Tunze 3152 added too much water

[JOKER]

My 3152 ATO is only 6 months old. It has now added too much water twice. What should I do or replace. I do add kalk with the ATO, but clean the pump periodically. Would this be under warranty? Thanks

 

[rvitko Verified Sponsor]

Can you tell me the size of the tank and does it have a sump? Is it barely overfilling or running for a long time? (Basically, does the safety timer work to stop it). If the safety timer is stopping it, something is affecting the float, either a physical obstruction or the magnet holder being on very thin glass, misaligned or near another magnet is the cause, or the wrong one (swapped with another Tunze product that has a stronger magnet holder). If the safety timer is not stopping it, then something is wrong with the pump, the controller or both and it would be a warranty issue.

 

[rvitko Verified Sponsor]

Also, if pumping to a sump, a siphon is a possibility and the big tip off would be if these overfills only occur after you refill the reservoir and stop as the reservoir gets closer to empty.

 

[JOKER]

This is on a JBJ 20 gallon AIO frag tank. The ATO has worked flawlessly until recently. I have the magnet in the return section of the tank. The line from the pump is above water level, and the reservoir is 34" below the highest point. I have another new osmolator in the box I am thinking of trying out. I think the safety is catching it, but I have yet to catch it doing this so I am not sure what it is doing. It looks to be pumping around a gallon of water when it happens if that helps.

 

[rvitko Verified Sponsor]

A gallon would be too much, in the default safety timer setting of 1.8 minutes roughly a half gallon should be the maximum possible. If the safety timer is indeed stopping it, the issue is the float, something is locking it up, whether debris, snails or the magnet holder, glass under 3/16" thick is suspect and if a magnet is affecting the float, it will appear to lean on the post like it is attracted to or repelled by a magnet.

 

[JOKER]

Thank you very much. I have been watching the unit by turning it on a few times a day. It has yet to give trouble. I think I will clean the float well, and add a thin piece of acrylic or something as the glass is thin.

 

[rvitko Verified Sponsor]

Keep me posted if anything further comes up.

 

[RobBaglieri]

I have the same issue. Remove and clean the float. Make sure the plastic nut on top is snug but not over tight.

 

[zoomonster]

Auto shutoff on that Tunze is 5m (at least newer models). I use the bigger 3155 (10m shutoff) and have not had any issues because the optical is the primary sensor. However for the first time last night when pumps were shut off to do some work I noticed the high water alarm did not go off. That float sensor had stuck for the first time in over 2 years. Guess its time to clean it.

 

[ESantana84]

I have a weird problem that mines keeps pumping water and the stops and then keeps filling and stopping and filling. I have played with the sensor in every way (completely sumurge) the only the pump stops pumping only when I hold it on my hand and turn it upside down (sensor) then that's when the pump stops completely.