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Leaking Eheim + Bad Eheim Customer Service = Never Buying Eheim Ever Again!

20K views 81 replies 34 participants last post by  glassbird 
#1 · (Edited)
So I go clean my fish tank and I noticed that the bottom of my tank stand is somewhat flooded with lots of water. I thought it was the tubing until I looked at the side of my EHEIM 2126 pro 2 canister filter and saw dribbles of water coming out. sigh... Good thing I recently bought a replacement sealing gasket that goes in between the canister top and bottom, which I promptly replaced and no more water leaking out from side... Until..... I turn on the filter and let it run and for awhile and while running I observed it for any more leaks from the sealing gasket area and then... I see the water coming out again. This time not from the sealing gasket but from the top of the canister where the hand holds are. :eek: I turned off the filter and disconnected the hosing and plugs and lifted the filter out of the stand and all this water came pouring out of the top. I unscrewed and took apart the top unit and found that it was hollow inside except for the priming push thing which is actually the motor. I then noticed that the priming unit has an orange O-Ring and that o-ring had a large crack along it. I thought nothing of it until I pushed the priming thing down and noticed that the O-ring, which I'm assuming is supposed to be tight around the circumference of the priming unit, elongated itself in to what i can describe as a bell curve. Anyhow.. the main point is that it wasn't keeping water in the canister and was just letting water seep in to the empty cavity of the head unit. Arghh.. Now.. the question is: Where the heck can I find a replacement orange O-Ring for the priming unit? Eheimparts.com and bigalsonline doesn't have it unless I missed it.

Summary:

Eheim 2126 leaking from 2 places, Sealing gasket and priming unit. Replaced sealing gasket but don't know what part number or where to find orange O-Ring for priming unit.

Helpppp........?

I'm a bit desperate even though you might not be able to tell... I'm running a marineland 330 filter and a small heater temporarily. But I hope to find the parts sooon. =( By the way, the filter is still under warranty... I emailed Eheim and they haven't replied back yet.. *sigh*... So much for eheim support. I'll call tuesday maybe they can send me the parts i need since it is still under warranty.

Hellpppppp

UPDATE: As you might have read through this thread, I've had nothing but trouble with Eheim. Anyhow, here is a link for you to look at concerning my disassembling of my Eheim filter. Yes I know that voided my warranty but screw Eheim... I'm not doing business with them anymore.

UPDATE 2: You can go to http://www.AtomicRice.com to purchase these o-rings.. I won't be doing group buys anymore.. Last time was a bit of a headache and stress trying to get all the orders together, etc etc etc...

Link to pics ------> Eheim Project
 
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#2 ·
Do you have a part number for the O ring? That's the bad think sometimes with Big Al's is that they don't have corresponding part numbers. If you have the Eheim part number you can call Big Al's and see if they have it (if they don't have enough, it may not show on the site).


Also, check if that O ring comes on a bigger part that might be listed (O ring may not come by itself)
Tina
 
#4 ·
Unfortunately I have not been able to find a part number for that O-Ring that goes around the priming pump thing. Thanks for the website info. I'll check it out.
 
#5 ·
this just sealed my decision to go with the classic eheims.:icon_mrgr

sorry for your misfortune. I was about to order a proII cause i thought the self priming was nice, as i am sure that this is like a 1 in amillion case, but i've been on the fence for weeks now and i have now made my decision.
 
#6 ·
I don't see that O-ring on Eheim's exploded view diagram for parts, either. You should contact Eheim. They're all about consumer satisfaction and I'm sure they'll help you out.

Eheim NORTH AMERICAN

Tommy
 
#10 ·
I bought my 2126 June 2004.

A little note for all of you out there with Eheims canisters with the Priming "button". The first sympton that I noticed that i believe led to the demise of the O-Ring was that when pushing on the priming button, it would be a bit difficult to push down on and difficulty for the button to come right back up. Over time the difficulty of pushing the button down is more severe where it would require you to push with both hands and use the weight of your body to push it. I would guess that the difficulty was attributed to the o-ring not having enough lubrication to move up and down smoothly. So if you are starting to experience this symptom i would suggest you get some of that special lube and grease the sides or the o-ring. Hope this helps.

Note: The Eheim "contact us" web form is completely useless... After you have completed inputting your info and message you hit the submit button and all youget is a flash on your screen and instead of seeing a confirmation message about your message being successfully sent, you instead get to see the same web form you were just typing in complete with all your info still on it.. -_- Sheesh... Anyways, I went to their international website and submitted a message there and got i think is a german confirmation message. Anyways, as of now.. I'm starting to lose hopes.. Might just have to plop down some money for a Fluval. Sigh....

By the way... What was this Eheim Pimp membership supposed to do?
 
#8 ·
Wow 2 leaks? I used to use Eheim until 3 out of the 4 filters all died in the first year. Although they where under warrenty it was a nightmare trying to setup old HOB filters until the bad ones where fixed. Since then I've moved over to fluval. The 2nd gen 404's are rock solid and the FX-5 is amazing for it's cost. If it's out of warrenty I would just move on. Even though I got the 3 filters fixed less than a year later (out of warrenty) 2 of the 3 broke again. Not surprised about that.
 
#9 ·
I had trouble with the priming button on my 2126, as do a few other people I know. If it's not leaking, just manually prime the intake by inserting a length of tubing and sucking on it.

It's not the greatest solution in the world, but it works. And how often do you really have to do that anyway?
 
#11 ·
This has some similarities to my 2026 problem I detailed about a week ago,
no matter what I did it would not start running.Got one response from Eheim
but when I replied with a detailed description of my attempts to get a handle on things I have heard nothing.Before I gave up on it the priming button was
also hard to push in and very slow to pop back up,it even made a small creaking noise while rising.Threw my hands up,bought a Fluval 405 and it`s
running great.
Rich B.
 
#12 ·
I just got an email back from Eheim and I think their response regarding the primer gasket is absurd. They want me to either send the entire top part of the unit back to a service center or if I have opened the cover to pay $10 for the part and $12 for shipping and handling charges. Why do I have to pay for the $10 part and the $12 shipping charge if I have opened the cover? I can understand that they don't want people to mess around in there, but come on.. there is nothing in there that you can mess up!.. I looked.. I opened it.. yes I did.. it's not like the motor is out in the open with wires and circuit boards etc hanging out. The whole motor assembly is sealed along with the electrical cord wire. Also, why can't I simply get the part I need and service it myself instead of shipping back and forth and having to wait a few weeks to get it back? I'm a licensed technician with years of electrical assembly and disassembly and I know what I'm capable of. Changing the primer gasket is as simple as putting a rubber band around your hand.. come on... :icon_roll Anyways, i think Eheim is being boneheaded.

Anyways, here is the email they sent me:

Oh... Apparently I can't "publish" the email verbatim according to their email:

"This e-mail and any attachments are confidential and intended solely for the
addressee. The perusal, publication, copying or dissemination of the
contents of this e-mail by unauthorized third parties is prohibited. If you
are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, please delete it and
immediately notify the sender."

:mad:

Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..
 
#57 ·
"This e-mail and any attachments are confidential and intended solely for the
addressee. The perusal, publication, copying or dissemination of the
contents of this e-mail by unauthorized third parties is prohibited. If you
are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, please delete it and
immediately notify the sender."
That is completely 100% meaningless and not legally enforceable in any way, at least in the USA. You can't force someone into a contract.
 
#13 ·
By the way, here is my reply to them:

----------------------------------------------

Dear Ernesto,

Thank you for your prompt reply. Regarding the sealing gasket I can understand that it is a wearable part and that it may not be covered by the warranty. However, regarding the red priming gasket, I don't understand why I can not simply service the unit myself. I'm a licensed technician with many years of experience servicing anything from computers to television sets and automobiles. As I've stated to you in my first email I have opened the top cover to investigate where the leak was coming from and succeeded in locating the leak and its source, which was the red primer sealing ring. The replacement of the red sealing ring can not be that complicated where a user would have to send the entire top part back to a service center to have it fixed. I could understand if the motor or pump stopped working or the heating element went out, but to simply slip on a rubber ring *is not* that difficult. Do you have to use a special tool or machine to slip on the rubber ring?

It would be faster and more convenient for me to have Eheim send me the part I need and simply fix it myself than to have to send the entire top part to a service center to have it fixed. You must not realize that the top part of the canister filter is fairly heavy and shipping it would be expensive and having to wait for it to be fixed and then wait for it to be delivered is just outrageous. All my fish would be dead by than if i had to ship it back to the service center. I also don't understand why I would have to pay $10 for the part and $12 for the shipping if I have opened the cover. That's $22 for a rubber ring..... !!!

You mentioned that it was recommended that users should lubricate the rubber rings with the special vaseline. Well, let me ask you... How can you lubricate the red primer ring if you can't access it without having to open the cover? I see in the manual it suggests to use a screwdriver or a flat brush to lubricate the primer using the vaseline. I've tried to use a flat head screwdriver to no success. I put a sizeable amount of vaseline on the flat side of the screwdriver and stuck it in the largest opening of the primer and scraped it to the wall of the primer. This method did not work at all because all I achieved was a big mess of vaseline all over my screw driver and the primer head. The primer head was still hard to operate and I don't understand how putting some lubricant in only 2-3 accessible spots around the primer will lubricate the entire primer sealing ring. The other method of using a flat brush is just not doable since the vaseline is so thick it can't be brushed on correctly. The only method I could use to lubricate the primer ring was to open the cover and take out the primer head and to lube it by hand. By using this method I discovered that the ring was damaged to begin with. Note that it was *NOT ME* that broke it, it was already damaged to begin with and that is why the leaks were occurring before I opened the top cover.

I'm sorry if I am a bit upset and frustrated over this... I purchased exclusively an Eheim product thinking that Eheim was one of the best companies out there that made great quality products. I still believe that is true, but I have to question the customer service aspects of the company. I understand it is under your best intentions to have it so that users do not damage their units by repairing the filters themselves, but when you think about it.. it is more difficult to assemble the media baskets, filtering mesh media, and align the intake tubes, and to assemble the unit than it is to disassemble the top cover and replace the red sealing ring.

As of now, I'm running my 72 gallon freshwater fish tank with pretty expensive fish (Discus's) and plants in it with a "hang on back" filter made for a 10-30 gallon fish tank. I don't think this is good for my fish in the long run and it has been over 5 days already without a solution or a fix. I just might pay your outrageous charges and have it done myself since it is Christmas time and I don't want to stand in line at the post office for hours trying to ship this unit back to you and have to wait several weeks for the unit to be shipped back to me. I might as well do that and then go out and buy myself a new Fluval canister filter from Hagen, which is cheaper in price and from what I heard a pretty comparable unit (in quality) to Eheim's, than to wait around until my unit is fixed.

Again I am sorry that I can not accept your recommendation to ship back or pay the charges you have stated in your email response. I just simply would like for Eheim to ship me the spare part that I need (red primer gasket sealing ring) without having to pay the outrageous price for a repair job as simple as replacing the main sealing gasket. I feel sorry for all the Eheim users out there that are no longer under warranty for they have to pay these exorbitant charges to simply fix their filters.

Sincerely,

Jaime Lew

**Edited out Ernestos reply**

-----Original Message-----
From: Veith, Cornelia [mailto:Cornelia.Veith@eheim.de]
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 1:19 AM
To: ernesto@eheim.com
Subject: WG: Frage zu Spare parts



-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: formular@eheim.de [mailto:formular@eheim.de]
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 20. Dezember 2006 00:42
An: technik
Betreff: Frage zu Spare parts

Ich habe eine Frage zu dem Bereich Spare parts:

HI, my eheim 2126 pro2 thermo canister filter is leaking from two places.
The first leak is from between the top cover and the canister. I tried
re-seating the gasket but it still leaks. The second leak occurs inside the
top cover where the priming pump is located. I took apart the top cover and
found that the orange coloured O-ring has a break which is allowing the
rubber to expand too much thus allowing water to seep into the empty
cavity of the top cover. I bought my Eheim 2126 filter in June 2004 so it
should still be under warranty. I tried looking for the part numbers but
only found the part number for the gasket (7343150) but not the O-Ring.
Could you please send me the rubber gasket and the rubber O-ring so I can
promptly fix my filter. I tried contacting EheimParts.com and I have not
gotten a response in over 5 days and I tried calling you guys by telephone
but every time I call I seem to miss your hours of operation. I'm very
concerned for the livelihood of my aquarium fish. In the interim I have put
in a spare filter that came with a 10 gallon tank.. The output is not
adequate and it's been over 5 days. Please reply soon. Thank you. Note: I
tried to send a message using the "Contact us" link on your Eheim North
America website but i think it's broken.. There is no confirmation that the
message went through. The screen just flashes and you see the same screen
again with your message. Thank you
Jaime Lew
 
#14 ·
Pay for it and file a complaint at the BBB. It's not worth puting your fish at risk that they WILL NEVER pay for so just pay and fight for the money back afterward. You will be surprised how many companies fear the BBB when it comes to anything under a few hundred dollars.
 
#15 ·
Okay... Eheim is officially on my sh*t list... What a screwed up company that doesn't take care of it's customers... I'm never buying anything anymore from them. After I am done buying the replacement rings I am never going to buy from this company again. You can count me out of the eheim club. I'm so freaking p*ssed off right now.. Too bad I can't post their emails. Anyways... GAHHH!! >_<!!

I would suggest for the people out there that have Eheim filters to either find a backup filter to have in case your eheim goes out (cuz it will take weeks to get back) or buy spare parts to fix. In the case of "non-user serviceable" parts, I would write to the company or order your parts in advance.
 
#17 ·
Unfortunately there is no Part order number for the O-Ring. If you are still under warranty, You will have to contact them and get an RMA (return merchandise authorization) number to ship the unit to have it repaired. I'm not sure where their service center is. I'm assuming it is wherever their North American headquarters is located. Worst situation is that you have to send it to Germany.

I wonder if we can all put in a group order for these stupid O-rings and not have to pay the ripoff $12 shipping that they are charging. I contacted Ernesto who is the customer service rep dealing with my "situation" to send me payment instructions.
 
#20 ·
hehe Why not.. If it isn't under warranty anymore go right ahead and dismantle it. You will find that there isn't much "special" to these eheims.. I thought they were more complicated than that, but apparently it isn't. The top unit is two plastic shells clamped together to house the motor (which is waterproof sealed with some kind of resin). The motor sits on a mount with 4 posts with springs and that's it. When I get a chance to open it again after I receive my stupid O-Rings I'll dismantle it and take pictures for all of you to see, so that you don't "void" your warranty.:rolleyes:

Hey RB, you live just a few miles away from me... hehaha.. I live in El Cerrito.
 
#21 ·
okay this is getting stupider by the moment. Now Eheim says that they can't release the part to the consumer, which means no matter what, you are made to ship the entire unit to them in order for them to put the part back in. Freaking A*(@&^*&!!!!!!!!
 
#22 ·
What a bunch of crap,too bad you cant sic Micheal Finney on them.It`s
amazing how when a consumer problem gets on TV the companies suddenly
are able to make things right.There seems to be some problems with these
Pro II`s and with this poor customer service I think I might stick with Fluval.
Yeah,we`re practically neighbors,just down the road.
Rich B
 
#23 ·
Hmm, i finally make a switch to Eheim and now read all these problems! Hope I dont have problems with my new 2026. Anyhow, is this just a normal O-ring? I would think you could probably get something at the hardware store if its a standard size? For example, check out Buy O-Rings Online. Kalrez o-rings, Viton orings, Metric oring, Parker o-ring, custom o ring, Inventory, Great Prices, Expert Service. chemraz, epdm, silicone, fluorosilicone, neoprene, buna, teflon. Huge

I doubt Eheim has custom made o-rings fo em.
 
#24 ·
Thanks for the link. I was thinking the same thing too. I'll have to measure the O-ring and see if that place has it. I'll dismantle the unit again and take pics for you guys.. Maybe that will help you guys who are curious to know what that O-ring looks like.
 
#26 ·
Ok, Sorry I missed this thread! I've had this EXACT issue with my 2128 about a month ago.

While doing routine maintenance on my filter, I decided to address the un-lubricatable priming O-ring by opening the pump-head. when I put everything back together and restarted the filter, I had the delayed leaking problem, just as described!

After opening the filter back up, I realized that the priming aid's O-Ring was not seating properly. I think the problem was compounded by the very thing I intentionally applied - the lubricant!

The solution is not too difficult as long as the O-ring is completely intact. When you push the priming head down, the is a point where the O-ring is first exposed (where the water exits the filter). This is the weak point.

The O-ring is not very tight, so when the priming head is re-inserted, the O-ring bubbles out at this point, ruining the integrity of the seal, allowing water into the pump-head. Once the pump-head fills with water, it starts to leak.

The trick is to very carefully re-insert the primimg head and watch and guide the O-ring back in with it, making sure to pay particular attention to the "weak point." MAKE SURE THE O-RING DOES NOT BUBBLE OUT AT THIS POINT!!! If it is well lubricated and properly seated, it will be BETTER than the day you bought it.

I hope this helps...
 
#27 ·
Great thread and thanks for the heads up Jaime.:thumbsup: Good luck with this PITA. I have two 2128s myself, and I want to get around to looking at preventative maintenance. Of course Eheim won't know if I open up the top.:eek5:

It really is a good idea to keep at least one spare canister around of equal capacity for the eventual breakdown. I have one old XP3, but after reading this thread, I might get another backup. One for each tank. Maybe a Fluval this time. I'll be curious to find out the size of that priming O-ring too.
 
#28 · (Edited by Moderator)
And people talk poorly about Jebos.
lol.
Yeah I tried using Eheims CS once and had pretty much the same worthless responses.
I stated I needed the selant ring for a 2028 that was not included with the cannister when received.
they had the nerve to tell me to pay for the item. No. I think not.
If they don't stand behind their products then what makes their products any better then the knock off stuff you can get from other MFGs? Nothin. its a case where a MFG is so full of themselves they think they are better then their clients.
For this I will never buy one of their products.

oh and BTW. the Better buisness Bueru is worthless and has no jurisdiction over anyone. all they are is a reporting agency.
How many of you actually check the BBB before buying a product?
 
#29 ·
oh and BTW. the Better buisness Bueru is worthless and has no jurisdiction over anyone. all they are is a reporting agency.
How many of you actually check the BBB before buying a product?

I don't think many people use them, but I do all the time. I have been able to avoid several companies that had a record of not addressing customer complaints, and have been able to get several hundreds of dollars refunded, by reporting companies. Also if a company receives hundreds of complaints about unfair sales practices and or warrenty or refund issues the federal bureau will get involved and based and their results the company will go through a strict federal investigation and if unfair practices are found they file a class action lawsuit against the company. In the last 5 years I have received refunds for about 6 differt class actions law suits where the company had to pay up to 100 million in fines. The biggest problem is 65% of the fine goes directly to the Attorney and the consumer splits the rest of the money. (about $50 each suite)
 
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