am I destroying my pumps?

So I just blew up my first pump. It makes a nasty grinding sound and doesn't pump any water. Did I do it by letting my veggie tank get too low and it wasn't always completely submerged? Or is it just a bad pump? It's a $40 dealie from Home Depot. If I can find the box I'll post the brand later.

Any recommendations on a replacement pump? I've been quite happy with my flowering room pump that I got at the hydro store. Ran me $30 and it's a Mini-Jet 606 from Marineland. It's smaller and much quieter than the big broken pump.

Submersable pumps need the water to cool. Keep your rez topped up in the future.

Vi

So I can run out and get another one from Home Despot? Just make sure it doesn't run semi-dry again?

Yes,

I'm a big water fountain person and I've had a few of my water pumps break and give the grind noise because water got low (damn cat keeps drinking the water fountain water.. that bitch ha) but yeah hit up home depot again for a pump. Just keep the water no less than 1 inch above top of the pump... enjoy and good luck!

I was in the hydro store buying nutes and the guy claimed that the Mini-Jet pumps are magnetic and that therefore you can run them dry a couple of times without destroying them. Don't know if he's just trying to sell his stuff over home despot or not. I did pick up another one from him as that pump was $10 cheaper than the Home Despot pump.

Despite that I'm going to try and not let it get too low again. I was trying to save on nute costs, but no point in that if I keep blowing pumps.

There is a pump that is called oxy jet that I quite like, it doesnt let it run dry however thats your job, it does however add oxygen into the water as it pumps which is handy

I think that was just an Outselling move... You might be able to let it run low a little longer but I wouldn't run the risk you know

that's pretty much what I thought of as well. He was probably just trying to sell me his stuff. The box claims that the motor is "thermally protected" and is "designed to prevent overheating under any conditions" but it also states that it has a minimum depth of immersion of 1.25"(3 cm).... I think I'll just draw a line on the reservoir about an inch above the thing and just always add a gallon more of water and nutes if it goes below the line.

I got 5 cats and ive been through 3 little cat water fountain things from the pet store, they drank the water so fast before i noticed they all burned out. boo hoo.

Sorry I have been thinking about this one and how I never get anywhere near to burning out a pump

1 how often is your pump on
2 is it on a timer

i switch my water pumps on manually but I only have them on for 1 min per day

pump runs 3x a day for 30 minutes each. I'm using this one on a drip irrigation setup for 12 plants.