Hello All,
And thanks for welcoming me to the forum!
I work at an aquarium installation and maintenance business here in Florida, I will not be disclosing the name of the company I work for, for obvious reasons...
I am involved in a big predicament, and I am hoping that the people on this forum can shed some light on the situation:
A new customer called us, and let us know that he has a 45 gal bow front corner that he just got from pet smart. He asked us to come in and set it up professionally. We decided on freshwater African cichlids. We drilled the back panel as the bottom is tempered, and hooked up a small external overflow box. From there, we ran the standard 1" drain flex hose that came with the sump that we used (purchased brand new a week before), from the overflow to the sump.
2 weeks later, I receive a text from the client that says something like "Water leaking hose is broken"
Immediately my heart sank and I was concerned, "what could we have messed up? I wondered." He said that it's no big deal and it's just a little water on the floor and he threw a hand towel down to soak water up.
We arrive at his home to see that the hose is still attached to the overflow box, and the sump. The hose actually opened up in between the hose and the sump.
I thought " We are never buying this brand again" and I was angry at the company.
We went, and replaced the hose, and apologized. (pulling the tank out, gluing in replacement hose, leveling the tank, etc)
A few days later I get a text saying that the water caused damage to the floors, which it did. The floors are cupping, the wooden boards are raised on their edges.
My boss immediately told the homeowner that we would cover the damage to the floor.
When we placed the order for the sump, we ordered 2, one for this project, one for another. When this incident happened I immediately took the hose out of the other box so we wouldn't use it on the next project.
Upon further inspection of the hose, it appears to us that the hose may have been tampered with...
The hose has one big slit that goes all the way around ( see pic)
and several smaller "slits" near it.
I brought the damaged hose back with me, and started testing...
Both hoses are unrippable, no matter how hard i pinched, turned, bent, or pulled, I could not get even a small tear in either hose, and this is A LOT more pressure than what's applied to this hose when it is in use.
I used a knife to make a small incision in both hoses, I then tore the rest to expose the inside of the hose like what's shown in the picture, and there is certainly a difference:
The tears have distressed plastic on the tear line, vs the damaged hose has no distressed look to it.
Also, you know when you stretch plastic wrap on it's edges and let it go? you will see that the edges are expanded/ wavy, my tears had this looks vs the damaged hose which did not.
The damaged hose has long ribbon-like strings coming from it, like small shredded plastic thin shards.
The owner has several small children in the house.
There are also cameras present, but they only record back to 3 days of footage (that window was missed)
Can anyone please shed some light on this situation?
I simply want to do what is right here. I am doubtful we will ever KNOW what happened, but I figured i'd turn to the forum for some possibilities.
The owner said that his children would not do this, and we are in a tough position.
I will attach more detailed pics of the hose tonight, the pic attached is what the owner sent me.
Thank you all.
And thanks for welcoming me to the forum!
I work at an aquarium installation and maintenance business here in Florida, I will not be disclosing the name of the company I work for, for obvious reasons...
I am involved in a big predicament, and I am hoping that the people on this forum can shed some light on the situation:
A new customer called us, and let us know that he has a 45 gal bow front corner that he just got from pet smart. He asked us to come in and set it up professionally. We decided on freshwater African cichlids. We drilled the back panel as the bottom is tempered, and hooked up a small external overflow box. From there, we ran the standard 1" drain flex hose that came with the sump that we used (purchased brand new a week before), from the overflow to the sump.
2 weeks later, I receive a text from the client that says something like "Water leaking hose is broken"
Immediately my heart sank and I was concerned, "what could we have messed up? I wondered." He said that it's no big deal and it's just a little water on the floor and he threw a hand towel down to soak water up.
We arrive at his home to see that the hose is still attached to the overflow box, and the sump. The hose actually opened up in between the hose and the sump.
I thought " We are never buying this brand again" and I was angry at the company.
We went, and replaced the hose, and apologized. (pulling the tank out, gluing in replacement hose, leveling the tank, etc)
A few days later I get a text saying that the water caused damage to the floors, which it did. The floors are cupping, the wooden boards are raised on their edges.
My boss immediately told the homeowner that we would cover the damage to the floor.
When we placed the order for the sump, we ordered 2, one for this project, one for another. When this incident happened I immediately took the hose out of the other box so we wouldn't use it on the next project.
Upon further inspection of the hose, it appears to us that the hose may have been tampered with...
The hose has one big slit that goes all the way around ( see pic)
and several smaller "slits" near it.
I brought the damaged hose back with me, and started testing...
Both hoses are unrippable, no matter how hard i pinched, turned, bent, or pulled, I could not get even a small tear in either hose, and this is A LOT more pressure than what's applied to this hose when it is in use.
I used a knife to make a small incision in both hoses, I then tore the rest to expose the inside of the hose like what's shown in the picture, and there is certainly a difference:
The tears have distressed plastic on the tear line, vs the damaged hose has no distressed look to it.
Also, you know when you stretch plastic wrap on it's edges and let it go? you will see that the edges are expanded/ wavy, my tears had this looks vs the damaged hose which did not.
The damaged hose has long ribbon-like strings coming from it, like small shredded plastic thin shards.
The owner has several small children in the house.
There are also cameras present, but they only record back to 3 days of footage (that window was missed)
Can anyone please shed some light on this situation?
I simply want to do what is right here. I am doubtful we will ever KNOW what happened, but I figured i'd turn to the forum for some possibilities.
The owner said that his children would not do this, and we are in a tough position.
I will attach more detailed pics of the hose tonight, the pic attached is what the owner sent me.
Thank you all.
But again welcome to the forum 
