My Vortex is well over 10 years old, I just add a few drops of oil before every use and have never had a problems with the motor. As a matter of fact, mine was knocked into a saltwater tank while running by my then 5 year old daughter, that was in 1997-1998 I think and even after that I have had no problems with it. It was in the tank for a few minutes too while she tried to decide if she should get me or run away from home.Jgray152;1839448; said:Could also hook up a whole house filter with a 5 micron cartridge to your filter output or add another pump like the quiet one pumps which would last a lot longer than the Vortex crap.