Janky Red Sea Return Valve - any solutions?

[Reeferbadness]

Hi Reefers - i have a Red Sea 750 XXL - it's about 4 years old. For the last year (maybe longer) my water level rises for no apparent reason - due to the Return Valve not working properly I assume. This causes the ATO to put lots of water in the sump (never overflowed though, so far). I usually catch it with a message from the RS ATO - saying the pump timed out (i set this at about 1.5 g). The water level in the display is high but now overflowing either. I then have to Open the valve about 1/2 or 1 turn and the water then goes down and then close it a little to get it stable and not making lots of noise. I have to do this once a week (at least) and am worried that one of these times i won't be here or have someone close by to solve this.

I've tried taking off the the Valve Assembly - which really didn't solve the problem. Should I just get a different return valve and replace this point of sale or is there another way to try and solve this?

 

[BryanM]

I assume you're looking for something like this:

 

[Reeferbadness]

I assume you're looking for something like this:

Thanks! Looks like i'll need to collect quite a few parts for this kind of swap out but man, having this thing back up regularly is agonizing.

 

[BryanM]

Thanks! Looks like i'll need to collect quite a few parts for this kind of swap out but man, having this thing back up regularly is agonizing.

I hated that valve on my RS tank. Glad to be rid of it (the entire tank), upgraded to w waterbox that has the type of valve you want.

That RS valve is a finicky sob.

 

[exnisstech]

Any chance your running a fleece roller? I run a reefmat 500 on a gen2 reefer 300 and have trouble with the ATO topping off when the level in the reefmat is almost ready to advance. It advances and then the sump is over full. The issue started after reefmat was added. It doesn't cause a large enough swing in salinty to make me want to address it.
I only have to tweak the drain valve once every month or two and that usually because the level in the overflow drops. My gen 1 reefer 170 was a pita and constantly required adjusting

 

[Reeferbadness]

Any chance your running a fleece roller? I run a reefmat 500 on a gen2 reefer 300 and have trouble with the ATO topping off when the level in the reefmat is almost ready to advance. It advances and then the sump is over full. The issue started after reefmat was added. It doesn't cause a large enough swing in salinty to make me want to address it.
I only have to tweak the drain valve once every month or two and that usually because the level in the overflow drops. My gen 1 reefer 170 was a pita and constantly required adjusting

I am running a Reef Mat but my sump is 40 gallons - so this amount of water doesn't really affect much. The issue is with the return valve - sometimes it doesn't allow enough water back down through the drain and water in the DT backs up and the ATO kicks in (my ATO goes directly into the sump) adding a lot of unnecessary water). When i open the valve to get things right, the Sump is then over full. I set my ATO to not add more than 1.3g - so this helps but the error messages give me anxiety. Changes to salinity with these small amounts of water (vs 200g ) is also minimal.

 

[OctaviusBrine]

That valve is a point of sale. I replaced mine with a gate valve mad a world of difference.

 

[Bartanto]

To this day I still wonder why RS used a pancake valve. Total piece of trash. Whomever signed off on that should be tarred and feathered. Switch to a gate and never worry about it again. On the G2 it’s a 32mm to 1” union. There are bulkhead adapters also, but didn’t fit with my ‘custom’ plumbing.

 

[BryanM]

Yep, redsea valve is trash. if I still had that tank I'd be replacing it.

 

[Ironic_Water]

I'm confused, in my line of work we were always told diaphragm valves, of which Red Sea uses on their G2's, is far better than gate valves for flow control.

Is a gate valve really that much better?

 

[BryanM]

I'm confused, in my line of work we were always told diaphragm valves, of which Red Sea uses on their G2's, is far better than gate valves for flow control.

Is a gate valve really that much better?

From personal experience, I was adjusting my RS valve every 2-4 weeks.

I cannot remember the last time I touched the valve on my waterbox

 

[W31Olds]

Reefer, do you have the gate valve with the Red Knob or the Black Knob? The Red Knob valve is an upgraded one that is improved. I changed mine out a year ago and maybe adjust it every couple of months when doing maintenance. Otherwise never. It's very easy to replace also. 10 minute job.

 

[Bartanto]

I'm confused, in my line of work we were always told diaphragm valves, of which Red Sea uses on their G2's, is far better than gate valves for flow control.

Is a gate valve really that much better?

Maybe it’s just the particular one they use? There was nothing I could do to make it work. I would fight it on a near daily basis (RS525) it seemed to clog easily even in a clean system. Seemed like every trip I went on it would slow up the return then ATO would dump a gallon plus and I’d have to jack with the return pump speed to bring the DT level down…uggg, nightmare.

 

[Reeferbadness]

Maybe it’s just the particular one they use? There was nothing I could do to make it work. I would fight it on a near daily basis (RS525) it seemed to clog easily even in a clean system. Seemed like every trip I went on it would slow up the return then ATO would dump a gallon plus and I’d have to jack with the return pump speed to bring the DT level down…uggg, nightmare.

That's the exact issue i'm having - am traveling at this moment and my ATO shut off due to slow drain. Now have to wake my father in-low to open the valve . UGGG - definitely need to fix this ASAP.

 

[Reeferbadness]

Reefer, do you have the gate valve with the Red Knob or the Black Knob? The Red Knob valve is an upgraded one that is improved. I changed mine out a year ago and maybe adjust it every couple of months when doing maintenance. Otherwise never. It's very easy to replace also. 10 minute job.

Red Valve - garbage!

 

[W31Olds]

That's odd, I have the red one also and have never had issues with large variations in the sump level and had the Tank setup for over a year. The one difference is the ATO. Mine is a simple gravity feed with a float valve that drips the RODI water in the sump. Very reliable so far. You are probably experiencing a race condition between your ATO and the amount of water flowing through the Gate Valve.

 

[Ziggy17]

The diaphragm valve attracts gunk and that affects the flow rate ever so slightly more and more over the weeks. It’s got a lot of surface area is uses for flow rate. The gate valve doesn’t have as much surface area that’s actually being used to restrict the flow, so I think that’s why the gate valve is better for this application. I bought a 32mm spears gate valve for mine and trashed the pancake. Perfect fit and no reducing coupling needed.

 

[Ziggy17]

The diaphragm valve attracts gunk and that affects the flow rate ever so slightly more and more over the weeks. It’s got a lot of surface area is uses for flow rate. The gate valve doesn’t have as much surface area that’s actually being used to restrict the flow, so I think that’s why the gate valve is better for this application. I bought a 32mm spears gate valve for mine and trashed the pancake. Perfect fit and no reducing coupling needed.

 

[Reeferbadness]

The diaphragm valve attracts gunk and that affects the flow rate ever so slightly more and more over the weeks. It’s got a lot of surface area is uses for flow rate. The gate valve doesn’t have as much surface area that’s actually being used to restrict the flow, so I think that’s why the gate valve is better for this application. I bought a 32mm spears gate valve for mine and trashed the pancake. Perfect fit and no reducing coupling needed.

Thanks for the info! I checked around for the Spears 32mm gate valve - strange that BRS has them but lists the sizes in inches vs mm. Found a 32mm on a plumbing website though. What size is your RS tank?