Osmolator help !!

[Mrs Fish]

So .. I battled my way through the osmolator instructions, assembled the mounts and installed the two sensors. Plugged everything in and it worked perfectly, filling to the level ... and then light went to green and the pump turned off.

Yay!!!

But then ... sometime about an hour later - and sometime after I had topped up the 5g reservoir bucket to almost full ... it decided to start pumping again. Fortunately I noticed before it reached the top sensor level (but I guess I should have left it to check the top sensor was working!!)

My question:

Since the water level was over the fill sensor .. why did it start pumping more water?

I tried testing it, and switching the reservoir bucket out for one slightly fuller .. but below the water line in the sump and of the outlet pipe.

From that point onward, the pump repeatedly went to, then off .. several times until it got to about an inch above where the water level should have been - at that point, I unplugged it.

Can someone help with why it does this!!

Thanks!

Mrs Fish (Sue)

 

[rvitko]

Do you have a lot of micro bubbles? The sensor cannot tell the difference between air bubbles and just being in the air. Plastic is made from oil and it repels water, just like oil. It really prefers to have air stick to it. When they are brand new it takes very little air to make a problem, as the plastic is "seasoned" from use this dissipates but if you have lots of air bubbles you will need to solve this issue or move the sensors. To quick "season" the plastic, you can rinse the sensor in hot soapy water. Just be sure to throuoghly rinse the soap off, by hot I mean as hot as you can handle on your bare hands, not boiling or excessive.

 

[Mrs Fish]

I will try what you recommend. I don't have lots of microbubbles .. but will try seasoning the sensor and moving it. It is in the same compartment as the skimmer, so it's possible that the skimmer return is generating bubbles. I can move it if need be. Thanks .. I will ask again if there are still problems!

Sue (Mrs Fish)

 

[owsi]

I own 3, and all 3 did this the first day. I just wiped with finger a few times the first 24 hours a they work flawlessly after that, one for 3 years now.

 

[crumbletop]

[welcome]

One other thing to check: Make sure the water outlet from the osmolator pump is _above_ the top water line in the RO/DI reservoir. If it is not, you will get a slow siphon of water from the topoff bucket to the sump/tank.