USB Nano Air Pump

[SamJ]

Hi Everyone, this is my first time posting here, but I've been really impressed by the quality of the discourse! I have a question about the USB Nano Air Pumps. These things are great and completely silent from 12 inches away (my tanks are, by necessity of living in a cramped NYC apartment, in my living room). The problem is that they fail on me way too often. I've purchased 5 of these over the years, and 3 have failed (one after about 3 months and two after about 9 months). I'm starting to wondering if I'm doing something wrong. 

I have (or had, rather) one running on each of three 4 gallon cubes. The pumps are placed on a shelf above the tanks, each driving an Aquarium Co-op nano sponge filter with a Ziss airstone. Each line has a metal valve plus a check valve. The pumps are plugged into the USB outlets of a Kasa Smart power strip, and the outlets are confirmed to be functional. The shelf is open, so I don't think it's a heat issue. I just want to make sure that I'm not causing all these premature deaths, or if it's just a function of small (presumably Chinese) electrics being of... questionable quality. 

[sudofish]

Is the metal valve used to limit the flow? If so maybe you have it set too low and it's too hard on the pump. I don't even know if that would be an issue for these pumps just thinking out loud. I've got 2 of them but only for a month or so. No problems yet and they only have a check valve attached.

[GameCzar]

I read a lot of Amazon reviews saying they do fail fairly often, but at the same time they are so dang cheap.  I'm running 2 of them at the moment and should probably keep a spare handy.

[SamJ]

The metal valves are to reduce the flow, but only slightly. Maybe that's it, so I'll try running the two survivors fully open (although we'll see if this is too much air, if such a thing is possible). 

@GameCzarI think this is the way to go. I just ordered two on Amazon (since they're not in stock at the Co-op), and I previously had one in reserve but two of them failed in a short period. Luckily it's a heavily planted shrimp tank, so I'm not too worried about things (I just cut feeding waaaaay back). 

[The Goatee]

I have purchased several and I mostly have them as extended power outage devices to use with battery banks now. I was using them on nano tanks, basic tubing with check valve, no air valve control, with a Ziss never clog and sponge filter.

I had one fail and it worried me. The air stopped pumping and the included USB outlet was warm and the USB connector on the pump itself was very warm. It would burn your hand if you tried to hold it more than a split second.