Shielding a Magnetic drive pump?
 

I just got a Rio 1100 pump and the mag drive is intefering with my monitor. Whats the best way to shield the pump?

For effective magnetic shielding you have to use something like an iron-nickel alloy or mumetal to construct a box to put it in.

If it's an EMI/RFI problem, then you can put it in a copper or copper plated enclosure (basically a Faraday cage). If the EMI/RFI is the problem and it's reaching your monitor through the power connections, then you have to put filters on the power to pump or run it off a seperately filtered supply.

But a far easier way is to move you monitor farther away ;)

I tried moving the monitor and the pump doesnt intefere with it at a distance of 1/2 metre, but moving the monitor isnt practical (niether is moving the case really)

Don't have any pictures handy at the moment, but what I did was install my offending pump in an old, disused, steel AT case. Just ran the wires and water lines out of all the old connector holes, it substantially cut down on the EMI. Sadly, most but not all.

I was reading some time back about somebody that was using a conductive spray-on product to acheive the same shielding effect. Is that somebody around here?

Is this a problem many people are having?
I also read a post concerning EMI w/ the AGP card...

I seriously doubt it would impact the AGP. I have never seen it in any of my rigs and I have a Danner 5 about an inch from my vid. card. The problem is harmonic dissonance between the electrons in your monitor and the field your pump produces. This occures when the pump is opperating at 60Hz (default in the US) and the monitor at or above this resolution.

Use sheilded pumps like Eheims if you monitor is that close.

Otherwise sheilding will be a PITA.

Pirate - notice also that when he moved his pump > 1/2 meter away the problem went away. Most people wouldn't have the pump that close with a tower system on the floor and the monitor on a desk/table ;)

So I see, but I was mainly asking about a post in another thread that said that the pump may interfere w/ the graphics card's ability to run games at certain resolutions.

Buy eheim.

Great. I did... it's not here yet, though. :(

I never had the problem, and my rio 1400 is 2 inches away from my vid card... maybe it has something to do with the filter on the monitor.. Mine has one, and i get NO emi.

Before you delve into shielding, try floating the ground and or changing the AC polarity on the pump.

No ground on a rio

I wasn't sure about the ground on the 1100. I have only used 600 and 800 Rios. The AC polarity swap may solve the problem.

I`ll try it when I get a chance over the weekend.

I have an EMI shielding spray which I purchased to reduce the EMI emission which causes waves in the monitor. I am going to test it on my Danner pump. The problem is this: I am on my third inlte/outlet housing for this pump. IT is absolutely the worst engineered piece of sh#t I have ever come across in my entire life. When inserting a 1/2in male fitting into the pump, it exerts pressure on the plastic housing outward and the plastic splits. If you don't exert enough pressure (to prevent the housing from breaking), it leaks. This pump would be by far the best watercooling pump available if it didn't have this shoddy housing. I do not know how this coating performs under water which is as of right now, the ONLY way a Danner pump can be used without leakage and/or housing breakage problems. I am waiting on another housing. Once I receive it, I will spray it and give you guys an update on how it works.

Put a hose clamp around the Danner inlet to eliminate cracking.

i have the danner 5 i found that and old 3.5" drive rack will fit right over the top (the one i got is steel) I haven't put it into action yet, but i will let you guys know if i get problems. i also tacked on some 1/4" foam pad around the drive cage. what do you recommend to seal the pump housing. i was thinking silicone or plumbers goop.

ambient, plumbers goop will work great for that.

Mr. Thompson: I believe a hose clamp and goop would seal the housing. However, my opinion is this: When running water around an electrically powered system, you don't want to worry about a shoddy plastic housing being held together by a hose clamp. The only reason one should add a hose clamp is for precautionary reasons. Not to keep it from bursting. That is why I will not run this in my computer inline. As a submersible pump, the Mag5/7 are fantastic pumps.

i got this stuff called power epoxy from menards rated to glue just about anything together. it's rated for tems from -50 to 200+ and says it even drys underwater. i think i will give the pump housing a couple of coats before putting it together, maybe this will help it not to burst? I'm gonning to be running it inline.

I would not bother coating the impeller housing with epoxy. The two problem areas are the inlet and over tightening the screws. A hose clamp will keep the inlet from cracking. Using plumber’s goop or silicone to enhance the O-ring seal and going easy with the screwdriver will take care of any potential leaks.

With these simple precautions, I have used Danners inline with no problems. The local koi shop has lots of Danner inline installations, again with no problems. Note they don't seal the pump with silicone goop or use a hose clamp on the inlet. Not being overclockers, my guess is they have fewer tendencies to over tighten fittings. ;)

I've taken it off a couple of times, and I don't think I have over tightened it when putting it back on. Should I even bother with the goop and just try it straight first. You said you've been using danners inline for a long time, have you had to seal everyone or just some?

There is a reason that almost every site that sells Danner pumps also sells replacement inlet/outlet housings. That is because aquarium userse too have experienced the same problems everyone else has with these and that is breakage.

Here is a link to a message board that experienced reef/aquarium users discuss water pumps and which ones they are using.
It is a great read since these are guys who have been using water pumps for years and since most of us (including myself) know very little about their reliability and performance.

http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...001/12/2/49580

They mention alot about pumps that are probably too powerful for pc watercooling. However, alot of them mention using Ehiem's which are in the same power category as Mag Drives. Sad to say not once in this long discussion did anyone even mention or suggest using a mag drive. Either way, if you want to see what these guys are using, read up. I know I learned alot.

Yeah I'll check it out. Thanks. I also have another lucky resource, my brother works for A World of Fish. We both have reef tanks setup. He doesn't really dig ehiems that much or mag drives. He thinks I should buy little giant, but I just don't got the loot ;).