Bean Animal question

[JurisHP]

I have a Bean Animal system. Only one of the 3 drains does anything....what are the other 2 for? I know one is the emergency drain, but I am not sure how I'd use that in an emergency.

Is the second drain supposed to be functional? If so, how do I make it so?

Thanks!

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I have a Bean Animal system. Only one of the 3 drains does anything....what are the other 2 for? I know one is the emergency drain, but I am not sure how I'd use that in an emergency.

Is the second drain supposed to be functional? If so, how do I make it so?

Thanks!

Yes all 3 do something.

If all of your water is going through the primary siphon Nothing is getting into the standpipe, then you should adjust your gate valve slowly a bit at a time until there is enough restriction in the full siphon that it begins using the secondary drain line only as a buffering overflow line. If one of these two become clogged then the emergency drain is implemented to pick up the slack.

 

[KStatefan]

Write up by the person the came up with the beananimal drain.

https://beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system/

 

[JurisHP]

So I for the first time saw the valve which was in the closed position...even though water has been draining from one of the drains this entire time....should I open it all the way? The box that all of the drains connect to on the back of the tank has very little water in it

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

So I for the first time saw the valve which was in the closed position...even though water has been draining from one of the drains this entire time....should I open it all the way?

The valve is on your primary siphon, or full siphon line. Different terms but they mean the same thing. Is it a gate valve that allows small incremental adjustments, or a swing lever ball valve?

You should also have a secondary drain line we will call the standpipe. That does not have a valve on it, then another fully opened emergency line whose entrance should be slightly higher than your standpipe.

What you're about to do is called initially tuning the bean animal overflow. Happy to give the process but need some info first.

Do you have a DC or ac return pump, and is there a valve restricting your flow back to the system from the pump?

 

[KStatefan]

So I for the first time saw the valve which was in the closed position...even though water has been draining from one of the drains this entire time....should I open it all the way?

You should adjust the valve on the main drain so the is a trickle going down the secondary

 

[JurisHP]

It's a DC pump (Ecotech Vectra)....no valve restricting that I am aware of

 

[JurisHP]

I opened the valve almost all the way and still nothing coming through the middle drain.

 

[DCR]

You want to close down slowly on the valve on the siphon drain until the level in your overflow box rises just up to the normal overflow and a small trickle flow is going down it. You should confirm that the elevations of the two overflows are similar to drawing in Post #6 by KStatefan. The emergency overflow should be above the normal overflow which is above the full siphon drain.

 

[JurisHP]

Valve open almost fully, and still nothing dripping from the center drain. I took some photos that are attached.

Does anything seem out of place/wrong? Why would the second drain not have anything coming through it? The first picture is the emergency.

 

[homer1475]

Can you take a picture of the entire box with white lights on, and how they enter your sump?

I have a feeling the box is setup wrong and all your water is going down the first emergency. Thats why opening the valve is doing nothing.

 

[homer1475]

In a bean animal overflow box you have 3 pipes. The shortest pipe should be your full siphon, and also the one with a gate valve on it. The next tallest pipe is your first emergency, and should handle small fluctuation is water height. Third pipe is the tallest and should remain dry, unless the other 2 become blocked.

With an AC pump, you adjust the height in the overflow box, with the gate valve. This is what we call "tuning" the system. It should be set so the water in the overflow box is just at the top of your first emergency pipe.

With a DC pump the idea is exactly the same, except you can adjust the pump instead of adjusting the gate valve. But with a DC pump you can set it lower and open up the valve more, or vice versus. It's all on how you want to "tune" the system.

The third pipe is only there if there is a blockage in the other 2 pipes.