# Leaking XP3



## Jonney_boy (Apr 28, 2010)

Came home from work today to find a fun little suprise in my basement.... the 100gal tank was almost 2" low on water..... and I topped it up last night!


so.... running to the back of the tank, I see the problem. One of the XP3 has decided to spring a leak.

The problem is that I don't understand "how" it is leaking. It seems the powerhead is "full" of water and the water is running out from the electrical cord!. The "head gasket is perfectly fine.


Also when you use the quick disconnect and disconnect the hoses, that entier area is full of water... which is also very wierd.


in the mean time, i've transfered the media to another filter (unfortunally smaller) and taken that xp3 offline. Untill I can find out why i'm not planning to use it again.. can't afford a flood.

Anybody know what could be causing the leak?


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

I think Rena has an answer to that. I don't have the link any more, google or unless some one here can provide an answer.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

i've had this happen with an xp model, what fixed it for me was 1 layer of electrical tape on each of the quick release tabs to hold it tighter and some vaseline around the gasket (was pretty dry and dirty). On top of that i really put a lot of downward pressure on the quick release when im reconnecting it. Make sure you clean the out the powerhead portion well, i ran filter flossed through all the channels.

It only happened once, and i only vaselined the one time aswell, every time i connect the power head up after a cleaning i make sure the electrical cord has a drip loop over a yogurt container and i check every half hour to ensure it sealed properly


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## Maxxxboost (Jun 29, 2010)

Maybe the o-ring needs replacing?
maybe try teflon tape as a temp and try running it and see if any water is coming from the cord.


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## beN (Apr 21, 2010)

when you re-fill it..

do you fill it manually or do you let it fill by itself??


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## Jonney_boy (Apr 28, 2010)

Let it fill by itself.

The funny thing was that I have 3 canisters on that tank... and I had serviced the other 2 the night before. The one that leaked was the one I didn't touch?!!

I will defently take the filter appart and give it a good cleaning to see what needs to be replaced. The filter is only about 2 years old now... kinda scarry honstly... if that leak was a bit faster It would have been a huge mess.....

Just curious, do any of the other canister filters in this size have a "common" leaking problem?


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## beN (Apr 21, 2010)

i dont know

i do know that xps are common for this.


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## Prelude2Life (Jun 22, 2010)

Yep had this issue right out the box. So i took it back and got a new one and it was perfect. If you want to replace the O rings great but also i would wrap the valves with the O rings 4 times with teflon tape and your good to go. Also what i would do is put your filter in some sorta 3 inch deep dish. Grab a stick on hook from the dollar store or something to keep the wire against the outside of the canister so the water will just trickle down the outside into the dish in case this happends again. Canister filters... pretty to look at... scary to think about.


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## DR1V3N (Apr 22, 2010)

Link to another forum with the same symptoms you just described:

Rena xp3 leak.

Seems to be an inherent problem with the intake/outflow quick release design. I never experienced this with mine though but I had mine for just over a year.

Why don't you run it in a dish in good lighting to confirm where the leak is. After that some silicon / teflon tape should fix the problem.


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## DR1V3N (Apr 22, 2010)

And this one on planetrena.com (is that legit  lol?) points at the o-rings as well so i guess you should try both solutions if one doesn't fix the problem.

Top question:

Most Frequent Filstar FAQ's


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## t-bore (Apr 21, 2010)

My XP3 did the exact same thing. Take one of the o-rings off go to home harware and get 2 new ones(I think I paid 29 cents each) and viola all is good!


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## logan22 (Sep 6, 2010)

this really freaks me out..considering i have an xp3 running right now ...on my 90 gallon.. lol paranoid feeling sets in!!"


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## bettafrenzy (Jan 15, 2011)

My xp3 did this too, I had to adjust the filter so the intake/output system had no stress on the fittings, so the quick release was sitting nicely on top of the filter. I cleaned the o rings and put together and haven't had the issue since.
I beleive my problem was that when the hoses were coming out of the top of the filter, they were angled and putting pressure on the quick connect causing the leak. I beleive I did find lots of info on the web regarding.
kara


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## Prelude2Life (Jun 22, 2010)

Dont think theres a reason to be scared. Just maintance kinda like on a car/pc/freezer? I saw these soft rubber buckets at a liqudation center by my house that i think would perfectly fit under the filter incase soemthing did happen.


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