Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My Otto air pump is only working one side, I have changed the air lines over and still same side of pump works so no blocks, any idea's
NFI on Model, is one from BYAP

I know exactly what that is Nocky....

There are tiny little flapper valves in side, one for each side that act as a one way valve. it's basically a thin piece of rubber/plastic thats about 1cm long, by 0.5cm wide. The supplier of course won;t sell us those tiny pieces, you have to buy a complete internal unit with all the rubber bellows, metal, plastic etc, when in reality it's the tiniest little piece of flimsy plastic that needs replacing.

We replaced a few here with a tiny bit of a plastic bag and they still work well...

I'd take a pic to show you what I mean but I left the camera at home.

YUP, mine did the same thing. i used a thick dish washing glove as i had nothing that was flexible enough in plastic.
very easy to fix. dont spend the $$$

be handy if you can EB, I have a spare but not Battery Backup

Cool found the spare camera..

Unplug the air pump at the wall and get your licensed electrician to open it for you..

This is the internal bit that does the actual pumping, and these are the only replacement part available as a whole unit. There's only the one screw that holds this unit in, as circled in red.



Lift the rubber bit up and underneath you will find the spot where the little one way flapper valve is.



With a small screwdriver you can leaver out the the little black rubber stopper. Now undo the other side and have a look at the one that works, you will see the small rubber flap held in place by the black stopper, you may even see it on the broken side, generally the flapper splits along the edge of the black stopper.

So now if you can cut out a similar sized piece of rubber or thick plastic and replace it, your laughing.... As Steve said, dishwashing glove sounds like a good idea.

Thanks Steve and Joel, does the plastic have to be an exact fit or oversize? your photo shop skills are as good as mine Joel well you have neater circles

no worries see how it fits, lucky one side was ok to use as template, pain in the arse trying to cut them out though, but fixed, amazing such a small thing causes so much trouble, and the supplier should have them as spares, as for the licensed electrician still waiting for the one to come from 5 years ago, lucky had a mate in city come down or beer shed still wouldn't have power, disaster

I have managed in the past to purchase those little flappers from local aquarium shops. most airpumps run very similar internals, and sometimes if you take yours in, they can find something that will fit. certainly the diaphragms are easy enough to source, and I've had more of those wear our that the little flappers.

the flappers weren't that bad to cut out for someone with better eyes than me, I think the rubber glove or industrial plastic will last longer than the ones that came with it

Good to hear Nocky...

Yeah I think they plan for the fact that the little rubber will go and then you'll buy a whole internal mechanism.. I know we replaced a few for people before we pulled it apart and found the little flapper.

Another source of material is silicon patty pans (cupcake moulds) . I found some thin ones in Woolies - $10 for 8 and the bottom is perfect for replacing diaphragms in my AC-004 and AC-012 piston air pumps, so they would probably work in your OTTO.

Will try and get a photo tonight.

Nigel this is just a flapper no bigger than this with legs
Have tested pump and one side pumps more than the other so what have I *frack* ed up?

OK, would probably still work though - just cut out the size you want - the diaphragms on the piston pumps are about 30-40mm.

Perhaps whatever you used is more stiff than the previous material????

Comon Nocky, it's not a tractor, use some care hey