Near Disaster with my Filstar XP3

beviking

beviking

Senior Member, Sophomoric Attitude
Feb 16, 2002
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Syracuse, NY
I wouldn't have thought this could happen. I cleaned the filter, put it back together, blah blah blah, all seemed fine and went to bed. Those experienced with canisters may be thinking "I know what's coming". I woke up the next morning to hear trickling, the spray bar was ABOVE water. It wasn't before I went to bed. AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Quick investigation revealed, duh, a leak in the filter. SOMEHOW, and I still can't figure this out, the top thingy (that the hoses connect to and it sits into the filter as a unit) didn't seal. The lever that locks them in place and allows the water to flow, won't go all the way down if the thingy isn't fully seated. But SOMEHOW it did. So water leaked into the head of the filter and out where the power cord goes in. Luckily, I took a tip from this forum to place a kitty litter pan under my filter. It had 3 to 4 inches of water in it. So I took the head off, put it back on, and started it back up with no problem. Phew!
And I would still recommend these filters!!!!
Just thought I'd share.
:cool:
 
Another way to avoid catastrophic leaks with canister filters is to drill a small hole in the intake tube about 1" below the water line. That way, if the water level drops too much (say, from a leaking hose or gasket) the syphon will be broken before the tank drains to the level of the intake. A small hole - 1/8" - is plenty.

Jim
 
Filstar Diaster

I had the same problem with my XP1.
As a matter of fact I lost an air pump to
the same diaster. I wound up calling
Rena's tech support and they had some
suggestions:
a)Make sure you have some slack in your hoses, don't cut 'em too short.
Make sure there is not too much tension on them.

b )Put a thin film of vasaline around the
"O"-rings in the connector plate

c)Put something under the filter to raise it a bit. Such as a book or a piece of styrofoam.

The guy at tech support told me this was
a common problem. I followed at least
two of the suggestions (a and b) and
so far no problems.


Hope this helps;

Gillfluke
 
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It's really not that confusing. They're a bit more involved than a HOT filter, but they have substantially more room for media and they are less obtrusive. They're also quieter.

Seems a pretty reasonable tradeoff to me.

(Canister filters and their setup are also one of those things that require a lot of words to describe to someone else, but they really are pretty easy.)

Jim
 
GOOD IDEA JSchmidt! I feel somewhat ashamed - being a man and not thinking of that on my own.

But NJ, I thought you liked cleaning hoses?

Thanks gillfluke. Now I feel a bit more abashed cuz I had just shortened the hoses and they are a little snug. I'll pull 'em back off the hard tubes a little.

Thanks all.
 
beviking;

If you need new hoses, you can call
RENA OEM @800-968-7362.

The hoses are cheap ($4.00 a pair).
I know how you feel, my XP1 starting
leaking after I had cleaned the hoses
and reattached them.



gillfluke
 
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