Tunze in reverse

[spearperson]

OK so my Tunze Turbelle has started randomly switching from regular flow to reverse where it sucks water in the front and out the back. Anybody else experience this? I have also seen some pieces of black plastic in the tank, could they have come from the Turbelle?

Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[KathyC]

Not uncommon unfortunately.
Turn it off and restart it until it is turning in the right direction.Make sure the impeller is clean and turns freely.

Would be a good idea to check the impeller while you have it off to see if the parts came from there and if it needs replacing.

 

[Master Shake]

some plugs are not designated posative or negative. this is when the 2 plugs on the wire are the same size instead of one being wider than the other. did you un plug it ang re plugh it in and you may have switched the way the plug was. try fliping that around and see if that changes anything. i have had it done to me with the maxijet mod, it might be able to do that for that.

 

[Keith P]

some plugs are not designated posative or negative. this is when the 2 plugs on the wire are the same size instead of one being wider than the other. did you un plug it ang re plugh it in and you may have switched the way the plug was. try fliping that around and see if that changes anything. i have had it done to me with the maxijet mod, it might be able to do that for that.

Is this true? I know this works with 3 phase motors (where you reverse the polarity between 2 legs), but I didn't think it was true for single phase motors.

 

[regal]

OK so my Tunze Turbelle has started randomly switching from regular flow to reverse where it sucks water in the front and out the back. Anybody else experience this? I have also seen some pieces of black plastic in the tank, could they have come from the Turbelle?

Any insight would be appreciated.

I bet you have the 110VAC Tunze vs the variable flow more expensive DC units. Most aquarium powerhead/pump are AC driven and will spin in either directions. But since their impellers are not like a propeller, it doesn't make any difference. For the AC drvien Tunze, there are two "clutch shoes" to prevent them from spinning in the wrong direction. They are the little black pieces of plastic that stick out and stop the impeller when it is spinning in the wrong direction. You need to have them replaced.

 

[spearperson]

still not sure what is going on with it, the pump is plugged in to a RK Lite on wavemaker mode so I don't think it is a polarity issue, just seems to flip back and forth randomly

 

[spearperson]

ahhh, and an answer, thank you regal.

 

[regal]

some plugs are not designated posative or negative. this is when the 2 plugs on the wire are the same size instead of one being wider than the other. did you un plug it ang re plugh it in and you may have switched the way the plug was. try fliping that around and see if that changes anything. i have had it done to me with the maxijet mod, it might be able to do that for that.

The orientation of the plug makes no difference. For your maxijet mod, the reason it works is because there is a small piece of plastic that will hit and stop the impeller if it is spinning it the wrong direction.

 

[NYreefNoob]

this is common with some models of tunzes, what model do you have ? and while running put something in front of output it will cause it to go back to normal running, 6025' ect this is real common if they are modded