After 2 hours of trouble-shooting this morning I finally discovered that my Rena Filstar xP2 had a demagnetized rotor. I figured out how to fix it for free (and you can too).
The symptoms were that the filter had been cut off (in this case, our cat hid from the scary vacuum cleaner behind the tank and stepped on the power strip "off" button). When I turned it back on I could hear the motor humming but no water came out of the outtake no matter what I tried.
I read online that the rotor can become demagnetized over time (this Filstar has been running problem-free for a full decade) and it often stops working right after a filter is cleaned or turned off from power outages.
I found that I could buy a replacement rotor from Rena's website for about $30 (plus I'd have a filter-free tank until it arrived in the mail). My mom suggested that I try applying a super-strong magnet (from my daughter's collection) to the rotor to see if that re-magnetized it. My daughter said she read in her magnet book that you need to rub an object with a magnet in order to make it magnetized.
We opened the impeller case, pulled out the rotor, and tried it (using an old computer magnet). It worked! I suspect this would work for any filter brand's rotor, too. I remember that there was a small rotor in an old Penguin Biowheel we had -- when it died it sounded similar to my humming-but-not-working Filstar. I bet if I had known this then, I could have fixed it.
I love fixing problems with science.
The symptoms were that the filter had been cut off (in this case, our cat hid from the scary vacuum cleaner behind the tank and stepped on the power strip "off" button). When I turned it back on I could hear the motor humming but no water came out of the outtake no matter what I tried.
I read online that the rotor can become demagnetized over time (this Filstar has been running problem-free for a full decade) and it often stops working right after a filter is cleaned or turned off from power outages.
I found that I could buy a replacement rotor from Rena's website for about $30 (plus I'd have a filter-free tank until it arrived in the mail). My mom suggested that I try applying a super-strong magnet (from my daughter's collection) to the rotor to see if that re-magnetized it. My daughter said she read in her magnet book that you need to rub an object with a magnet in order to make it magnetized.
We opened the impeller case, pulled out the rotor, and tried it (using an old computer magnet). It worked! I suspect this would work for any filter brand's rotor, too. I remember that there was a small rotor in an old Penguin Biowheel we had -- when it died it sounded similar to my humming-but-not-working Filstar. I bet if I had known this then, I could have fixed it.
I love fixing problems with science.
