The 4000 Eco I had on my Skimmer line failed on Thursday night, and so I have just had to buy a new one today (Friday). The one that failed was under two years old but had basically only been in use run since February this year. I am not impressed.
I also use an Aquamax 4000 Eco on my QT / Growing on tank, but (with under a years use) I left it installed over winter and it must have frozen during the low temperatures we had and as a result cracked the impeller housing meaning that water flooded out as it was dry installed. The guarantee doesn’t cover damage due to freezing although it says the pump is frost resistant to –20 degrees frost, what ever that is supposed to mean.
Has anyone else found Oase Aquamax pumps to fail sooner than expected, and what are your general impression regarding their reliability ?
I've a 4000 Ecomax running submerged on my QT and it's been great. I've always found them pretty bomb-proof and have recommended and used them on other people's ponds in the past too and not heard of any problems.
Did you contact Oase about these failures and see what they have to say about it? I'm sure Oase pumps have 3 or 5 year guarantees.
Failures are quite common with the new versions of the Aquamax , I believe the production got moved to China . I know of a dealer that was getting around 30 returned pumps a month . The old versions were as solid as a rock , I have two 15000,s and one 10,000 over 5 years old still going strong . The new range have been rectified in most parts of Europe but I am led to believe there are still some issues running in the Uk .
eds wrote:I've a 4000 Ecomax running submerged on my QT and it's been great. I've always found them pretty bomb-proof and have recommended and used them on other people's ponds in the past too and not heard of any problems.
Did you contact Oase about these failures and see what they have to say about it? I'm sure Oase pumps have 3 or 5 year guarantees.
Hi Ed. They have three year standard guarantees i think and then you send away to get that extended free to 5 years. I contacted the retailer that I bought the one that froze and they said that since the motor was still working and that water was pouring from the front side that I should take it apart and see if the seals had moved positions first. I took it apart and found that the impeller housing had cracked. I assume this was done when the temperature went down to -8 degrees and concluded that although the pump was less than a year old that the damage was most likely caused by freezing which was specifically excluded in a clause of the guarantee. I found an supplier of the spare parts and thought that it would be easier to just buy the spares required.
In relation to the other Eco 4000 on the skimmer line, this is still under three years old and has to my mind failed. The issue I have is that I do not have a receipt for it as it was installed as part of the original pond build so I didn't physically purchase it or the other equipment myself. I therefore don't hold out much hope of getting Oase to replace it which is annoying since it has had so little use. I was going to replace it with a Sequence pump as I am annoyed at how short a time the Aquamax lasted, but then I saw the price of them so begrudgingly bought a new Aquamax replacement so at least the skimmer is back working again.
Brian, give Oase a call and explain that you've lost your receipt ... you may be surprised how helpful they are. The Ecomax line is not that old.... besides "don't ask, dont get".
boogatee wrote:Brian, give Oase a call and explain that you've lost your receipt ... you may be surprised how helpful they are. The Ecomax line is not that old.... besides "don't ask, dont get".
Gotta agree with Chris here! You may also find they will give you replacement as it is very good PR for them if nothing else.
And dont forget to say that inadvertantly you've osted a thread on Koi Quest to say how disapointed you were with the pumps and how you'd like to update the thread to say what a great service you got from them!
