Getting a bit off topic for this thread, but the difference between a true Herbie and a Bean is the open channel 'durso' standpipe. A dry Herbie is notoriously difficult to keep tuned and many people end up running a 'wet Herbie' with a trickle down the 2nd standpipe, essentially a bean without the safety of the dry emergency.
The bean is an evolution & an improvement on this. Since a single event can cause a flood with a 'wet Herbie,' the dry emergency and occludable air tubing in the OC add 2 more means of backup protection to make it fails safe. (At least much more so, since you need 1 or 2 more events to cause a flood.)
Yes off topic, because discussion of the Herbie is off topic. However, discussion of the BA is on topic. However, every time the two are mentioned in the same sentence, the confusion is progressed to new levels. The two systems are unrelated, and the more you try to compare them, the more you add to the confusion.
03/25/2004: Herbie started his thread describing a "new plumbing method." After reading the quite lengthy post, you come away with the "method" consisting of an open top siphon standpipe, and "VERY IMPORTANT SAFETY FEATURE!!!!!" describing a dry emergency. "It should be empty at all times unless something is out of wack (sic) with the main return (sic) line!"
Fast forward to 2/3/2008: Bean publishes his design, that included specific design criteria.
1) Dead Silent
2) Set and Forget
3) Limit Bubbles in Sump
4) Failsafe to Prevent Floods
5) Easy to Clean if Needed
His solution included a siphon, an open channel, and a dry emergency. He was insistent that all three pipes must be used, to insure the safety of the system. The open channel provides the "set and forget."
Fast forward to some point in time later, one person decided they wanted the "Herbie" to be "set and forget," just like BA's system. Because this one person did not get the safety memo, or simply decided a flood could never happen to them, others decided to follow suit. Before too long, somehow it morphed into the "Herbie" is supposed to have a wet secondary, and the only difference between the "Herbie" and BA's system is the dry emergency. This notion still persists, as well as the misconception that a "herbie" with a wet secondary is a BA - 1, which it is not. It is nothing more than a Herbie with a wet secondary, and a violation of the basic safety guidelines. Some have tried to make the wet secondary with the herbie more like BA's open channel, but that is really just a waste of time if you stop and think about it, and it is still nothing more than a Herbie with a wet secondary.
What needs to happen, rather than the palliative comparisons, is to correct the misinformation, and keep the two systems as the seperate entities that they are.
