At my wit's end - water level issues - please help!

[Brad Miller]

I still say, you’re drain line is too small

 

[Punchanello]

I still say, you’re drain line is too small

The drain isn't reduced. It's 1 and a quarter inch from tank to sump. Is that too small?

 

[Brad Miller]

Oh, ok...
Pics are always bad for piping sizes.

One thing I did notice after look at the first couple pics again is that Herbie overflow tend to give this sort of problem when the drain line s run horizontal like yours with 90’s.

Maybe come out of the overflow box and 45 over on an angle and try not to use any 90’s at all.
From what I know about these, the Herbie works better if the water “falls” back to the sump with the least amount of friction loss possible.

Also you really should t be getting any water in the overflow after the first initial pump run and all the air is pushed out the main drain bulkhead back to the sump and the siphon really gets going.

 

[Phil D.]

One suggestion would be to plug the controller for the return pump into a surge suppressor. Even though the return pump is DC, the voltage regulator can be affected by surges in the AC supply. (I'm an Electronics Engineer, so know this stuff). I had the same issue with my Vectra S1 and put it onto a surge suppressor, and haven't had any issues since.

 

[Punchanello]

One suggestion would be to plug the controller for the return pump into a surge suppressor. Even though the return pump is DC, the voltage regulator can be affected by surges in the AC supply. (I'm an Electronics Engineer, so know this stuff). I had the same issue with my Vectra S1 and put it onto a surge suppressor, and haven't had any issues since.

That's sounds like good practice regardless of my issue. I'll do that, thanks!