Replacing a broken impeller shaft

After scoring a Rena XP3 from the GSAS auction, I went to take it apart and give it a good cleaning. Unfortunately at some point I broke the ceramic impeller shaft.   Rena wants $25 for a full impeller assembly replacement and they don't sell the shaft separately. Any suggestions?

I hate when companies do that. Though $25 will give you a long term fix....

I was in the same situation as you when my ceramic impeller shaft for my eheim canister filter broke while I was cleaning it (WHY in the world are they ceramic in the first place?! Geez... you'd think that something like stainless steel would be better... ugh).

Anyway, for the time being, I just used a BBQ scewer made out of bamboo, and I would just shave it down to size until the impeller itself would spin easily around it (keep in mind, that after a couple days/weeks, that the bamboo might swell up when it absorbs water, so don't forget to factor that in).

Or, use some other material that's lying around, that will temporarily work.

At least you can buy the Eheim shaft separately, at least you could on my 2217.

True.

I had ordered the shaft itself, unfortunately, the DAY before the shaft arrived, the motor of my eheim canister burned out (totally different problem... it lost its siphon for some reason, so the pump heated up and.. yeah.)

Now I'm stuck with a canister filter w/o a pump and a brand new impeller shaft. Hahaha!! Luckily I was able to use a different canister filter that was just laying around. =P

I still miss my eheim...

We have broken so many of the ceramic shafts its not even funny. John will take the impeller apart and set the darn thing down on the counter and have it roll off and hit the floor. Oopss...Now we keep a spare on hand for all our Eheims and Rena's (although what usually happens is we break one and use the spare and forget to replace it so thanks for reminding me to review my spare parts box).

Good luck and order TWO while you are at it.

cichlid-gal wrote:We have broken so many of the ceramic shafts its not even funny.  John will take the impeller apart and set the darn thing down on the counter and have it roll off and hit the floor.  Oopss...Now we keep a spare on hand for all our Eheims and Rena's (although what usually happens is we break one and use the spare and forget to replace it so thanks for reminding me to review my spare parts box).

Good luck and order TWO while you are at it.

See, I would love to order two impeller shafts, but I don't need 2 new impellers   The impeller I currently have is in great shape, so I'd hate to spend unneeded money. I'll have to try that skewer trick though, pretty smart thinking!

Ahhh...I see that most sites sell the combo only.  Planet rena site says you can't buy the shaft alone anymore...well that stinks. Using this pic for the parts number I can find some parts though:

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Planet rena still has a part (and this one is stainless steel) on the site but it says no longer available ... funny though you can add it to your cart.  Maybe give them a call?

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and frogflowaquatics has this one (but it doesn't mention the XP filters but the part number is the same

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again...maybe call them or contact them and ask the question. Worth a try

I wonder if carbon fiber rod cut to the right size would work? I acquired an eheim 2013 recently and promptly broke the impeller shaft of course. I gave it away after that, but before I did that I was thinking of ordering some CF rod of the same diameter as the ceramic shaft and cutting it to size. The bonus of course is that it would never break. The rubbing would do more damage to it than it would to a ceramic shaft though, I think. And you'd have to take calipers to it to make sure the diameter matches as closely as possible.

You could order one rod and cut a ton of them from it; it cuts pretty easy with a hack saw.

I bet you, those companies are sticking with ceramic material so that they get more business from us, since they are so brittle and break so easily, that we would have to shell out more money to replace those things, as opposed to keeping better quality impeller shafts such as the ones made out of stainless steel. That's probably why rena stopped selling the steel ones, because they're sturdier, and wouldn't need to be replaced. Heh. Business. =P

I like the carbon fiber idea, pbmax!

Assuming the pros and cons of ceramic vs stainless steel ball bearings are relevant here, it would seem that ceramic is lower friction and longer lasting (discounting people mucking with them).  Under ideal circumstances, the ceramic shaft would last longer than the steel shaft and produce less heat and noise during operation.

My exposure to material science is admittedly a bit narrow (one class that focused on semiconductor materials), so anyone that knows more should definitely chime in.   

I can say that from my experience, a carbon fiber shaft is definitely the worst of the 3 as far as friction goes.  Stainless steel rods of varying diameters can be found on ebay just as easily as CF rods, it seems.  And they're easier to cut without breaking or splitting too.  So all one needs is a pair of calipers, a hack saw, and an ebay account, it seems.  Paypal would probably help too...

Huh... I hadn't thought of that. I always thought that ceramic was terrible with friction because of how it's made.. then again, when I think of ceramic, I think if ceramic pots that are super rough... and not the smooth type like the impeller shafts are made.

Still..... =P

How about you lot sort out what impeller shafts are best, send em to me, and I'll test em out! Problem solved for everyone!


Especially me!

Check Amazon and eBay a lot of times you can find these types of pieces on there from old stock or salvaging old filters.