Has anyone had success with the Lee's Gravel Vac?(please help)

[NJ Devils Fan]

I've had mine for about 2 months and it's a nightmare. It works great filling up my tank, but it never sucks up the water. I have everything hooked up right, but when I put the tube in the tank, the water fills up the big claw, and then stops when it gets to the long tube. I have to vigerously shake the tube to get some water to got down. There will be the tiniest trickle of water going through the tube, and it takes a good 10 minutes to get 3 gallons out of the tank. I e-mailed the company twice and got no response. Can someone please help.

P.S. A plumber told me thay I have very good water pressure.

[Mr.Jingles]

what is this gravel vac?

are you syphoning into a sink? like a python? in that case, you might wanna try switching it from the fill mode to the empty mode.

if its like a normal syphon, you might wanna try sucking it out. get the water over the edge and then put the hose in the bucket before you get a mouth full.

[NJ Devils Fan]

It's the exact same thing as a python, just made by a different company. I know I am using it right, but it's just not working right. It is attached to the sink and is in the right position. I can hear a sucking sound from the claw thingie.

[Mr.Jingles]

whats the claw thingy? could it be that you just need to turn your faucet on full blast to suck the water down the tube.

is your sink above your tank's water line? low pressure due to lack of change in elevation could be making your water slowly leak out.

[brackishwannbe]

NJD,
I have the same vac and had the same problem at first. The way I fixed it, since I have a very long tube that lays on the floor, was to turn the water full blast and make sure that the valve is open on the bottom of the adapter to the facuet. I can know do 10 gallons in a few minutes.

[koolkatzfish]

I have a python and the siphon starts better with hot water, rather than cold.

[NJ Devils Fan]

Thanks for the idea koolkatzfish, I always turned both all the way up, but next time I'll just use hot water.

[okie]

I have never used the python so this is just a guess. Is the faucet connector just like a faucet connector for a waterbed fill/drain kit? If it is, place your hand over the bottom hole where the water drains out of before you turn the water on and keep it there when you turn the water on, blocking the water from draining. After a few seconds move your hand and it should be sucking the water out.

[NJ Devils Fan]

What I did was put the big tube/claw in the tank before I turned the water on and let it fill with water and get the air out. Then, I put the water on and before I knew it, the tube was filled and there and it was actually working. I don't think that it's that strong though because I had it like in the sand and it wasn't picking it up, but the water was getting syphoned out.

BTW, I turned both faucets all the way up because there was more pressure that way. Just hot water didn't do anything.