I'm debating whether to take some US aquarium pumps with me to Australia and run them on a converter (these are regular 2 outlet pumps, not a bigger blower). The pumps are all 120 volts and 60 cycles. Australia runs 240 volts and 50 cycles. The converter will fix the volts, but not the cycles. What I am wondering is whether the difference in cycles will essentially cause the pump's lifespan to be significantly shortened or not. For some electrical stuff the answer seems clearly yes, but it's not clear whether that would be true for an aquarium pump. Figured it was worth asking here just in case someone knowledgeable had some thoughts on it.
Cheers
Peter
any electricians?
Started by
Guest_AussiePeter_*
, Jan 10 2013 09:42 PM
4 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_don212_*
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Posted 10 January 2013 - 09:47 PM
not an electrician, but if it's single phase; which i'm sure it is i believe it will just run slower, ess output
#3
Guest_EricaWieser_*
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Posted 10 January 2013 - 10:42 PM
It is so not worth the shipping. Replacement pumps are cheap. Just today I got in two 1300 gph wavemakers (useful because they rotate automatically and have both suction cup and magnetic mounting) for $25 total including shipping. Once you get to Australia I can't imagine that the cost of replacing your pumps would be very high.
#4
Guest_Skipjack_*
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Posted 11 January 2013 - 12:30 AM
If we were talking compressors, then it would be a problem. Aquarium pumps have little resistance, and could likely run fine with the reduced cycles. That said, I would scrap them, and buy a proper pump. No sense in the worry, or losing fish. Also there will be some loss of efficiency due to the converter.
#5
Guest_AussiePeter_*
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Posted 11 January 2013 - 07:35 AM
Everything is significantly more expensive in Australia.
A quick look for a twin outlet pump finds Fluval Aquarium Air Pump Q2, $62 plus 8.50 for shipping in Australia, 26 + 8 shipping in the USA.
That's just based on a very quick search. So I can either take four pumps I already own, or buy 4 for 280...I'm sure I could find better prices, but that is probably fairly representative.
I figure though as skipjack said that it takes very little to run a pump, thus the change in cycles won't be as important as compared to say a vacuum cleaner (to use an extreme example!).
Thanks for the feedback so far everyone.
Cheers
Peter
A quick look for a twin outlet pump finds Fluval Aquarium Air Pump Q2, $62 plus 8.50 for shipping in Australia, 26 + 8 shipping in the USA.
That's just based on a very quick search. So I can either take four pumps I already own, or buy 4 for 280...I'm sure I could find better prices, but that is probably fairly representative.
I figure though as skipjack said that it takes very little to run a pump, thus the change in cycles won't be as important as compared to say a vacuum cleaner (to use an extreme example!).
Thanks for the feedback so far everyone.
Cheers
Peter
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