Linear piston air pump growing weaker

[tolstoy21]

Recently my linear piston air pump just doesn't seem to be putting out the same amount pressure.  The closer an air stone in a tank gets to the floor, the less air it puts out. In fact, filters in tanks on my bottom racks are struggling to push air through an airstone at all.

I haven't added more aquariums, nor run more lines. No valves that I can find are open. I removed the filter from the pump and cleaned it, but, alas, no luck.

Does anyone know what else I can look at or consider to further troubleshoot this issue?

Ideas, anyone?

[tolstoy21]

Nevermind, figured it out. I had airlines running open, hanging outside tanks, hidden from view.

However, this seems to suggest to me that I'm reaching the limit in terms of how many air drops I can do with my air pump.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/13/2023 at 5:25 PM, tolstoy21 said:

However, this seems to suggest to me that I'm reaching the limit in terms of how many air drops I can do with my air pump.

Might be a good time to ask, do you have a spare diaphragm?

You can add a secondary one if you need to, but I would definitely lean towards a bleed valve type of setup if you do anything like that.  We have to figure out how to engineer some sort of pressure sensor or something where it ticks on an LED.  Not all that complex and just runs off one sensor, but say the pressure drops below X, then the light changes. Can connect that to some sort of audio thing or wifi alert even if you really wanted to. 

Might not be useful, but one of those "affordable" features I can see companies making one day.

Here's a real world example, fits on a tire stem.

 

[tolstoy21]

On 11/14/2023 at 1:32 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Might be a good time to ask, do you have a spare diaphragm?

It's a linear piston pump, no diaphragm. 

I counted the number of air drops I have running to tanks and other things, and a rough estimate is about 40, so I'm guessing I'm just getting close to capacity.

[Odd Duck]

On 11/14/2023 at 12:32 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

We have to figure out how to engineer some sort of pressure sensor or something where it ticks on an LED.  Not all that complex and just runs off one sensor, but say the pressure drops below X, then the light changes. Can connect that to some sort of audio thing or wifi alert even if you really wanted to. 

I want one when you start manufacturing them, please?  😉 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/14/2023 at 4:34 AM, tolstoy21 said:

It's a linear piston pump, no diaphragm. 

You right.  I was thinking about this thing.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/replacement-air-filter-linear-piston-air-pump?_pos=2&_sid=b14e236aa&_ss=r

[tolstoy21]

On 11/14/2023 at 7:25 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

You right.  I was thinking about this thing.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/replacement-air-filter-linear-piston-air-pump?_pos=2&_sid=b14e236aa&_ss=r

Ah ok.

I rinse cleaned mine instead of replacing (cleaned it kind of like cleaning an aquarium filter), let it dry, then put back in. (I didn't have an extra on hand). I also took a look to see what the pressure was like with no filter pad  installed-- almost the same, maybe a little more pressure to the sponge filters, but nothing night and day.

Like I said, I am above 40+ air drops and the filters that struggle are the lowest ones in the racks, so I'm thinking I just need a larger pump or a second one. I'm leaning towards a second one so I have redundancy. Even if running on one in the event of a failure means it will run weakly, some air flow is better than none.

Edited November 15, 2023 by tolstoy21