DAS EX1 skimmer leaks- what now?

T

Tinyfish

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I bought this used and now after 3 years of it sitting on the shelf realize why it was for sale. The lower bulkhead leaks next to the acrylic cylinder. I removed the bulkhead and cracked the acrylic cylinder in the process but also found the leak was due to a defective seal in the manufacturing stage.

I liked the recirculating skimmer part. It did a good job and so now I need to go back into the world and get a new skimmer.

There are so many anymore that it makes my head spin.

Any help is appreciated.
 
*** edited - Since you cracked the acrylic cylinder why not just use weld-on acrylic glue to repair it. http://www.rplastics.com/weldon16.html
 
i have a das ex1 cylinder for sale, if its the pump portion thats leaking u need o rings on them that need to be replaced.
 
i would use weld on #16( the thicker stuff) and lay it over the crack. just make sure you lay the body down so the weld on doesnt run to badly. once you get done with it you might want to fit like 1 inch rubber or vinyl line to brace the pump so theres not a lot of pressure on the body.
 
I ordered some Weld-on. I also went ahead and checked the flanges for flatness. NONE were flat. I used a metal file and filed on the flanges so that the O-ring has room to seat without encountering a flange first. I think the PVC becomes distorted over time.
 
I got another cylinder and tried it out. It also leaks in exactly the same place mine did before.

My plan is to cut out the crack and then fill it with something. This method works with plaster walls and drywall. The band-aid approach usually does not work for me. That is just my experience. I will have to research what to use for a filling material. I don't want to use silicon as it is adheres poorly to acrylic. That leaves the Weld-on or a latex based caulk.

Never a dull moment.
 
@Tinyfish wrote:
I got another cylinder and tried it out. It also leaks in exactly the same place mine did before. My plan is to cut out the crack and then fill it with something. This method works with plaster walls and drywall. The band-aid approach usually does not work for me. That is just my experience. I will have to research what to use for a filling material. I don't want to use silicon as it is adheres poorly to acrylic. That leaves the Weld-on or a latex based caulk. Never a dull moment. said:
That is a bad idea...why do that when you can permantly fix it with the weld-on. The weld on is actually chemically bonding the acrylic together, filling it with something else is a diaster waiting to happen.
Click to expand...
 
i have acrylic cylinders. what you can do is cut a section and bond over the crack that will give you a better patch job. your in Richardson which isnt so bad of a drive but if you want i can mail you a section to save you the trip. LMK

if its not running on your tank you can give it to me for me to give it a wack to repair
 
Thanks for the offer. I wanted to try my idea since I have two of these now and both leak in the same spot.

Picture shows cut out cracks filled with Weld-On #16 on bottom bulkhead. At first I tried using acrylic chips with the glue but the glue did not melt the acrylic like I thought it might. I had to clear out the chips and just use glue. After gluing the next step was to file down the dried glue until it was even with the surface of the cylinder. Next step was attaching the bulkhead again. You can tell where I sanded the outside of the cylinder and I sanded the inside part of the bulkhead. I ended up using silicone, after all that was what it had to begin with. Immediately after applying the silicone and placing the bulkhead back onto the cylinder, I attached the bubble pump. I did this because the pump is hard connected (glued) to one side of the unions. I noticed while filing the mating faces that my pumps upper and lower union faces were not parallel. So by attaching the pump and letting the silicone cure with the pump in place I was able to take that mis-mating of the unions out of the equation.

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Tested the unit after 24 hours cure time. No leaks at least for now. I went ahead and put the unit back into my 75g's plumbing.
 
Sump area dry as a bone.

This worked so well I went ahead and did the same thing to the replacement skimmer. All I need to do is figure some way to close the bottom two unions for testing. This skimmer does not have the complete pump and I hate taking the one off the skimmer I already have running.

Could I use a rubber stopper?
 
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