COR 15 pump making noise

Bob Ander · Apr 25, 2018

I recently just bought a COR 15 pump from Neptune to act as the return pump for my red sea reefer 250. It took a lot of work to plumb this pump as it goes from a 1/4 inch union to a 1 inch flow sensor reduced again to 3/4 inch so I can screw a thread into the metric fitting on the red sea return line. After spending a long time plumbing the pump I fired it up with high hopes of it being very quiet. I have read numerous reviews about this pump being dead silent, however when I turned it on to 100 percent it was very noisy. It was obvious that it was pushing way too much water through the sump so i dialed it back to 50 percent and it was just as noisy just a little bit lower in tone. Now i have it running silent but it is only at 20 percent. Were my expectations too high or do you think something is wrong with my pump? I reached out to Neptune support and they didn't really give me a straight answer so i figured id ask for some real work experience. Thanks in advanced.

User1 · Apr 26, 2018

I have a pair of them. One for a return and the other for my skimmer (also a backup for the return

). Both are dead silent - really, nothing at all. The difference for me is that I'm plumbing with 1" piping. I thought I read somewhere that they recommend it. If you have not done so yet head over to the Neptune official forums, specifically the Cor sub forum, and see what they say there. My original Cor 15 wasn't working but it turned out to be related to the Apex head unit and a token / registration oddly enough. There was a thread or two i recall reading about plumbing and pump size. In any case they are silent.

I think you may be running into the pump pressure vs pipe size with it ratcheting or whatever the right plumbing term is.

Bob Ander · Apr 26, 2018

saf1 said:
I have a pair of them. One for a return and the other for my skimmer (also a backup for the return ). Both are dead silent - really, nothing at all. The difference for me is that I'm plumbing with 1" piping. I thought I read somewhere that they recommend it. If you have not done so yet head over to the Neptune official forums, specifically the Cor sub forum, and see what they say there. My original Cor 15 wasn't working but it turned out to be related to the Apex head unit and a token / registration oddly enough. There was a thread or two i recall reading about plumbing and pump size. In any case they are silent.

I think you may be running into the pump pressure vs pipe size with it ratcheting or whatever the right plumbing term is.

So does that mean that my pump is having to work very hard to push water through th3 3/4 inch pipe and that is what is causing the noise?

Bob Ander · Apr 26, 2018

Is it possible for the flow sensor to be making the noise? If I put my hand on the pump it is not vibrating at all. I even tried disconnecting the pump from my return piping and running it at 100 percent and it is silent. The only way I can tell it is something related to the pump is because when I turn it off the noise goes away.

ca1ore · Apr 26, 2018

Something certainly seems amiss. The flow sensors don't make noise.

Bob Ander · Apr 26, 2018

ca1ore said:
Something certainly seems amiss. The flow sensors don't make noise.

Im going to try to take it apart and clean it out. I'll report back after I do that.

User1 · Apr 26, 2018

BRS did a video on the Cor 15 and 20 the other day - they also mention that Neptune recommends larger plumbing than the 3/4" I think you said you are using. I would head over to the Neptune and describe the problem and concern and see if anyone bites at the thread. I think you said you already submitted a ticket but I would do so again. They really are silent pumps so you shouldn't be hearing anything.

Bob Ander · Apr 26, 2018

saf1 said:
BRS did a video on the Cor 15 and 20 the other day - they also mention that Neptune recommends larger plumbing than the 3/4" I think you said you are using. I would head over to the Neptune and describe the problem and concern and see if anyone bites at the thread. I think you said you already submitted a ticket but I would do so again. They really are silent pumps so you shouldn't be hearing anything.

Ok, I would use 1 1/4 all the way but the Red Sea fitting is 3/4 and to upgrade it would require me having to drain the overflow and have a glass company drill the hole which I can’t do right now so I’m kind of stuck.

JoshH · Apr 26, 2018

Bob Ander said:
Ok, I would use 1 1/4 all the way but the Red Sea fitting is 3/4 and to upgrade it would require me having to drain the overflow and have a glass company drill the hole which I can’t do right now so I’m kind of stuck.

If it is indeed the size of the plumbing and you can't get a larger return hole drilled you could plumb in a PVC T fitting with a valve that drains back into the sump to relieve the extra pressure in the mean time.

Bob Ander · Apr 27, 2018

JoshH said:
If it is indeed the size of the plumbing and you can't get a larger return hole drilled you could plumb in a PVC T fitting with a valve that drains back into the sump to relieve the extra pressure in the mean time.

I can try that. I just don't see how there could be that much pressure in the pipe. Especially when there is only about a 4-foot head pressure and the pump is running about 250gph. I have seen others plumb using 3/4 and have no problems. Ill take out a ticket with Neptune.

User1 · Apr 27, 2018

Just wondering, what happens if you run the pump say at 40%? Does it make noise then?

Bob Ander · Apr 27, 2018

saf1 said:
Just wondering, what happens if you run the pump say at 40%? Does it make noise then?

Yes, it makes a considerable amount of noise at anything above 25ish

Bob Ander · Apr 27, 2018

saf1 said:
Just wondering, what happens if you run the pump say at 40%? Does it make noise then?

I opened a support tab with Neptune just for them to close it without responding. Their support has been terrible so far.

User1 · Apr 27, 2018

Sorry to hear. I've had pretty good luck with them. If I had to nit pick I would say that they tend to focus on email case creation and then return the call rather than having a number to call and someone pick up. Outside of that when I first purchased my Cor 15 it would run just fine but my Apex would never see it. I ended up calling, they told me to log online and create a case, then they would call back. They did, then wanted to send me out a replacement cable. I found this a odd way to trouble shoot the issue by mail but I went with it since it was working. Cable didn't help, I updated the ticket via email and 5 minutes later I had a call from Luis. By the 10 minute mark he figured out what the issue was and resolved it. Problem was while my Apex was registered the token it uses somehow was corrupt or didn't get updated in the fusion portal. Once we got that fixed my Apex saw the pump, I could update firmware, etc.

So there are a few quirks I feel but that may be due to the company size or what works for them but for me support has been good. Even if I was to go back to say 2001 when I had the original Neptune controller with the X10's. Always good service with some funny post help email exchanges talking about dogs and chew toys.

Bob Ander · Apr 28, 2018

saf1 said:
Sorry to hear. I've had pretty good luck with them. If I had to nit pick I would say that they tend to focus on email case creation and then return the call rather than having a number to call and someone pick up. Outside of that when I first purchased my Cor 15 it would run just fine but my Apex would never see it. I ended up calling, they told me to log online and create a case, then they would call back. They did, then wanted to send me out a replacement cable. I found this a odd way to trouble shoot the issue by mail but I went with it since it was working. Cable didn't help, I updated the ticket via email and 5 minutes later I had a call from Luis. By the 10 minute mark he figured out what the issue was and resolved it. Problem was while my Apex was registered the token it uses somehow was corrupt or didn't get updated in the fusion portal. Once we got that fixed my Apex saw the pump, I could update firmware, etc.

So there are a few quirks I feel but that may be due to the company size or what works for them but for me, support has been good. Even if I was to go back to say 2001 when I had the original Neptune controller with the X10's. Always good service with some funny post help email exchanges talking about dogs and chew toys.

They did end up replying to the tab but it looks like they created another tab or something. They basically said they aren't sure what it is and that the pump makes that noise at a high head pressure as far as I can understand. They did end up calling me but I was in class and could not answer. Kind of disappointed at the noise since it was marketed as always being silent and it was quite expensive. Can't complain too much though since that is the one and only complaint I have about the many Neptune products I own.