Need help troubleshooting MRC 3 Beckett skimmer

Engloid · Nov 5, 2012

I bought this thing a cpl years ago, and it's been working fine. Recently, all of a sudden, it has messed up. There are bery few bubbles in the reaction chamber, most are large and go straight to the top. It's not even enough to skim anything at all. The loud sucking sound that it usually makes is nonexistent. Water still can be adjusted with the gate valve, and enough that it will fill the chamber and overflow...so I'm assuming that the pump is still runnning enough volume and pressure to run this skimmer. I pulled the beckett and cleaned it...and no change. Pulled the riser tube, nothing in it. Gate valve is fine also. what else will cause this?

Oh, and I did email MRC, and the reply was lacking of any help at all. They basically said I should "start by using the correct pump," including a link to their reccomended pumps, even though mine has nearly identical specs. Actually, I think my pump WAS the one reccomended for the skimmer when it was made.

Hopefully, they will reply with some better info, but at this point, I'm not so sure I could reccomend these people, based on their customer support.

SLUF681 · Nov 5, 2012

Check the impeller in the pump and make sure that it's completely intact. I have an MR1 and when the impeller lost 2 out of 6 "arms" it did almost the same thing.

Wildman · Nov 6, 2012

I am not familiar with your skimmer but several types will get salt buildup in the air intake. I have to clean mine out about every six months.

Dapple · Nov 7, 2012

Clean the **** out of it and check the impeller.

SLUF681 · Nov 8, 2012

Alright Spencer, I just noticed that my skimmer was doing the exact same thing. Mine was due for a cleaning so I took it apart and gave everything a good wipe-down. No difference when I put it together. I removed the little gate valve that meters the air and it took off. I looked in the end OPPOSITE the air filter and there was salt built up into a near solid plug. I couldn't adjust the amount of air at all. I cleaned it out and put it back together and voila!