We have a 3 year old Aspen mini aqua pump that sits inside the wall near the ceiling a few inches above our Daikin mini split. The unit had been off for 6 months. When we turned it back on, the pump which has always been annoyingly noisy had gotten so loud we had to turn the unit off. We cleaned the coil, pan, blower fan, pump reservoir and filter and replaced all the tubing. The unit is cooling fine but the pump is still loud and it's not moving any water. Afraid it might be damaged, we turned off the breaker. The first pump also died after 3 years and the pan overflowed all over the furniture. Rectorseal (US distributor) says the pumps should last a lot longer.

Thinking maybe the pump is clogged from sitting for 6 months, we disconnected it from the drain line to test it. We ran a 6" hose from the pump outlet making sure the end of the hose was above the pan so it wouldn't siphon. Turning the breaker back on, with no water yet in the reservoir and the float all the way down, the pump started up immediately, ran very loudly and wouldn't shut off. After adding water, it did the same thing and did not pump any water. When we reconnected it to the drain line, it didn't turn on until the float was raised and wasn't as noisy but still wouldn't pump any water.

Are we doing something wrong? Is the drain line clogged or the pump is worn out or is it something else? If it is dead, any ideas on what might be killing it prematurely?

Thanks for your help,

Sue