Do NOT leave stuff soaking in vinegar too long!

S

Serk

I learned something the other day...

A few months ago I replaced the Quiet One 4000 pumps running my system with Eheims... When I took the Quiet One's out of service, I mixed up an about 1:3 ratio of vinegar:water and tossed 'em in, put 'em in the garage and forgot about 'em...

Recently someone said they were looking for a cheap return pump, so I offered one of these up for $25... The guy picked the pump up, then PM'ed me the next day saying it was shocking him...

I thought that was odd, but told him I'd be happy to swap that one out for one of the others...

Before he had a chance to come swap out pumps, on a whim I popped the loose fitting back cover off of one of 'em...

The resin that encases the electronics and motor, instead of being hard, rigid and smooth was flakey, loose and squishy, almost like a scaly sponge...

Evidently over time the vinegar ate the resin away...

So... By all means use vinegar to clean your equipment, but clean it, then remove it from the vinegar and rinse it off! Don't be an idiot like me and leave it soaking in there indefinitely!!!


It should be pretty obvious, but the bad pump is on the left, the good one is on the right...

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That looks like Formula Two flake food. :lol:

How long did it soak in that solution?
 
@Marc wrote:
That looks like Formula Two flake food. :lol: How long did it soak in that solution? said:
It really does, in fact I had some of the stuff in the sink, and started to pick it up thinking I'd spilled some loose flake, then realized it was the pump guts that had spilled out while I was taking the pictures...

The pumps sat in the vinegar solution for it looks like right at 2 months... I got my Eheims and took the Quiet One's out of service on April 1st, and this was noticed a few days ago, right around June 1st...
Click to expand...
 
Well that explains allot as I had soaked a pump I picked up for water changes in vinegar and it was there about a month and I got one hell of a jolt when I used it to remove some water from the rock curing tank in the garage. I just tossed it in a trash bin after that.
I was a little shocked (pun intended) when it got me and I wish I had that on video. LOL
 
Thanks for the heads up! I often leave stuff soaking for days to a week at a time. I'll definitely get the cleaning done and over with now.
 
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