How long should HOB filters last?

[SnailQueen]

Further proof that all bad things do happen when you go on vacation....
We took a quick trip and were gone from 9AM Tuesday through around 9PM Thursday. Somewhere in that span of time, the Aquaclear 50 filter on my 29 gallon decided to die. And by die, I'm not talking about that weird "impeller turns back on when you flick it" thing that AC filters sometimes do, but total meltdown where the impeller completely froze up and must have melted into the motor unit because it's not possible to remove it anymore. Fortunately, it must not have been like that for too long because all the fish and coral are fine and the ammonia only creeped up to 0.25. A small water change, a few doses of Prime, and changing over to an extra AC70 I had around got everything back to normal overnight.
But the whole experience has me wondering -- how long should we reasonably except a properly serviced HOB filter to last? This one has been on one tank or another around the house since 2011, and had the impeller and intake cleaned out at worst every other month, but probably more often than that. How long are your HOBs lasting?

 

[ZoWhat]

Magnetic impeller spins inside a glass sealed electric motor and the hole the magnet spins in is hard plastic.

Heat + friction = slow deformation of the hard plastic until the magnet becomes jammed. Once jammed heat destroys the electric motor.

Best practice is to pull the impeller 3x a year and clean the hole with a small child toothbrush. But even then wear, tear and heat will eventually overtake the whole unit causing it to fail

How long will that spin last depends on dozens of factors.

Prob the #1 factor is "you get what you pay for"

 

[AdamNC]

My last AC70 lasted about 4 years until I upgraded to a tank with a sump. I believe I only throughly cleaned it twice. I still have it sitting on a shelf cleaned up for who knows what later on.

 

[WVNed]

They should last forever.

 

[SnailQueen]

Magnetic impeller spins inside a glass sealed electric motor and the hole the magnet spins in is hard plastic.

Heat + friction = slow deformation of the hard plastic until the magnet becomes jammed. Once jammed heat destroys the electric motor.

Best practice is to pull the impeller 3x a year and clean the hole with a small child toothbrush. But even then wear, tear and heat will eventually overtake the whole unit causing it to fail

How long will that spin last depends on dozens of factors.

Prob the #1 factor is "you get what you pay for"

I agree on the "you get what you pay for" idea. I'm happy to have gotten almost 7 years out of it, but I'll be curious to see how long the new one lasts.

 

[Steve Blum]

Further proof that all bad things do happen when you go on vacation....
We took a quick trip and were gone from 9AM Tuesday through around 9PM Thursday. Somewhere in that span of time, the Aquaclear 50 filter on my 29 gallon decided to die. And by die, I'm not talking about that weird "impeller turns back on when you flick it" thing that AC filters sometimes do, but total meltdown where the impeller completely froze up and must have melted into the motor unit because it's not possible to remove it anymore. Fortunately, it must not have been like that for too long because all the fish and coral are fine and the ammonia only creeped up to 0.25. A small water change, a few doses of Prime, and changing over to an extra AC70 I had around got everything back to normal overnight.
But the whole experience has me wondering -- how long should we reasonably except a properly serviced HOB filter to last? This one has been on one tank or another around the house since 2011, and had the impeller and intake cleaned out at worst every other month, but probably more often than that. How long are your HOBs lasting?

I have AC110 had it for 10 years now no problem. Also have Marineland 400 15 years going strong

 

[ca1ore]

I've got one that must be 15 years old ..... and a buddy claims his are over 20. They're cheap though, so proactive replacement seems wise if they are critical.

 

[SnailQueen]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I always keep an extra around as a backup in case any of them go down, just figures one would do it the only two days I've been away from the house since last winter....

 

[squampton]

The aqua clear on my freshwater is 11 years old. I run 2 filters on the tank though since chances of both failing are pretty slim. The only time I use an HOB with salt is with my quarantine tank, so it only runs a few weeks here and there, but its 4 years old, but again doesn't run 24/7 only maybe 1-2 months tops per year.

 

[ca1ore]

just figures one would do it the only two days I've been away from the house since last winter....

Ah, but that's one of the great ironies of reefing - bad stuff always seems to happen when you are away. It's incredibly irritating.

 

[SnailQueen]

Ah, but that's one of the great ironies of reefing - bad stuff always seems to happen when you are away. It's incredibly irritating.

This year, we've hit every major irony -- first power outage in years during heat wave on 4th of July, the filter while on vacation, and thought we missed the worst of a Christmas Day snowstorm only to come home to 100+ inches of snow in the driveway from only 1 day away.... I need my lottery odds to start catching up to the odds of everything else!