubricant in Submersible water pump

[Divinityinlove]

I've finally decided on a 60w pump from amazon to do water changes. I've just learned about using a pump in the tank with a long hose to pump water straight out into the garden, and back in by submersing pump into a clean container of water filled in the bath tub and long hose pumping fresh water straight back into aquarium.

Issue is, the manual caution says "Water pumped may be polluted due to lubricant leakage", obviously this wasn't on the product page ob amazon although I saw this warning with other pumps.

I've seen lots of people using pumps but no mention of this from them as a warning or issue, no mention of specific pump brands which don't use lubricants or how to remove lubricants.

The amazon product page had "pet fountain" in the title as one of the uses and showed aquarium photos so implying it is a use. Didn't specify specific aqua safety but I have asked the seller to check this.

Please tell me if you use a pump in this manner in the tank or to put water back in and if the lubricants in pumps are aqua safe or how I can remove it from the pump/add a safe lubricant?

Thanks a million.

 

[GaryE]

I had a similar warning pump that did release lubricant. Once. Then I got rid of it. So the danger is possible. Judging from the quality of the instructions, it's a cheaper model.

Frankly, I'd be concerned.

 

[Divinityinlove]

I had a similar warning pump that did release lubricant. Once. Then I got rid of it. So the danger is possible. Judging from the quality of the instructions, it's a cheaper model.

Frankly, I'd be concerned.

Have you found any brand now that has a good pump which won't release lubricant?

 

[Colin_T]

Can you post pictures of the pump and tell us the name/ brand?

Most pond/ aquarium pumps don't have lubricants in them and are cooled and lubricated by water flowing through the impellor.

It might be a standard warning they put on all pumps or that specific model might actually have lubricant (unlikely if it's a true pond/ aquarium water pump).

 

[Divinityinlove]

Can you post pictures of the pump and tell us the name/ brand?

Most pond/ aquarium pumps don't have lubricants in them and are cooled and lubricated by water flowing through the impellor.

It might be a standard warning they put on all pumps or that specific model might actually have lubricant (unlikely if it's a true pond/ aquarium water pump).

This is the item.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B095SCZH8G/?tag=

Please can you suggest a true aquarium brand pump I can look at?

 

[Colin_T]

The pump in the link is a standard aquarium/ pond water pump and does not have any lubricants in it. There might be a small amount of Vaseline around the o-ring on the impellor cover, but that won't affect the fish.
It's fine to use for fish.

 

[Divinityinlove]

The pump in the link is a standard aquarium/ pond water pump and does not have any lubricants in it. There might be a small amount of Vaseline around the o-ring on the impellor cover, but that won't affect the fish.
It's fine to use for fish.

Thanks then. That makes my life so much easier. Will use it

 

[StevenF]

Have you found any brand now that has a good pump which won't release lubricant?

There are pumps on the market that do have oiled shafts. I believe they are mainly high flow and high pressure pumps. If you want a fountain of water more than 3 feet high you need such a pump. I did read on one person that had such a pump in a large tank and the oil did leak out killed fish and damaged plants.

Most aquarium pumps are dry meaning no oil. In these pumps there is a hole with a metal pin in the center of the hole. The impeller then slips into the hole and is held in place by a magnet The impeller rotates around the metal pin. the water is the lubricant.

IF you can remove the cover and see the impeller try removing it ( your might need pliers. If the impeller comes out easily and then pops back it. it is a oil free pump. if you cannot remove the impeller the it has a sealed shaft and may have oil in it.

 

[Colin_T]

This is the item.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B095SCZH8G/?tag=

Please can you suggest a true aquarium brand pump I can look at?

@StevenF this is the link provided by the OP. It shows a basic water pump with impellor shaft and 6 bladed impellor.

 

[Divinityinlove]

There are pumps on the market that do have oiled shafts. I believe they are mainly high flow and high pressure pumps. If you want a fountain of water more than 3 feet high you need such a pump. I did read on one person that had such a pump in a large tank and the oil did leak out killed fish and damaged plants.

Most aquarium pumps are dry meaning no oil. In these pumps there is a hole with a metal pin in the center of the hole. The impeller then slips into the hole and is held in place by a magnet The impeller rotates around the metal pin. the water is the lubricant.

IF you can remove the cover and see the impeller try removing it ( your might need pliers. If the impeller comes out easily and then pops back it. it is a oil free pump. if you cannot remove the impeller the it has a sealed shaft and may have oil in it.

Great! Thank you. The seller said its safe but I'm going to manually check. Problem is, the YouTube who suggested this method uses a 100w pump which surely is as you describe, high pressure and you suggested those are mostly oiled and many of those are for pond fountains or waterfall structures though, he was using Vivosun 2600. Didn't seem to mention it. Obviously he's used longterm and its fine.

Mine is 60W so high pressure enough to about 5feet I think it said. As I need it to go from bathroom to tank (up 1.5 metres) but I do hope it is without oil. Shopping around for such things is arduous.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Divinityinlove]

There are pumps on the market that do have oiled shafts. I believe they are mainly high flow and high pressure pumps. If you want a fountain of water more than 3 feet high you need such a pump. I did read on one person that had such a pump in a large tank and the oil did leak out killed fish and damaged plants.

Most aquarium pumps are dry meaning no oil. In these pumps there is a hole with a metal pin in the center of the hole. The impeller then slips into the hole and is held in place by a magnet The impeller rotates around the metal pin. the water is the lubricant.

IF you can remove the cover and see the impeller try removing it ( your might need pliers. If the impeller comes out easily and then pops back it. it is a oil free pump. if you cannot remove the impeller the it has a sealed shaft and may have oil in it.

The impeller is easy removed and magnetic, with a metal pin. The seller also has assured me it is safe. However, there is a little oily stuff around the impeller area which I saw. Maybe its just a little Vaseline as suggested. To be absolutely sure, could I just clean it off with baking soda or vinegar and rinse off before use?

 

[outofwater]

I had one of these (not same brand but exact design, all these Chinese obscure brands are the same product, just relabeled) for decoration and water movement purposes. No problem at all as far as having any residues that would contaminate the tank.. mine came with an LED light built in extension, both the pump and the light are fully submersible. It worked great!... for about 4 months. One day it started "skipping" and it would randomly make this loud whirring noise, as if something got sucked in and pureed by the impeller. I cleaned it a couple of times and that seemed to fix it until it didn't. After about a month, the random noise turned to nonstop annoyance, so I unplugged it and took it off the tank.

It was on 24x7 (that was the intended use) but they're poorly built (the instructions show you can disassemble it for cleaning, yet the impeller and shaft itself are sealed in), I could only remove the opening grill, and even that turned out to be a tricky thing, and will fail earlier than expected.

 

[Colin_T]

The impeller is easy removed and magnetic, with a metal pin. The seller also has assured me it is safe. However, there is a little oily stuff around the impeller area which I saw. Maybe its just a little Vaseline as suggested. To be absolutely sure, could I just clean it off with baking soda or vinegar and rinse off before use?

The oily/ greasy stuff is for the o-ring. Do not wash it off. If it's excessively oily, then wipe it off with a tissue.