[ua hua]

Tuesday morning I woke up and checked on my tank as I always do. I looked under the stand and noticed a little puddle of water and couldn't for the life of me figure out where it was coming from. After taking out everything from under the stand I narrowed it down to my Eheim filter. I couldn't see any leaks from around the pump head and filter housing but after a closer look I could see a small dribble from the pump head where the power cord comes out. I had an extra o-ring for the pump head and filter housing and replaced it. I also put my canister filter in a plastic tub just in case the leak was still happening. I didn't see any more water dripping so I thought the leak was fixed.

Well tonight after doing my weekly maintenance I saw that the little channel where the power cord comes out had water in it again. It was a little baffling to see it was still leaking even after putting on a new o-ring so I decided to do a little searching and found that this is a common problem where the primer o-ring goes bad. The only problem now is that Eheim doesn't make a replacement o-ring for the primer button. They want you to buy a whole new pump head. I was about ready to put this filter to bed as I have had it for awhile and already have a wet/dry on the tank also. The plan has been to replace my current sump and Eheim 2126 with a bigger sump sometime in the future (which may have come sooner than planned).

So with a little more browsing I find this link from the NJAGC that shows step by step instructions with how to replace the o-ring and where to get it from. I ordered the parts needed and will see how this works when I receive them. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this using the Eheim Pro II models but if you have I would like to hear.

Even if this does fix the problem I at least have an excuse to get the ball rolling on the new sump setup.

http://www.njagc.net/wp/filtration-...riming-o-ring-on-eheim-pro-ii-series-filters/

Edit: After searching around some more I found some very informative threads on here that are older where it seems quite a few others have had this problem. I have been very happy with my Eheim products and haven't had any major problems but with this many others having this same problem it seems to be a design flaw and at the very least Eheim should offer a replacement part rather than making you purchase the entire pump head.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=39650
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=43083

 

[exv152]

I too noticed my eheim 2026 pro II has had a bit of water, very little, leak out into the handle area where the power chord exists the pump head, but I haven’t done anything about it since it’s really small and I’m afraid if I open it up I may make the issue worse. Also, I got together with some guys here locally and did a group order a while back of primer o-rings from the same supplier http://www.atomicrice.com/. And it’s just been sitting there. I’m kind of torn as to whether I should leave it alone, fix it, or buy a new filter.

 

[ua hua]

I too noticed my eheim 2026 pro II has had a bit of water, very little, leak out into the handle area where the power chord exists the pump head, but I haven’t done anything about it since it’s really small and I’m afraid if I open it up I may make the issue worse. Also, I got together with some guys here locally and did a group order a while back of primer o-rings from the same supplier http://www.atomicrice.com/. And it’s just been sitting there. I’m kind of torn as to whether I should leave it alone, fix it, or buy a new filter.

Yes mine is also a very minimal leak but I don't want it to get any worse. It sounds like if you have an Eheim Pro II model filter that this will happen at some point if it hasn't already happened. After looking at the step by step instructions it doesn't look to be too difficult to fix. I will attempt the repair when my parts get here and if it doesn't fix it then I will have to find a new sump sooner than later. I still wish this part was available from Eheim. They know this is a common problem and don't offer this part but instead want you to buy a new pump head or ship it to them to repair a $5 part.

 

[JimB]

Eheim 2026 Leaking

My O-Ring for the primer failed big time. It lost a good size chunk and my kids said that it made a loud hiss when it happened. So it was gushing water out of the top of my filter. Nobody around me stocks anything for eheim filters. So my first thought was to take the O-Ring off the filter with me to Tractor Supply. Easy job takes maybe Two minutes to take the filter apart. I found a O-Ring replacement kit made by Omnifilter "safe clean water". It's for some kind of residential water filter. Model K4 is the kit it was like three dollars with tax and had four O-Rings and one looked like it may work. I told them at the checkout what I was trying to do and they said if it don't work for me to return it. So nothing to loose, I'd give it a shot. The O-Ring in the kit was not as thick as the one that failed so I knew It would require a Spacer behind it so it would seal. The primer is like a piston in a engine and the O-Ring is the piston ring that seals against the wall of the cylinder for any motorheads. So I stopped at the dollar store and grabbed a pack of rubber bands. I took one rubber band that fit the the groove on the primer the rubber band was about a 1/16th thick and filled the groove side to side perfect so the O-ring would sit over the rubberband and seal against the wall. Lubed with petrolem jelly and it went together real snug. No leaks and primed perfect so now I can order the O-Ring made by eheim and my tank should be ok till it arrives. I'm gonna go and get a classic next mo and use the 2026 as a spare. Maybe if they did it like a piston and used like three rings on the primer that were infused with something like graphite it wouldn't a issue with so many owners imo anyway cost me 4bucks and everyone is alive in my tank for the time being maybe this will help someone. Took me like a Hour to go find something that would work. I would only use this a crutch due to the rubber band would prob fail due to being soft multiple priming could tear it. I'm sure if I go back out I can find the correct size O-ring. Over 20 dollars for a 25 cent O-Ring is load of [email protected]*^. Eheim should give you a pack and charge under 2 dollars if you require more. It's their mistake why take advantage of the consumer.

 

[DBridges]

I used an Eheim Pro 2 for about two years, and it ended up doing the exact same things you describe. The large o-ring around the primer in the pump head was the culprit. Water would collect in the head and eventually come out exactly as you would describe.

I bought the o-ring from Atomic Rice, tried lubing things really well, etc. but nothing helped. I ended up buying a Fluval G6 and haven't looked back since.

David