Another Bean Animal question

[Fizbang]

So when everything is up and running is great, quiet, etc. If the main drain gets closed off the secondary does its job, if the secondary and main get closed off the pump starts sucking air before the emergency kicks in so I guess I have to trim a bit off that still. My main issue is if I stop the return pump the main drain gets air in it and won't start syphon again on its own, I have to pull the tube out of the bulkhead to get it started again. What could be wrong here?

 

[Larry L]

How deep into your sump do your drain lines go? When the pump comes back on, the main drain in the overflow box should end up completely submerged so should start siphoning, but if the drain line goes too deep underwater at the other end the air in the line could be trapped. Mine only extend maybe an inch or less below water level in the sump.

 

[Fizbang]

How deep into your sump do your drain lines go? When the pump comes back on, the main drain in the overflow box should end up completely submerged so should start siphoning, but if the drain line goes too deep underwater at the other end the air in the line could be trapped. Mine only extend maybe an inch or less below water level in the sump.

When you say only an inch or so, is that when the motor is running or stopped? Mine definitely goes pretty far while the pump is running as they come into their own little chamber then overflow into the sock area. I will have to see how far down they are when the pump is off.

 

[Larry L]

My drains go about an inch deep into a sump compartment that stays the same depth regardless of whether the return is running or not.

 

[Fizbang]

My drains go about an inch deep into a sump compartment that stays the same depth regardless of whether the return is running or not.

Great, just tried a shorter pipe and that seems to have fixed that. Thank you! Next thing I'm noticing is if I plug the main and the secondary starts up my ato will kick on as the water in the pump chamber drops quite low, should I shorten the secondary stand pipe in the overflow a little bit or is this always going to happen? I would hate to think if there was a drain issue I would also have to worry about throwing off my salinity.

 

[Larry L]

if I plug the main and the secondary starts up my ato will kick on

Normally you adjust the valve on your main drain so that your main is running full siphon and your secondary has just barely a trickle going down it, so water level should not change much if the main gets clogged.

 

[Fizbang]

I basically adjusted the valve to put the water level in the overflow where I wanted it, I'm not quite sure how I can tell how much water the secondary is draining, but if I open my valve more the water level in the overflow gets lower than I would like. Maybe I need to adjust that pipe a bit higher so I can open the valve more?

 

[Larry L]

I basically adjusted the valve to put the water level in the overflow where I wanted it, I'm not quite sure how I can tell how much water the secondary is draining, but if I open my valve more the water level in the overflow gets lower than I would like. Maybe I need to adjust that pipe a bit higher so I can open the valve more?

I think you basically want the height of the secondary drain to be at the height where you want your water level to be in the overflow, and adjust the valve so it stays there. And then make sure your emergency drain is a little higher than that, but still below the top of the overflow box so you don't flood anything if the main and secondary drains clog.

 

[Fizbang]

So I have adjusted standpipe heights and valve levels etc. Still having the water drop in the pump chamber down enough to kick on the ato till it auto shuts off.