Osmolator Universal 3155 Optical Sensor may not be working

[AGreyCrane]

I just got an Osmolator last week and the optical sensor does not seem to be working. When I plug it in it does not seem to think the water level is okay until the optical sensor almost completely submerged and about to trigger the backup float sensor. When the water lowers and and the pump comes on, it ends up staying on until the water pushes the float sensor up and the alarm comes on and cuts the pump off.

Is there a fix for this? Am I doing something wrong?

 

[theyangman]

Have you tried playing with it manually? Like moving the optical sensor up and down and seeing what the results are?

Take your float sensor off completely and play with the optical sensor only, see if you can get it to sense the water level properly without the float sensor interfering. Also give it a quick wipe down just in case as well?

 

[AGreyCrane]

Have you tried playing with it manually? Like moving the optical sensor up and down and seeing what the results are?

Take your float sensor off completely and play with the optical sensor only, see if you can get it to sense the water level properly without the float sensor interfering. Also give it a quick wipe down just in case as well?

That's a good idea I'll give it a try.

 

[theyangman]

I just installed mine actually last night and it was pretty easy, and worked right out of the box. Except that I didn't line mine up properly and it was dumping water into my sump until I lowered my optical sensor. It should have just the tip of the sensor submerged and it will turn off the pump.

 

[rvitko]

My best guess is the tank is small so the deliberate overfill of about 10 seconds is causing this. The manual describes how to turn the pump down on page 42 I believe. This will be necessary in most cases if less than 40 gallons of volume is present.

Other possibilities would be bubbles on the sensor will trick it, it only detects air vs water and bubbles tend to cling to the sensor when new. A rinse in hot soapy water will reduce this attraction. A siphon is also possible but unlikely if it is shut off before or at the float.

 

[AGreyCrane]

My best guess is the tank is small so the deliberate overfill of about 10 seconds is causing this. The manual describes how to turn the pump down on page 42 I believe. This will be necessary in most cases if less than 40 gallons of volume is present.

Other possibilities would be bubbles on the sensor will trick it, it only detects air vs water and bubbles tend to cling to the sensor when new. A rinse in hot soapy water will reduce this attraction. A siphon is also possible but unlikely if it is shut off before or at the float.

The unit is filling the return chamber on my sump, so the size for that chamber is roughly 10g, though the whole sump is 40. After the pump came on I timed out at least 30 seconds before the sensor was completely submerged and the pump was still running.

I unplugged it, and played with the positioning a bit so the sensor was just out of the water again. The level light blinked green, then the pump came on, then it cut off as expected at level. I'll continue monitoring to see how it goes.