Crazy amount of noise from overflow weir - Please Help

[mike.p]

The first time I turned my return pump on and heard the noise, I thought "Oh ****...the wife is NOT going to be happy with this". Luckily, I had already installed the ball valve and it took about an hour to really get it locked in, dead silent.

Well, in good news, you're absolutely right... Doing it that way, it really was dead silent. In bad news, to get it there, I had to restrict the lines to the point that it wasn't keeping up with the return pump. I spent a couple of hours playing with it, running the pump at different power settings, fiddling with the valves, etc. Just can't seem to get it balanced.

Do you have a pic of your setup, by chance? Any special trick you did? Thanks again!

 

[mike.p]

Why not increase the flow out of the pump? Seems like it's no different that valving the drains, but you're wanting more flow anyway.

Be very careful playing with the balance between the pump and the drains. If you are trying to close the valves such that the input to to tank is exactly the same as the output down the drain, that is a flood risk because you don't have an emergency drain. You really want the drain to be able to handle more flow than it does during normal operation so that a fluke obstruction like a chunk getting caught in the valve or just the buildup of film in the pipes doesn't tip the balance and cause a flood. Don't cut it too close, you need some wiggle room.

That's what I spent a few hours playing with today... And I can't seem to find that magic point. I got the overflow to where it was silent, but then it wasn't keeping up with the pump. Do you think cranking up the pump will take care of noise? I haven't taken it past 30% power yet.

Yeah, I'm definitely terrified of a flood. Once this part of the startup is done, and I move on to getting all the wiring ran properly and bundled up, I plan to add two float switches, wired to solenoids, that the pump will plug into. One will go inside the overflow, one will go into the tank. The idea is that, if either one goes to high, it will cutoff the pump. In case I'm asleep or at work, or whatever, when it happens. I know that can lead to the pump coming on and off in a loop and fry it but, I figure I'd rather buy a new pump than deal with a flood, ruined floor, and all my home theater stuff in that room. Heh.

As always, if you have any ideas on how I can get this stupid box to quiet down, I'm open to them. =) Thanks!

 

[JammyBirch]

-Put a valve on the drain from the overflow and dial it down a little. Get it so that the water level in the overflow box is JUST below the top of the little pipe but well above the larger diameter pipe.

It should now be completely silent. If you're getting a lot of noise from the teeth of the weir, you might need to dial up your return pump a little and increase the flow of the overflow. Every tank is different though.

Hope that helps!

This worked for me...you need to keep the drain pipe full so it doesn't flush.

 

[amps]

No pics but it does take some work. You have about 4" of play in the overflow box, just try to keep it dialed in to the point where it's balanced against the return pump. A gate valve makes it 100 times easier to adjust than a ball valve, just costs a lot more and harder to find.

The reason I mentioned trying to keep it below the smaller diameter piece of pipe is so that it acts a little like an emergency drain if the level starts to raise. The main pipe can accept the full flow until it gets a little restricted by algae or something, and then the level raises and starts to fall down the smaller pipe as well. Combined, they should be able to handle the full flow regardless of what happens.

 

[joaocdestro]

I've created a 50mm pipe overflow, very cheap and extreme quiet!!!
*better than my noisy manufactured Skimz Overflow

https://youtu.be/S6sUMp-D5jY