Mistking Lacking Power

[AlexH1]

Hi guys, I've looked and googled a bunch but I'm lost because I cant seem to find an answer.

I've had a starter mistking pump for over 8 years, a couple of weeks ago the pump was failing to push the water up the tubing to the nozzles above my 4ft cage.
I did the usual, tried to prime it in case there was any air within the tubing which might be causing the issue, no success.
So I thought I'd retire the 8 year old pump and bought a replacement pump (pump only, not kit) from my local reptile store.

First week of having the new starter pump was great, the nozzles were misting again and I thought I had solved my problem.
However yesterday, one week of having the new pump, the same thing started to happen again...
Again I did the same thing, disconnected the tubing from the nozzles and tried priming it, even tried sucking the air out myself if there was any but the water wont make it up to the 4ft cage anymore. Water will dribble out if I lower the tubing, to where its basically on the floor.
Could it be the power supply? Am I missing something?
I even disconnected the timer and connected the pump to the main power supply to see if the timer was the issue for some reason but I had the same result, water dribbling out of the end of the tubing when it has been lowered to the floor.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Maybe one of you have had similar issues that you were able to resolve,

 

[MissSkittles]

I would try new tubing and maybe at least one new nozzle to use those out as being the cause. There might be some build up or something else in those which are preventing full flow.

 

[AlexH1]

Sorry for the slow reply. Had to order the tubing to give it a try.
Even with the new tubing the pump still seems to not give enough power to push the water up the tubing.

 

[nightanole]

I think you got clogged nozzles. Take a nozzle off and see if you have tons of flow.
All these misters are just glorified reverse osmosis booster pumps with a lizard sticker slapped on them.

And nozzles are universal and cheap.

https://www.ecologictechnologiesinc.com/misting_systems_misting_nozzles.html

It might be $20-30 to get a whole new set of nozzles. But im not wasting 2-3 hours trying to de clog 8-10 year old pieces of plastic.

 

[AlexH1]

I think you got clogged nozzles. Take a nozzle off and see if you have tons of flow.
All these misters are just glorified reverse osmosis booster pumps with a lizard sticker slapped on them.

And nozzles are universal and cheap.

https://www.ecologictechnologiesinc.com/misting_systems_misting_nozzles.html

It might be $20-30 to get a whole new set of nozzles. But im not wasting 2-3 hours trying to de clog 8-10 year old pieces of plastic.

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately the water is not even getting up to the nozzles.
Can't be the pump because I had bought a new one thinking that was the reason. Now I'm thinking it might be the power supply?

 

[nightanole]

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately the water is not even getting up to the nozzles.
Can't be the pump because I had bought a new one thinking that was the reason. Now I'm thinking it might be the power supply?

Its a membrane pump. So its basically a hydraulic jack. They are meant to produce low flow high pressure. I dont see how a line could clog to the point of stopping the pump. These are not fish tank squirters, they can very easily fill a car tire up with 60 psi of water.

I guess you could use a piece of spare tube and see if it flows out rather quickly. It should put out "gallons per minute". If its not free flowing at least 2 gallons a minute something is up.

 

[AlexH1]

Its a membrane pump. So its basically a hydraulic jack. They are meant to produce low flow high pressure. I dont see how a line could clog to the point of stopping the pump. These are not fish tank squirters, they can very easily fill a car tire up with 60 psi of water.

I guess you could use a piece of spare tube and see if it flows out rather quickly. It should put out "gallons per minute". If its not free flowing at least 2 gallons a minute something is up.

That's why I'm very confused. I had one running perfectly for 8 years. Then suddenly it was struggling, just wasn't pushing the water up the tubing to reach the nozzles.
I thought it was the pump, so I retired it. Got a new one, worked perfectly for a week and now the same thing. Unless I got really unlucky with the new pump, something else is causing the issue and I'm stuck...

 

[AlexH1]

 

[AlexH1]

Tried attaching a video to show.

 

[nightanole]

Ah what if we are going at it the wrong direction. What if its not sucking in water due to a clog in the pickup tube.
Again it should be shooting you in the face. We are talking a 2-3ft arc straight up easliy.

These are Aquatec 6800 clones. Full flow they should be able to fill a gallon jug every 30 seconds.

 

[AlexH1]

Ah what if we are going at it the wrong direction. What if its not sucking in water due to a clog in the pickup tube.
Again it should be shooting you in the face. We are talking a 2-3ft arc straight up easliy.

These are Aquatec 6800 clones. Full flow they should be able to fill a gallon jug every 30 seconds.

I replaced the tubing because of MissSkittles recommendation.
Unless, the issue lies within the pump? Maybe there's some debris after the pickup tube? So then its struggling to push it through the other end

I appreciate you trying to help me diagnose the issue

 

[Sticktongue]

I am betting it’s the power supply. I had a similar issue. Hooked it to a different power supply and fired right up. Oddly… my “bad one” started working again after about a week of leaving it off and hand misting. But I am pretty sure your power supply is the issue.

 

[AlexH1]

I am betting it’s the power supply. I had a similar issue. Hooked it to a different power supply and fired right up. Oddly… my “bad one” started working again after about a week of leaving it off and hand misting. But I am pretty sure your power supply is the issue.

I live in the UK, so getting mistking official parts is a pain and a lot I cant get my hands on without buying a new starter kit.
Do you think I could get a replacement power supply from amazon?

 

[AlexH1]

Just a quick update, I have taken apart the pump head to see if there was any debris possibly blocking the intake or output and I cant find anything.
The motor runs fine when I plug it in while disassembled, although I'm not sure if the motor is running fast enough as I have no knowledge on that part.

 

[MissSkittles]

Have you tried it on a different electric outlet?

 

[AlexH1]

Have you tried it on a different electric outlet?

I have, its currently plugged into an extension lead. I thought the issue might lie there, so I plugged it into a few of my wall outlets to test and I get the same result each time.

 

[MissSkittles]

This is a totally bizarre mystery that the same thing has happened even with a new system. One more suggestion - try reaching out to Mist King and see if they know what is going on. https://mistking.eu/ My single experience with them is that they were pretty prompt in a reply.

 

[AlexH1]

This is a totally bizarre mystery that the same thing has happened even with a new system. One more suggestion - try reaching out to Mist King and see if they know what is going on. https://mistking.eu/ My single experience with them is that they were pretty prompt in a reply.

I completely agree its bizarre.
I wish I could say the same about mistking's support team. I've contacted mistking.eu on two or three occasions with no reply.
I did get a reply from mistking.com but they weren't very helpful either. Instead of trying to help me diagnose the problem, they just felt the need to state that they do not sell pumps to distributes, only the kits. However pumps can be purchased directly through them... literally useless.

Here was my message to mistking.com:

I've had a mistking for over 8 years now and its great but recently it was lacking power.
I tried priming the pump but nothing worked.
So I ordered a replacement from my local store and for the first week the replacement starter pump worked great but now its lacking power again and will not spray out the nozzles.
Again I tried to prime the pump with no success. Please help me identify the problem, I've not had this issue in over 8 years. Could it be that I need a new power supply?

This was the reply I got back:

Alex,
We don’t sell pumps to any distributor on their own. Only in kits, pumps can only be purchased through us directly and all pumps purchased come with a power adapter

 

[nightanole]

Ill be honest, im pretty DIY. When my pump died, i just bought a RO booster pump used. It was an Aquatec. All you have to do is make sure the voltage matches what your mistking runs on. They can run on anything, 220 120 24vac 24dc, you name it. In my case it was pretty potato and just ran off of a lamp timer from the wall, it did not have a fancy controller with relays and stuff.

 

[Sticktongue]

I live in the UK, so getting mistking official parts is a pain and a lot I cant get my hands on without buying a new starter kit.
Do you think I could get a replacement power supply from amazon?

yes you can. Look at the sticker, it’ll give you the amperage and all that. You can rake the info from the sticker and google it. I think online it was like $50 bucks or something for the power supply. Can’t remember. As long as it’s the right output, and connector, you should be fine.