Help needed to get my Eheim 2026 started

**octopus** · 23rd Apr 2011, 20:24

Purchased a used Eheim 2026 but unable to get it working. Dont know if it is due to air trap or other problem. There is some stirring sound from the cannister other than that no sign of water flow. The following is what i have done so far.

Fill Cannister with water.Place a pail of water above Cannister level with both inlet/outlet hose immersed in pail.

All the above but this time remove hose that was suppose to pump water from cannister to pail.

Also tried both the above with empty Cannister (No Water)

PS : All media and filter pads were removed from the media basket during testing.

Now that all else has failed, depending on fellow hobbyist advise. Alternatively any agent i could sent for repair?

**cheetf** · 24th Apr 2011, 15:37

Firstly fill the canister with water. If possible fill both the hoses with water too. Check that the lever at the top of the canister has been fully pushed down.

Next depress the round part of the top of the filter a few times to try to pump in water and push out the air. It's the primer.

Once the top part comes back to the original position. Start the filter and wait for the flow.

If that still does not happen you can try to put the canister on it's side. The filter should start to work. After that slowly angle off the filter to stand it up straight, so that any air bubbles trapped will be expelled.

**octopus** · 24th Apr 2011, 18:05

Originally Posted by cheetf

Firstly fill the canister with water. If possible fill both the hoses with water too. Check that the lever at the top of the canister has been fully pushed down.

Next depress the round part of the top of the filter a few times to try to pump in water and push out the air. It's the primer.

Once the top part comes back to the original position. Start the filter and wait for the flow.

If that still does not happen you can try to put the canister on it's side. The filter should start to work. After that slowly angle off the filter to stand it up straight, so that any air bubbles trapped will be expelled.

Thanks for the sharing but i have already screwed up! Got the inlet and outlet mixed up and switched on the filter. It resulted in a total silence. Thought motor burnt. But when dismantle to check found the impeller unable to make a full turn when turn by hand. The impeller was taken out and found to have a crack line. Dont know if this is the only damage though. Will try to change to a new impeller if it doesnt cost much and move on from there.

**em2kim** · 24th Apr 2011, 18:07

Bring the filter to a water tap point with flexible pipe, power on the filter and at the same time connect the inlet tube of the filter to the water tap pipe, then turn on the water tap until you see the water start to flow out from the filter's outlet point for about one minute. Power off filter and turn off water tap, make sure the inlet and outlet pipe of the filter are lock, no water is allow to escape from the filter. Bring the filter to your tank now and connect the inlet and outlet properly inside the tank under the water level, then power on the filter, it should work properly now.

**octopus** · 24th Apr 2011, 18:29

Originally Posted by em2kim

Bring the filter to a water tap point with flexible pipe, power on the filter and at the same time connect the inlet tube of the filter to the water tap pipe, then turn on the water tap until you see the water start to flow out from the filter's outlet point for about one minute. Power off filter and turn off water tap, make sure the inlet and outlet pipe of the filter are lock, no water is allow to escape from the filter. Bring the filter to your tank now and connect the inlet and outlet properly inside the tank under the water level, then power on the filter, it should work properly now.

Yes tried out this method but got the connection mixed up and pump kaput! See earlier posting. Nevertheless thanks for the sharing especially the part about locking the inlet and outlet before transfer to tank. Would have overlooked that if not for your reminder.

**sungod666** · 27th Apr 2011, 02:04

seems you have a primming problem. meaning you need to pump water into your Eheim and get water flowing in all the inlet and outlet before you can switch on the motor. As for worrying about motor burnt, no sweat here. Eheim pump can take lots of abuse beside there is a 2 or 3 year warranty for it. Qian Hu will service. I just set up 2 Eheim cannister recently and have 4 eheim pump. As for the impeller, it is massively expensive if you use back the Eheim one. cost 80 and up for your 1260 pump. maybe it is not a crack. put back and try again.

As for the inlet and outlet, quite straightforward. the big hose goes to the bottom(suck water from tank), small hose goeson top and spray the water back. once you got all the connection done, if you have a hose connected to a tap nearby, stick it into the big elbow pipe that suck water. pump water into it until you see water come out from your outlet pipe. air bubble will come out first than water. if no hose and tap nearby, you need to get another pump to pump water in. i use my spare dymax 2500 to get the 2026 running.

2026 cost more than you think, if you dont want to flood your floor and pluck out all your stressfully assembled outlet and inlet, i suggest you get 2 doubletap. one for the big hose, one for the small one. it will solve your next primming problem after your media cleaning. cost $90 for the big on and $70 for the small one. so unless necessary always get the 2080, well design and no priming problem, comes with a hand operated pump for priming and nice design for media servicing.

**cheetf** · 27th Apr 2011, 07:47

The 2080 is the worst eheim that I have ever used!

**sungod666** · 27th Apr 2011, 10:22

Why is that so? did yours breakdown?

**cheetf** · 27th Apr 2011, 10:24

Very sensitive to how you seat the seals. Not all that powerful. Amount of media that you can put in is little relevant to the size of that thing.

**sungod666** · 27th Apr 2011, 10:32

actually i have a 2080 together with two 2026. about the flowrate at 1700L/hr compare to 2400L/h is indeed a trade off for its design. But it does solve a lot of headaches compare to the 2026. If the tank is not 4 ft or over, 2080 will do the job minus the headaches. dont even need to buy doubletap. of course we are comparing Eheim models only right. there are other pond brands that are way better but the price is a few times Eheim. Actually the worst Eheim i used would be the Wet/Dry cannister filter. totally avoid

**cheetf** · 27th Apr 2011, 10:38

All depends on your needs. I rather use two 2028 or two 2026 to do the job. With a planted tank I can connect one side to a chiller and the other to a reactor plus a skimmer without having to worry about too much loss of out flow. Also I can clean the filters one at a time without worrying that I might totally kill off the bacteria in he tank. Between the two options I prefer the dual 2028 but due to the set up already done I just don't bother to change it.

By the way the 2026 also has hand primers but only good when new.