Silent and Failsafe Overflow System

baharcourt said:
Our siphon is not siphoning on its own. We just started up the system and everytime we shut it off we have to prime the siphon. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Check how far your pipe on your primary siphon is under the water in your sump. If its too deep it cant overcome the pressure needed to push the air out the bottom and you just get a gurgle:lol: pipe rather than a siphon.
For me my sweet spot was about 15mm, when i first put it in it was about 3 inches and didnt have a snowballs chance of starting.

My bet would be that this is the problem, however also check:


Make sure you haven't got any air leaks either (cap on top of the tee sealed either with teflon (plumbers) tape if its a screw in or screw on, or if its a press on a bit of silicone) also at the elbow that connects to the tee piece on the inside of the wier, make sure its nice and snug.
 
sabbath said:
Does it matter if the drains go straight down without Any 45's? I'm thinking of sliding the sump all the way back and under the the external box.
Thanks
Click to expand...


You should be fine, with one note: If the water falls perfectly down the center of the open channel, it can make a splashing sound. Slightly leaning the standpipe, or putting a 45 above neat the bottom may help.
 
Ok a bit of help here

What size should my overflow box be? I have the length 38 inches and depth 4inches, but the height eludes me. What size should the sides be in relation to the size of the wire? The pic below is of the current setup, did I drill the holes to low? he center of each hole sits at the 2 1/2 inch mark from the bottom of the trim (outside of tank) to the center of the hole.
IMAG0485_zps3af05312.jpg

The other pictures are of the tee's and what not.
IMAG0458_zpsf5a4a48e.jpg

Cut down the bushings for a flush fit.
IMAG0455_zpscc438ca0.jpg

IMAG0456_zpsf0d138fe.jpg

IMAG0465_zps31e0e00a.jpg

Finished product on the sanitation tee's
IMAG0462_zpse747c101.jpg

IMAG0463_zps7f4e9678.jpg


I will cut down the 1inch elbows a bit to try and keep down the size of the overflow box, and I plan on using the bulkhead that is a bit lower as the siphon, with the one on the far left in the photos as the emergency drain.

Please all comments are welcomed and encouraged, i do not want to watse money redoing any oart of this project.

P.S. I am following Bean's desogn to the tee.....pun intended:lmao:
 
BeanAnimal said:
The bottom of the overflow box should be slighly below the bottom (maybe a 1/2") of the down turned elbows.
Click to expand...

Thank you sir, I will take a new measurement after I trim the elbow down, then order the glass. How much lower should the front of the weir be than the sides 1/4, 1/2, or is it a personal preference for water level issue?




Sent from my iPad using appendages!
 
Hi everyone,
I've made this fail safe and silent overflow and today I water tested it.
One thing different I did was put a ball valve only on the main drain.
It has a lot of noise, especially from the drain with the airline.
What can I do to decrease or eliminate it?
Do I need a ball valve on the airline drain
My DT is in the living and sump in the basement and the single ball valve is just above the sump.
Here's a video link to what I'm asking help with.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9t7n416dnrqur8y/Video Feb 11, 10 51 18.mov
Please help.
Thank you!
 
Last edited:
deaclauderdale said:
Thank you sir, I will take a new measurement after I trim the elbow down, then order the glass. How much lower should the front of the weir be than the sides 1/4, 1/2, or is it a personal preference for water level issue?




Sent from my iPad using appendages!
Click to expand...

Personal preference, but I prefer to put the top adge of the weir at the bottom edge of the trim so that the waterline is always hidden.
 
awais98 said:
Hi everyone,
I've made this fail safe and silent overflow and today I water tested it.
One thing different I did was put a ball valve only on the main drain.
It has a lot of noise, especially from the drain with the airline.
What can I do to decrease or eliminate it?
Do I need a ball valve on the airline drain
My DT is in the living and sump in the basement and the single ball valve is just above the sump.
Here's a video link to what I'm asking help with.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9t7n416dnrqur8y/Video%20Feb%2011%2C%2010%2051%2018.mov
Please help.
Thank you!
Click to expand...

Two things: First you have an air leak in the main siphon, and it is not fully starting--this is indicated by the bubbles coming from the siphon line. This causes the second problem: too much flow in the open channel.

A valve in the open channel will not help the problem, and will most likely make it worse: more turbulence.

You need to seal up the main siphon, (rebuild it) and then adjust the water level in the over flow (with the valve in the siphon line) just high enough that the siphon does not suck air into the elbow, and water JUST flows in the open channel. The flow in the open channel should be very low, for silence and bubble free operation.
 
uncleof6 said:
Two things: First you have an air leak in the main siphon, and it is not fully starting--this is indicated by the bubbles coming from the siphon line. This causes the second problem: too much flow in the open channel.

A valve in the open channel will not help the problem, and will most likely make it worse: more turbulence.

You need to seal up the main siphon, (rebuild it) and then adjust the water level in the over flow (with the valve in the siphon line) just high enough that the siphon does not suck air into the elbow, and water JUST flows in the open channel. The flow in the open channel should be very low, for silence and bubble free operation.
Click to expand...

Thanks uncleof6 for helping me so many times!!
Most likely the top cap is not sealed tight. I will seal it.
The bottomend of these pipes are under water in the sump, would that be an issue?
Thanks again!
 
That is not an issue as long as the pipes ends no more than 1" below the surface of the water. If they do, it will take too much head pressure to purge the air, and the siphon again, will not start properly.
 
uncleof6 said:
That is not an issue as long as the pipes ends no more than 1" below the surface of the water. If they do, it will take too much head pressure to purge the air, and the siphon again, will not start properly.
Click to expand...

Dear Uncleof6,

Thank you for your time.

I retightened the cap to no avail, I still see air leaking out of the siphon. Wonder where the leak is. There are couple of thread joints in the bulkheads, overflow pipes. Can I use soap water externally to check for leaks or something else?


Also all the 3 overflow pipes goes well under the water in the sump, about 4-6 inches deep!!! Can this be the only problem?
I kept it under water to keep water splashes to minimum. But guess ill have to cut them at the water level.
Please suggest something before the gurgling sounds drown my sanity!!!

Thank you very much.
 
That is a huge problem, but unfortunately, it is not the only one. It will be very hard to track down the air leak in the siphon. It could be a threaded join or a glued join, and the most problematic part of it is, it probably won't leak water, or give any sign, other than bubbles in the effluent.

Another potential problem with the basement drop, is the valve placement. With this long of a drop, you want the valve down at the sump.

To eliminate the gurgling for your sanity, readjust the system from a dead stand still. Sneak up on the water level a little bit at a time. That may help, by slowing the flow through the open channel.
 
uncleof6 said:
That is a huge problem, but unfortunately, it is not the only one. It will be very hard to track down the air leak in the siphon. It could be a threaded join or a glued join, and the most problematic part of it is, it probably won't leak water, or give any sign, other than bubbles in the effluent.

Another potential problem with the basement drop, is the valve placement. With this long of a drop, you want the valve down at the sump.

To eliminate the gurgling for your sanity, readjust the system from a dead stand still. Sneak up on the water level a little bit at a time. That may help, by slowing the flow through the open channel.
Click to expand...

Seems like I did it. I cut the 3 returns to just under the water level in the sump and now no more bubbles in the siphon and no more gurgles.:lol2:

I adjusted the siphon valve which is just above the sump to flow halfway and seems all the sound is gone and the sump is quieter too!!

Now all I hear is the water entering the overflow box, lol. I need to eliminate that. Any leads on that? Andofcourse the distant humming of the return pump.
Does making a slope in the overflow box help with that sound?

I can't thank you enough for strongly suggesting that I get the return pump below the sump! I can just imagine what would have happened by now.
Learning a lot of things.

Thank you!
 
Progress on my 55L Test Build

Progress on my 55L Test Build

Hey all,

Checking in with my progress:

As posted last my BHs for the 'Bean' were drilled with success. I had to tweak the Internal Overflow Weir size (due to plumbing size) and will pick up the new glass on Thursday.

1/4" Glass Bafflesare ready for instalation this weekend. Through local resources I've acquired a Coralife 65 Protein Skimmer & Rio 2100 Pumphead. I also have modded a Cascade Canister for Phos/Carbon and aquired a Danner Mag 18 for the Return Pump.

I built a 4" Skimmer Stand with a Heater Rack under it for the Sumps drain compartment and have cut egg crate to fit.

My next challenge is engineering my return and tank flow. I have a thought that I once again (sribbled) attached that depicts using the good flow from my Mag18 to lift from the sump to the DT (approx 3') then drop down to the bottom of the DT in a circuit. I then envision using a 3/4" Closed Circuit (mid-tank) with 4 Loc-Line Arms as needed.

<a href="http://s15.beta.photobucket.com/user/Soul_surfer01/media/Woody55LTestBuild-FlowPlanDRAFT2_zpsd5c1d681.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a356/Soul_surfer01/Woody55LTestBuild-FlowPlanDRAFT2_zpsd5c1d681.jpg"~original border="0" alt=" photo Woody55LTestBuild-FlowPlanDRAFT2_zpsd5c1d681.jpg"/></a>

Thoughts, sugestions, comments, jokes and free beer appreciated...


Best- Woody

P.S. Next "Big Things"... LIGHTS and Stand Skin... YUK!
 
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