You got any Rio pumps, then you best to dump them

[dme]

I know some people not to far away that own tanks and they have my number for not to long ago just tonight, this person called telling me he smells burn odor and his lights in that room was going crazy and he was hearing noise and large bubbles were coming out of his Rio 1400 pump and I told him to unplug now before its to late and he said that all the excitement was over after he did, all except for the burning smell.
I told him that there been a problem lately going on with the Rio pumps that if his other Rio`s to get them out tomorrow and I suggest any of you members here to do the same thing, dump your Rio pumps before you have that horrible feeling frank had tonight. This is about the 6th or 7th time I heard of this in a madder of a few months.
Get rid of all your Rio Pumps

 

[the_fish]

well i just dumped it, should i send it back and demand my money back?

 

[dme]

His 1400 Rio he only had in his tank for five to six months and I just called him back a while ago to come over here, i many spare maxi jet pumps with extra impellers. Im going to give him four maxi jets 1200, their for a large tank, he will need it.

 

[psusocr1]

i had a brand new rio 2100 for 3 weeks and it shorted and sent electricity through my water for a few hours..thank god i notiuced on a top off, thank god my fish werrew o.k and thank god i got a grounding probe..i also had 2 small rios that fter 4 days in my tank started hummigng like crazy..their junk and im glad i learned my lesson!

 

[chipmaker]

While RIO may not be the top line brand on the market there certainly is nothing wrong with RIO's. This crap has been circulating over and over on the forums for a long time. I have RIO's in use for years without problems. MAtter of fact I have had more problems out of my Mag drives at one time than any other pump I ever had.

 

[dme]

I guess then chip that you can count your blessings for when he came over last night for the maxi pumps, I had ask him to bring me over that Rio pump and before I was to respond to your views in which im glad is a happy one for you. I plug in that Rio he had in a bucket of water and it took a while before things started to happen for first there was a s*** load of bubbles coming from it and then I started to smell the a burning odor and I allowed this to go on in the bucket a while longer and then smoke rising from the bucket and I unplug it then.
I have heard this happening more too often chip and glad as far that you been one the chosen ones who has been immune to this headache. Things in this hobby such as this is a madder of luck I would have too say. :thinking:

 

[bawood]

It's possible that new Rios have the problem, I've heard more and more of it coming up lately. It's not uncommon for product lines to change over time and sometimes for the negative.

 

[coachklm]

remember all this is just a warning /watchout thread ...were not bashing the companies just telling what happened.

so it doesnt turn into one like ***** thread

 

[dingo0722]

I have a rio that runs my wd and it runs with no problem until the power is cut. when you restore the power, it hums, but doesnt pump. I have to pull the pump out of the water and open it to get the impeller moving. POS. I have another rio that I use to transfer water during waterchanges and it only runs for 10 min before overheating and shutting down. POS Never again. They can be very tempting to buy, low price, high volume but junk.

 

[dme]

They can be very tempting to buy, low price, high volume but junk.
I believe that the Rio pumps are a little higher price then that of the Maxi Jet :notsure:

 

[csupdog]

Rios are good pumps, I have one for over 8 years now. I use it to mix large vats of saltwater during water changes. RIO1700. I had another small RIO800 as a water fountain in a lizard tank - for about 3 years. Pump still works fine.
I would treat this as a rumor and nothing more. UNLESS you recently bought a Rio pump, Sometimes they dont build em like they used to. In that case, return it for piece of mind.

 

[chipmaker]

Originally Posted by dingo0722
I have a rio that runs my wd and it runs with no problem until the power is cut. when you restore the power, it hums, but doesnt pump. I have to pull the pump out of the water and open it to get the impeller moving. POS. I have another rio that I use to transfer water during waterchanges and it only runs for 10 min before overheating and shutting down. POS Never again. They can be very tempting to buy, low price, high volume but junk.
Dingo, the problem you describe can happen to any pump. I have had it happen to a brand new AC as well as other powerheads etc. What I find on the smaller pumps is the impeller has to be able to move back and forth on the adpater shaft, if not it bucks the water as it does not have sufficient starting torque to overcome the resisitence. The motors are uncontrolled with a centrally located volute discharge so they are apt to start CW or CCW. And if that impeller is stiff on the adpater the pump just sets there and hums. I don't know if your pump has the impeller that should be able to move on the adpater a bit both ways or not, but its worth looking at, as it does exactly what the pumps do that have sticky or stuck impellers on the adpaters do.

 

[juddster]

i have some old rio's that work fine. however i did too have a problem with a newer model i had purchased a few months ago. Bummer for the rio guys!

 

[dme]

Hey people, its a machine just the same as any item which is man made and we can never know what will go wrong and all we can do is prepare for it in advance by having pumps in stock at home as I do.

 

[alyssia]

I know most people on here recommend maxi jets, but I have tried two of them and they both stopped working within a month. I think it's the luck of the draw, I have a Rio that has been working fine for 6 months and an aquaclear (think that's what it is called) that is the cheapest PH I ever bought and I have had it for almost a year.

 

[oreo12]

I have some old rios is the problem with the new er ones I only have one in the tank the others I use for mixing water I have 3 max coming any day from my friend big al then I will have no rios in any tank thanks for the warning.

 

[mile_high]

I used mag drives in my freshwater and now I use them in my salt water tanks . I have never trusted rio's not even to mix water .

 

[oreo12]

Originally Posted by MILE_HIGH
I used mag drives in my freshwater and now I use them in my salt water tanks . I have never trusted rio's not even to mix water .
I bought them for like $5 a peace off that action site just for mixing the water. But they were new but an older model

 

[mile_high]

well for 5 bucks I guess thats better then mixng by hand

 

[oreo12]

let em run for 24 hours