Return Pump Longevity

[bakbay]

I currently have a Your Choice Aquatics DC 12000 (believe it's one of those Jebao clones?) that has been running for 3+ years. Honestly, it's been rock solid and I have not cleaned it since its original installation.

Question: how many years should I expect these Chinese-made products to last? I do have an Ecotech Marine Vectra M2 sitting around doing nothing, waiting to swap it out.

 

[Doctorgori]

3yrs is already pressing it IME

 

[DIYreefer]

I have a few jebao return pumps that have been running for probably 6 years now. I've never had an issue with any of them. I have 4 of them running right now and will hopefully have another one (one of my old ones) running within the next few days.

 

[C_AWOL]

Haven't used that brand before but if the motorblock looks the same then it will likely last quite a while aside from the powersupply or controller (more so powersupply ime)
You can always pick up another one to have on hand if it fails if theres no expiring warranty

 

[00W]

My jebao return has been going for quite a while with no issues.
I clean it every couple of months.
I do always have a backup just in case.

 

[bakbay]

I have a few jebao return pumps that have been running for probably 6 years now. I've never had an issue with any of them. I have 4 of them running right now and will hopefully have another one (one of my old ones) running within the next few days.

That’s a good run. Not really looking for anything fancy just to “return” the water from the sump back to the DT, although it has some features.

I’ll keep one as a backup — can’t go wrong cost-wise with these pumps.

 

[Idech]

You’re not helping your case by not cleaning it IMO. Equipment maintenance is a necessity, not a choice. Unless you don’t care about replacing it more often.

 

[DIYreefer]

That’s a good run. Not really looking for anything fancy just to “return” the water from the sump back to the DT, although it has some features.

I’ll keep one as a backup — can’t go wrong cost-wise with these pumps.

Yeah, that's basically my thought process. I realized a long time ago that my tank inhabitants don't care what the name is on the label as long as the equipment does it's intended job, everyone is happy.

 

[MartinM]

I currently have a Your Choice Aquatics DC 12000 (believe it's one of those Jebao clones?) that has been running for 3+ years. Honestly, it's been rock solid and I have not cleaned it since its original installation.

Question: how many years should I expect these Chinese-made products to last? I do have an Ecotech Marine Vectra M2 sitting around doing nothing, waiting to swap it out.

Even the vectra is going to fail inside a few years. I just don’t think it’s worth skimping on a return pump, I switched to all Iwaki and abyzz for reliability, after having multiple vectra’s fail inside of three years. That’s why commercial applications use one of these two brands. Anything else and you’re just playing Russian roulette, it might last a long time, or it might fail tomorrow.

 

[bakbay]

Even the vectra is going to fail inside a few years. I just don’t think it’s worth skimping on a return pump, I switched to all Iwaki and abyzz for reliability, after having multiple vectra’s fail inside of three years. That’s why commercial applications use one of these two brands. Anything else and you’re just playing Russian roulette, it might last a long time, or it might fail tomorrow.

True but outside of heat (my heater is in the sump, which can be solved) — I don’t care much about the return pump. For 1 Abyzz, I can get 20+ return pumps and run two simultaneously?

 

[gbroadbridge]

I currently have a Your Choice Aquatics DC 12000 (believe it's one of those Jebao clones?) that has been running for 3+ years. Honestly, it's been rock solid and I have not cleaned it since its original installation.

Question: how many years should I expect these Chinese-made products to last? I do have an Ecotech Marine Vectra M2 sitting around doing nothing, waiting to swap it out.

I would just purchase a spare and keep it with all the other spares like heaters/dosing pumps, etc.

 

[bakbay]

True but outside of heat (my heater is in the sump, which can be solved) — I don’t care much about the return pump. For 1 Abyzz, I can get 20+ return pumps and run two simultaneously?

@MartinM have said that, on a big tank - I would definitely go with an Abyzz. One of these days, I will build my dream tank! Ha

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

Iwaki and pan world both last for decades

 

[bakbay]

Iwaki and pan world both last for decades

But the power consumption is huge vs modern DC pumps, right?

 

[scchase]

Ya but does the electricity savings ever equal the savings from not buying a new pump every year plus lost livestock or damage from a failed pump. I have several pumps that are over 15 years now

 

[MartinM]

And do we really care about +\- a few watts? I definitely don’t, I care about keeping my animals alive

 

[DarkZ]

Even the vectra is going to fail inside a few years. I just don’t think it’s worth skimping on a return pump, I switched to all Iwaki and abyzz for reliability, after having multiple vectra’s fail inside of three years. That’s why commercial applications use one of these two brands. Anything else and you’re just playing Russian roulette, it might last a long time, or it might fail tomorrow.

Just had my Abyzz A400 died on the 22nd, perfect timing before our hosting for the Christmas, It did run for 7 years so I'm not complaining. Still waiting on Germany to see if they can warranty my pump.

Meanwhile I have ordered 2x Deltec E Flow 16, one for backup, one for testing. A400 did have a good pressure pushing up from my basement to the main floor, but I had to dial it down due to the flow was too much.

 

[MartinM]

Just had my Abyzz A400 died on the 22nd, perfect timing before our hosting for the Christmas, It did run for 7 years so I'm not complaining. Still waiting on Germany to see if they can warranty my pump.

Meanwhile I have ordered 2x Deltec E Flow 16, one for backup, one for testing. A400 did have a good pressure pushing up from my basement to the main floor, but I had to dial it down due to the flow was too much.

For your use case I’d recommend Iwaki for sure, not a DC pump.

 

[ErikVR]

Ya but does the electricity savings ever equal the savings from not buying a new pump every year plus lost livestock or damage from a failed pump. I have several pumps that are over 15 years now

What kind of brand are you thinking about when making a statement like that? Every year? And a kwh is expensive right now. So a pump that uses 250w costs €4.70 per day at the moment. Versus a 40w at 75 cents. So yes, power consuumption matters a lot these days in most countries. Except the US where an average household consumes more energy than a European city block.

 

[MartinM]

What kind of brand are you thinking about when making a statement like that? Every year? And a kwh is expensive right now. So a pump that uses 250w costs €4.70 per day at the moment. Versus a 40w at 75 cents. So yes, power consuumption matters a lot these days in most countries. Except the US where an average household consumes more energy than a European city block.

I don’t live in the US. I also don’t have to consider costs. This is a hobby, which means the people in it typically have extra income to spend on…well…a hobby. And since they’re living organisms what matters most is their health and well-being, and a return pump is crucial to that.

Furthermore, why do you think all these AC pump companies are still in business? It’s because they’re the most reliable pumps in the world, with several decades of operational history. That doesn’t exist with DC pumps. DC stuff is consumer grade, which means it’ll break and you’ll have to replace it every few years (which, btw, probably nullifies any supposed savings on electrical costs). Abyzz is the closest there is to a commercial grade DC pump but it still doesn’t have widespread adoption because it just hasn’t existed long enough so it doesn’t have a track record measured in the decades.

I’ve been in the hobby for 30 years. On and off I’ve I’ve worked with public aquariums, commercial exhibits and commercial aquaculture. One of my best friends is the main guy for every public aquarium in Japan. They/he/we all use AC pumps for anything mission critical, typically Iwaki.

“Two is one and one is none” as they say in anything life support / safety related. Only Iwaki pumps does he / we trust to only use one. Why? Because we’ve never heard of one failing, not in 20 straight years of use. And I don’t meant we haven’t had one fail - I literally mean we’ve never even heard of one failing. But I still use two on my 2000L system just one one my smaller systems. And an abyzz on my 1000L system but it has other pumps also. I get why people use consumer grade stuff, but I won’t. I’ve been around long enough to see every possible failure, and I take every possible effort to mitigate them.