Issues with Osmolator

[dantimdad]

I have had my osmolator for two weeks now and have had nothing but issues. It works for approximately a day and then, either doesn't do anything or empties the entire top off container into my sump if I don't unplug it. Any ideas why a brand new unit would do this? It was given to me as a gift and I have no receipt so I am out of luck I guess.

I expected more after the reviews I read.

 

[Wiseguy]

I don’t have one personally but from what I have read that unit needs to prime itself when brand new so yeah it will dump a lot of water in the process in the beginning

 

[Oldreefer44]

Not sure this addresses your issue but as with all ATO's you have to make sure that you haven't created a siphon by having a higher water level in the reservoir than in the sump. This will cause the water to still flow into the tank even after it shuts off.

 

[rvitko]

These are the main things I would check, we can do any warranty work by date of manufacture.

1) A siphon, if it is a siphon the issue will be seemingly random, it will tend to only occur when the reservoir is full and the water will fill to a level possibly above or just below the float. Siphon situation 3 is the most probable cause but note as shown in 4 that a loop will not solve it, the end of the hose must always terminate above the reservoir water level.

2) A sensor issue. The first test is to use the self diagnostic test on the Osmolator to verify the sensor is in working order.

1) With the sensor completely wiped dry, plug in the controller. The sensor MUST be clean and dry for this test to work, a wet or dirty sensor will always fail.
2) All 4 lights will flash and it will beep, a single light will show for 1 seconds and then the normal 15-20 second pump run at startup will begin.
3) This light that is on one second is the optic sensor status, green means pass, yellow means it is marginal, red means it failed.
4) For further confirmation, you can rerun this test with the sensor in water, in this scenario instead of a green light we should get a red fail light, a unit that passes both tests we can say with 90%+ certainty the sensor is working properly.

Assuming it passes the self test the issue is bubbles, optic sensors work by detecting the refraction of air vs water and make no differentiation between a bubble or being dry. The most overlooked source of bubbles is placing the top off hose in the vicinity of the sensors, the incoming splash will introduce bubbles and cause a fill. The hose can be routed to any area of the sump or main tank, and the optic sensor must be in a calm and bubble free area. A definitive test to verify bubbles are the cause is if you can catch it in the act of an overfill and wipe your finger across the sensor and filling stops within 5 seconds, the cause was bubbles.

3) There is a 3rd possibility but this is relatively obscure and only will apply to tanks under 50 gallons or due to a misunderstanding of how the Osmolator works. The Osmolator has timed functions in addition to sensor controlled functions and for the first 25-30 seconds it is not actually detecting water levels and is instead running a series of self diagnostic tests. The pump will always run for 15-20 seconds when you first power it up, this is so the installer can verify the pump is operational and the pump and tubing are primed and ready to fill. Also, the Osmolator always waits 5 seconds to fill to account for waves and surface movement and overfills for 5 seconds so the pump is cycled on less often. If the tank is under 50 gallons you need to open the controller and reduce the pump speed to “nano” and if it is under 30, an additional restriction such as a drip irrigation valve might be needed, this will reduce the amount of water added by these timed sequences to avoid raising the float.

4) Optic sensors utilize infrared light, refugium grow lights use infrared and may cause interference. The optic sensor should not be exposed to such a light. The float switch is a magnetic switch, magnets can affect it and it is critical that no other magnet is within 4” and that the magnet holders are properly aligned. Lower quality electronics can emit electromagnetic fields and directly affect the controller, ballasts and power supplies that are not OEM to a name brand from Europe or the US where compliance with radio interference and safety laws is required are suspect and it is worth trying with such devices eliminated from the system.

 

[dantimdad]

These are the main things I would check, we can do any warranty work by date of manufacture.

1) A siphon, if it is a siphon the issue will be seemingly random, it will tend to only occur when the reservoir is full and the water will fill to a level possibly above or just below the float. Siphon situation 3 is the most probable cause but note as shown in 4 that a loop will not solve it, the end of the hose must always terminate above the reservoir water level.

No siphon. Been using top offs for a long time and knew to make sure this didn't happen.

2) A sensor issue. The first test is to use the self diagnostic test on the Osmolator to verify the sensor is in working order.

1) With the sensor completely wiped dry, plug in the controller. The sensor MUST be clean and dry for this test to work, a wet or dirty sensor will always fail.
2) All 4 lights will flash and it will beep, a single light will show for 1 seconds and then the normal 15-20 second pump run at startup will begin.
3) This light that is on one second is the optic sensor status, green means pass, yellow means it is marginal, red means it failed.
4) For further confirmation, you can rerun this test with the sensor in water, in this scenario instead of a green light we should get a red fail light, a unit that passes both tests we can say with 90%+ certainty the sensor is working properly.

Assuming it passes the self test the issue is bubbles, optic sensors work by detecting the refraction of air vs water and make no differentiation between a bubble or being dry. The most overlooked source of bubbles is placing the top off hose in the vicinity of the sensors, the incoming splash will introduce bubbles and cause a fill. The hose can be routed to any area of the sump or main tank, and the optic sensor must be in a calm and bubble free area. A definitive test to verify bubbles are the cause is if you can catch it in the act of an overfill and wipe your finger across the sensor and filling stops within 5 seconds, the cause was bubbles.

Will run the tests tonight. The sensor is not dirty. I double checked and this has been happening since the beginning. Never had a chance to get dirty.

3) There is a 3rd possibility but this is relatively obscure and only will apply to tanks under 50 gallons or due to a misunderstanding of how the Osmolator works. The Osmolator has timed functions in addition to sensor controlled functions and for the first 25-30 seconds it is not actually detecting water levels and is instead running a series of self diagnostic tests. The pump will always run for 15-20 seconds when you first power it up, this is so the installer can verify the pump is operational and the pump and tubing are primed and ready to fill. Also, the Osmolator always waits 5 seconds to fill to account for waves and surface movement and overfills for 5 seconds so the pump is cycled on less often. If the tank is under 50 gallons you need to open the controller and reduce the pump speed to “nano” and if it is under 30, an additional restriction such as a drip irrigation valve might be needed, this will reduce the amount of water added by these timed sequences to avoid raising the float.

I will open it up and see what setting it's on. It's a 240 so I hope it wasn't somehow set to nano.

4) Optic sensors utilize infrared light, refugium grow lights use infrared and may cause interference. The optic sensor should not be exposed to such a light. The float switch is a magnetic switch, magnets can affect it and it is critical that no other magnet is within 4” and that the magnet holders are properly aligned. Lower quality electronics can emit electromagnetic fields and directly affect the controller, ballasts and power supplies that are not OEM to a name brand from Europe or the US where compliance with radio interference and safety laws is required are suspect and it is worth trying with such devices eliminated from the system.

It's shielded from the fuge light but I had turned it off for a couple days to see if that was the issue because it dawned on me it may cause it. Nope. Not the problem.



Thanks for the suggestions. Will get back to you.

 

[dantimdad]

OK. The thing was set to just a hair above nano. The sensor tests fine according to your input above.

Let's see if that makes a difference.

I plugged the power back in after cranking it to max and it ran for 22 seconds then stopped and the too high light came on. That's a good sign.

 

[rvitko]

Too high is a red light will mean the float was raised so there was an overfill, the float is what controls this light.

 

[dantimdad]

Yes, but that isn't how it was behaving.

Overnight, it appears to be working correctly. I have my son keeping an eye on it today and I will check this evening.

I am building a dual float with relay setup like I used to use just incase. Literally, never had one fail.

 

[dantimdad]

OK, so it appears to be working now. Except for the fact the pump is noisy as all get out on start up. When I get the stuff more organized, I will tackle that issue.

Thanks for all the input. It appears it was the dial set to nano was the issue.

 

[rvitko]

The key in most cases to reducing the pump noise is no hard surface contact and avoiding rigid sided reservoirs if possible, suspended in a typical polyethylene bucket will be far quieter than resting on a glass or acrylic surface.

 

[dantimdad]

It's in a 5 gallon bucket sitting on a custom 3d printed holder made out of flexible filament. It's actually pump noise, not vibration.

 

[dantimdad]

Well, it's back to it's old tricks. Done with this thing. Building a dual float with a relay like I should have before.

This one is for sale.