Way back in 2004 I sought help here in finding a low cost pump setup for my small (.2 acre) pond that I was trying to stock brook trout in. Everyone was very helpful and got me setup with a Gast 1532 1.5 cfm rotary vane compressor and a membrane diffuser for under $60 total. THANK YOU AGAIN!

Original thread here: http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=30338&page=1

Well, my pump burned out (not sure why), and I need a new one. I'm currently looking at two options for Gast diaphragm compressors: MAA-V109-HB or MAA-V156A-HB

The first one's specs can be viewed here, I can't find specs on the second model:

http://www.gastmfg.com/pdf/diaphragm/specsht/maa.pdf

The reason I ask about these pumps specifically is that I have a seller lined-up and it will likely be in the $50 range. The pumps are used. If they will work out I'll be happy to disclose the seller information to the group for others to capitalize on.

I'm not sure on the whole rotary vane vs. diaphragm thing, and I'm also not sure how well these pumps would perform in my situation. The pump would need to run from my garage to the pond less than 50'. Currently I use a garden hose and a membrane diffuser. Another concern that I have is power consumption. I recall that my old pump was considered good because it would output 1.5 cfm at only 45 watts. How do these stack up? Are these pumps intended to operate 24/7?

Thanks for any help you can provide as you can see I'm clueless. Feel free to ask follow-up questions if I haven't provided enough information. Thanks for any assistance that you can provide! I've lurked here for years and know that you're a great group!

I just found this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Thomas-Compressor-Va...=item27b166b690

Would that be a lot better?

I'm so clueless!

I just purchased that same Thomas compressor from the same seller. I have not hooked it up as I am still building my system. I have heard that Thomas are good pumps and reasonably cheap to rebuild. I know Gast are great as well.

Sorry I cannot help on the spec stuff !!

Thank you Mike. I wonder if you could provide an update once you hook it up. Did it come ready to use with capacitor and all wiring? How does it look? Did you get the one with the cooling fan attached to the bottom and the mounting bracket? I might just press the button on one of them. From the reading I've done here on that specific pump it seems like it will work good, I'm just concerned that it would be overkill for a single membrane diffuser. Maybe there's no such thing as overkill. Oh, last question, I swear, is it really loud? Thanks again!

Okay I didn't want to pass up the deal so I got the Thomas 2650 from ebay for $42.50 plus $21 for shipping. I'll report back here with how it works (if at all).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190394992245

Sorry I have not hooked it up yet and I see you bought one. Mine came with the mounting plate and I do not believe it has a cooling fan on the bottom. I need to test it to make sure it runs but I am confident it will as the seller had a lot of great feedback.

Got the new pump yesterday, hooked it up today. It's only a little bit louder than my old one (although it's twice the size). It pushes out twice or three times as much air. The surface boil is pretty intense. It's got to be close to maxing out the capacity of my membrane diffuser. I just ran it for about 5-10 minutes. Tomorrow I'll run it for 20, and double each day from there until I put it on a timer to only run at night. I've got trout in my pond so I don't want to mix the water in the heat of the day. I'm very happy with this purchase thus far. I'll try and get some pix up this weekend. Does anybody have any other tips as I get started re-mixing? With the amount of water those bubbles are moving I suspect I need to be careful to ease it in.

Oh no. I have about 5 hours total on this pump and now it's seizing up. If I move the fan blades a bit and turn it back on it will run for a while and then seize again. Is there anything I can do? I already contacted the ebay seller with the following: I'm not satisfied considering you
advertised it as "UNIT IS COMPLETE AND RUNS GREAT. THIS UNIT WAS USED VERY LITTLE AND HAS HUNDREDS OF HOURS OF LIFE LEFT!" What do you generally do in this situation?

Contact ebay and use the "buyers dispute" function.

this may be a silly question but i bought a a simular pump on ebay (2639) that i am going to hook up next weekend but a little unsure how to wire it. There are 4 wires coming out of the pump two are black and wired into the capacitor. The others are blue and brown. Does it matter which one is common and positive? if so which is which? sorry for the dumb question but not sure and do not want to mess up.

THanks

Not a dumb question at all BIG BRANDO! I had to look up that information myself.

The brown and blue are European standards. Brown is hot (i.e. red), blue is neutral. Leave the black wires connected to the capacitor as they are. Please post back here with the results of your pump.

I emailed the ebay dude and he told me to ship it back for a return (good news). I emailed him back with some questions first, as shipping is $20. Grrr.

Sounds like it may be running hot??? I have been looking at this same model pump, would be interested in the outcome you arrive at both with the solution and the sellers handling of things.

I got an anwser from the guy i bought the pump from and he said it did not matter which was it was wired. I wired it up and plumbed in a pressure guage and isolation valve. I ended up with the #2639 model and seems to work good. The pump will create up to 40 psi before the relief valve vents. Seems to put out at least double the air of my Thomas 5120S linear pump. I will be hooking up this weekend........will let you know how it goes.