Never Trust a RIO Pump!!!

[canadawest]

Well I've heard the stories, but now have the first hand experience! :eek2:

My RIO 2500 pump exploded and spilled oil everywhere!

I never did trust this pump in the first place because of stories I had read on reef boards (got it with a used Berlin HOT skimmer) so I immediately replaced it with a better Mag 7 to run the skimmer. Have been using the RIO only to mix water for the past 6 months.

I am so thankful that it was just mixing water in one of my large buckets, and not actually in my tank otherwise I suspect I would have lost all my livestock.

Basically it made a bunch of chattering noise, then a pop, then silence. A nasty smell of burnt plastic arose and I went to investigate. The mixing bucket was an ugly cesspool of black oily residue. The pump had cracked and even popped the back cover right off. :mad:

So it is true, the RIO pumps do have some sort of oil in them, and when they go, THEY GO! I wouldn't trust one in my tank EVER! Just a warning for those who have em. The attage, "you get what you pay for" holds true here I guess.

[Ocean Images]

Just another happy Rio customer, I second the notion to NEVER use a Rio pump within a 1/4 mile radius of any marine aquarium. I too have smelt the burning inards of a toasted Rio pump, I have heard the humming, the grinding and the crackling sounds from deep inside the black box :mad:
The final straw for me was when I lost two Rio 2100's in the same day, they hummed but just would not work.........I called Rio and spoke with their customer service dept. Their conclusion was that a power spike must have gone through the lines and reversed the magnetism of the impeller........so I was out $200 worth of pumps in the blink of an eye;)
Go with the Mag series pumps, a far superior product straight out of the box :cheers:

[Michael_Lambert]

As well stay away from "PONDMASTER" They are fair priced and powerfull.. I had the 1200.. after my 4 foot lift from my sump it was pumping about 1000 GPH.. Untill the other day i stuck my hand in my Sump to install a Grounding Rod.... and i got LEVLED!! How ironic.. I got zapped with 170 VOTS of current.( i tested it with my Mutireader :D )

the pump still worked fine.. I took it back to where i bought it becouse it was screwed.. and i lost 3 fish and a leather coral so i was not sure what was going on i had tested the water and it was fine.. this was the first time i stuck myhand in the sump in about 2 weeks.. so that must have what killed them.... Welll my LFS... Told me it "Happends... but now you can just start over and make it different... Try different fish this time..." what jerks!

[jedimaster]

I had a rio catch on fire under water. traded it in for a maxi jet.

[jedimaster]

I had a rio catch on fire inside of my tank, no oil spillage but really crappy none the less, it was about 3 months old. I traded it in for a store credit and eventually used the credit towards a maxijet1200

[afss]

I am not sure on this, but i believe that some rios are ok, and some aren't. I believe that there is a way to tell where it is made. the ones made in one country are not good, the ones from the other country are ok. I forget what is what.

Dman ? I think it was you that told me about this.

scott

[afss]

Ok.. my memory was slightly off.

I was talking to Derek tonight and from what he has heard anything below 2100 ok above 2100 must be UL or CSA listed.

From what i have seen and heard these pumps are not overly reliable and i am in no way recomending them. I have however had my return pump as a rio 2100 for almost 2 years now. The only PITA is sometimes it doesn't like to re-start after a power outage or being unplugged.

Scott

[Dman]

Rio's come in two forms, one is UL listed and the other not. THe one that is UL listed is relatively safe for aquaria, but expect to pay more for the same sized pump(by about 20%)
Do a search on any of the big US boards and read the litany of destrution and despair
Dman
:spin: