Osmolator pump problem

[ajm-vfr]

Hi

I just got a new Osmolator to use as a top off. When I got it I bucket tested it and it worked great. Last night I finished setting it up and connected everything for permanent setup. When I fired up the pump I got no water. I can hear the motor spinning, but I get no water. I did pull a siphon on the water and that got it working good and string, but once it shut off, the next time it kicked on I got nothing(although the pump is running)

My installation has the pump sitting in a 12 gallon reservoir below my sump(basement sump). I lift the water 5.5 feet to the sump. This works once the water is moving from syphon, but not by itself. It does not even take much of a syphon to get it started.

I am set to 9v, I saw from some of the other posts that people are running at 12v for high lifts.

What should I do?

Thanks

 

[rvitko]

It sounds like it just has an air bubble in it, tip it upside down and let the air out. I don't understand how you could create a siphon if the line ends above the pump?

 

[ajm-vfr]

I have tried that. Plus once I get it started I unplugged the power let it drain and sit for a minute, and then I plug it back in and it does not push water until I pull a siphon against it.

I should have explain the siphon better. I'm not actually creating a siphon, I putting the line in my mouth by leaning over the tank, and pulling pressure until I get a blast of water. It does not take much, only about a second of pressure. I have let the pump just run for a minute or 2 and it does not state the water, but once I get it going it has a great flow rate, so I know the pump can handle the height.

Thanks

 

[rvitko]

Are you sure the hose isn't kinked or the run is longer than the hose that was included? Is there any sort of check valve you added or anything that varies from the instructions? Can you see the impeller running inside the pump when it is on? Is the end of the hose touching the surface of the sump by chance?

 

[ajm-vfr]

The test was with the original hose, the install used a 3ft longer hose to get around to my preffered side of the sump, but when that did not work, I used the hose that came with it and ran to the near side of the sump(it's not ideal for me, but would be acceptable. The exact run is about 5ft up, about 3ft horizontal, and about 6 inches down to where it is attached to the sump. There are no kinks in the line, and I cannot find any creases or crushed areas.

I followed the direction exactly, and I added nothing. The only think I did was slip an extra 1/2 of a union over the water line and slide it to the pump to act as a weight. The pump seams to have a tendancy to not hang level. and I though that was from the hose still wanting to slightly coil from shipping.

The pump is in 18 inches of water, and the sump end is 1inch below the fram of the tank, and that puts it about 9 inches over the water in that chamber.

As far as is the impellor running, I just assumed it was becasue I could hear the pump humming, but I can actually look tonight when I get home.

Thanks

 

[ajm-vfr]

I got it working. Unfortunatly I don't know what I did. I think you where right about there maybe being air in the pump. I also did not jam the hose into the pump as hard.

My resivour is a drum that has an opening big enough for my arm, but when I am working on the pump underwater, I can't see what is going on, so I cannot tell you if a bubble of air was in there or not. After I reset the line and turned it over everything started working.

I was even able to use the longer line that I originally planned.

This system works great, it ran all night with no run alarms, and this morning the level was perfect. I evaporate about 2.5 gallons a day.

Thanks for your help

 

[Tampa Aquarium Service]

My pump sits in a 5 gallon jug. every time I swap out the jug the pump will drain and get an air bubble. All I do is to simply unplug the power cord from the main control box, then plug it back in.This will set the control box to briefly turn the pump on. I then just give the pump a couple of shakes and the air bubble will pass and water begins to flow into the sump.