How many of you guys have had problems with your electric fuel pumps? I'm on # 2. The first was a Mark X, the current on is a Hangar 9. Both worked trouble free for a while, and then are non stop problems after being in service for only a few months. I am using the Du-Bro fueler on the plastic fuel bottle. All the tubing is in good shape. What goes? Any ideas?

Thanks!

Lots of people (me included) have given up on them and gone to hand pumps. But then, others swear by them.

Seems like most people where I fly have no trouble with their electrics. Maybe they just change them out without mention. Perhaps it's a matter of getting a good one and they last for years. I don't know, except I am going manual for a while! Thanks for your response Mike!

I'm on my 5th year with my pump and have had no problems and I don't do anything special to maintain it. It's just a basic Hobbico. I'm not sure what the magic is but I guess I can count myself lucky.

HI, I HAD THE LOWER $$ ELECTRIC PUMP THAT ONLY LASTED FOR ABOUT 1 SEASON BEFORE IT STARTED PUTTING MORE FUEL ON THE GROUND THAN IN THE PLANE. I WENT TO A SUPER X ELECTRIC AND NEVER LOOKED BACK - GOING ON THREE TO FOUR YEARS NOW, BUT I ALWAYS MAKE SURE TO RUN THE PUMP BACK INTO THE JUG WHEN FINISHED FLYING FOR THE DAY. THIS MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE REASON IT HAS LASTED - KEEPS THE FUEL FROM SITTING IN THE PUMP AND WEARING THE O-RINGS ETC. - THEORY ONLY. JUST A SUGGESTION.

My latest electric pump was a Hangar 9 which has a 2 yr. warranty. When I called them, they were more than happy to receive it on return and send a replacement. They stated that they only infrequently have them returned as defective. So we shall see how long the next one lasts, unless I decide to just stay with the manual pump. You gotta wonder how many RC'ers are buying the Slimline pumps for $45-?

I had 3 burn out to me before I bought a Sonicstronic pump.

The cause of failure was overheating (pumped too much fuel) that caused a wire to melt and break on the armature.

If the sonicstronic pump fails, I have a 6 dollar windshield washer pump from walmart to take its place.

(All-caps text is very difficult to read.)

Running the pump dry certainly helps. If you use the coiled fuel tubing it's also a good idea to draw the fuel out of these as well - this *will* prolong its useful life.

I've gone to manual. Only because I set up my starter with a self contained battery pack and no longer need to drag a 12 volt around.

Any field charging I do is with a Super Nova off the car battery.
Dennis-

I always use electrics becasue they are so handy. the only pr9oblem with them is that they stopp running right after the warranty runs out (three in a row so far) but for $14 for a hobbico, who cares. if nothing else, i have learned to gravity feed my planes fuel just in case

I have purchased the most expensive and the cheapest pumps, none have lasted over 60 days. Don't know what I am doing wrong either. One can ware out an arm trying to fill a 33+% plane with a hand pump. I guess I'll just keep spending the $$'s. I ALWAYS keep 2 new ones in the box. I have had to go home to many times in the past due to Electric pump failures.

I have had very good luck with slimline pumps. I have had two of them in use for three years without a single problem.

hobbico makes a cheap pump that works pretty well. my first one went out 4 days after the warranty expired, (go figure) but the replacement hobbico pump i got is going on 2 years now, with no signs of slowing down. what you have to do is make sure to run the pump dry before you shut it off, or the nitro will eat the pump from the inside out and your pump will die a horrible death with lots of pain as the nitro eats it's innards alive and finally can be seen oozing out of the pump casing taking it's disolved and now gooey endtrails with it. mwwahhhaaahaahaaahaahhhaaaha! you wouldn't want to do that to your poor defenseless little pump now would you?

I've been using a H9 manual pump now for the summer and no problems. I plan on using it for a while now to see what kind of longevity I get from it.

My old Dave Brown manual pumps have worked perfectly for about 20 years now....keep one on each of two cans of different fuel. Rebuild kits available too if you wear out the innards!

Clair