WHAT IS THE CORRECT WAY TO PRIME RENA XP 4 FILTER ???

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bert

ENJOYING THE HIGH DESERT OF NEVADA
Nov 2, 2003
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This is a Great filter HOWEVER, twice now i have done filter maintanence and the instruction book says 2 things to restart:help: First it says put the hoses back on and flip the lever down then turn on the motor THE 2nd way says put the hoses back on but leave the lever in the up position then uncap & fill the tube with water THIS IS WHERE THE TROUBLE STARTS I put the empty filter under the tank, push the hoses into the top AND leave the lever UP, then i uncap the filler tube and slowly pour water down it to fill up the hose BUT, the water disappears, it has nowhere to go but does NOT fill the hose. I screw around now with the lever pulling the hoses off and hear a suction put them back on and try to fill that **** hose, where the water goes I don't know:devil: ok, question, WHEN I CHANGE ALL MY FILTER MEDIA place the filter under the tank, put the hoses back on, do I leave the lever up and fill the hose ?? OR do I push the lever DOWN then fill the hose ? While I am trying to fiqure this out and the filler cap is off, I will suddenly get water blowing out of the uncapped filler hose and wetting my walls & ceiling making the wife yell for 2 hours. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE:help: WITH THE CORRECT PROCEDURE TO PRIME THIS THING AFTER A COMPLETE MEDIA SERVICE ???? I try to get it to fill and I am NOT turning the power on, all of this is with it still unplugged !!! other than that, this is a wonderful filter.
 

CBWMN

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Oct 11, 2007
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El Paso, TX
I have an XP2.
The only time I pour water in the neck is when there is NO water in the hoses.
My book says that when you co maintenance, just lift the quick disconnect and
lift the hoses up and pull the canister out. I pull the baskets out and rinse the sponges and floss(Pillow polyfil from WM, not the fireproof kind) in old tank water
and replace the baskets in the canister. I used to fill it with aged water in the sink until it overflowed. But it should be empty of water when you reinstall it. The water that is trapped in the hoses will start siphoning tank water into the canister.
The only time you should have to funnel water into the intake hose is if you’ve replaced or cleaned the hoses out. When you funnel water in, it fills the intake hose and then starts running into your tank. That’s why you don’t know where it’s going.

I changed the hoses once and accidentally installed them backwards. The water was being sucked into the spraybar and going back into the tank through the intake.
BAD MISTAKE.
Nitrates spiked and I did three PWC’s in one day to bring the tank back.

If you need help, go to Planetrena.com. they have FAQ’s and also sell Rena parts.

Charles
 

CBWMN

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Oct 11, 2007
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El Paso, TX
By the way,
I once had an irritating noisy internal air leak. I replaced the o-rings and gaskets,
changed the hoses and it was still spitting air out the spraybar.
I used electrical tape (which is aquarium safe) and taped the intake
neck from below the waterline to the top including the screw on siphon cap.
That stopped the leak. I still don’t know if the neck is cracked or air was getting in the siphon area.

Charles
 

johnlarson66

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Sep 25, 2006
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I have a XP3.

The colors of the piece with the handle matches the parts that go in the tank. This should stop you from getting them reversed. Once you are sure you have the correct hose put in place, then push the handle down.

I always put plenty of water back into my canister before trying to start it. How much water you have to put in the canister will determine how long it will take to get it going again.

With the filter still unplugged, keep adding water until you can see it in the hose. You will also see bubbles of air come out of your output.

Once you see the water, cap it off and plug it in.

So handle down, fill until full. Your water was just filling your canister.
 

ChrisK

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Aug 10, 2008
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Sulphur, LA
I unplug mine during maintenance. Lift disconnecet lever, perform maintenance, reconnect disconnect lever...leave in up position, plug the power back in, push lever down, filter primes and starts working as normal. Hope this helps works for me everytime.
 

CBWMN

AC Members
Oct 11, 2007
443
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El Paso, TX
I unplug mine during maintenance. Lift disconnecet lever, perform maintenance, reconnect disconnect lever...leave in up position, plug the power back in, push lever down, filter primes and starts working as normal. Hope this helps works for me everytime.
I agree. that's all you have to do unless there is NO water in the hoses.

Charles
 

bert

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Nov 2, 2003
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Thanks all ! heres what I am doing, filter is running, I unplug it lift the lever & disconect the hoses. I clean/ replace filter media in tank water close filter put it back under the tank, push in and seat the hoses with the lever in the up posistion. It was at this point i added water to siphon/intake but it disappears. I did this when i first got the filter and i saw the hose fill with water but not any longer. Could it be that it is because there is already water iN the hose ? it doesn't look or feel like it. SO, the filter is back under the tank, i seat the hoses and the lever is still in the UP posistion,Do I just flip it down and hope water flows in ? It is at this point I am doing something wrong. The instruction book says to prime when set up on 1 page, on the next page it says nothing about priming. I can tell you trying to fiqure out where water was going, fiddling around with it, then removing the siphon cap bend down to try something else with it only to have a explosion of water out of the uncapped filler tube. I tried everything including opening the filter top. I finally got it going after an hour.
 

bert

ENJOYING THE HIGH DESERT OF NEVADA
Nov 2, 2003
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Do I need to keep the filler cap ON and not take it off when putting the fiter back under the tank ? Am I causing the loss of water & prime that is IN the hoses when i first disconnect my filter by removing this cap ? When i push the lever down, a little water starts to trickle into the filter but stops. I just want to find out WHAT I am doing wrong after cleaning & reinstalling the filter.
 

CBWMN

AC Members
Oct 11, 2007
443
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El Paso, TX
Try it like I suggested. DON't remove the screw on top.
When you engage the quick disconnect, you can hear and see the waater
filling the canister.
Charles
 
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