Questions for the bean animal experts!

[Dave-T]

Any thoughts as to whether or not this bean animal can be further quieted?

Youtube video

So the pipes on the left and right side of the overflow are the return lines, the one with the elbow in the middle is the durso secondary, and the black one right of that is the emergency. You can't see the primary drain, it's below the waterline. The sump is down in the room below, in the basement. I have three sources of noise -

1) a tinkling sound of the water flowing over the weir
2) a gurgling coming from inside the secondary,
3) an intermittent "water spilling sound" coming from inside the secondary line, when the water hits a bend in the line under the tank (I should have shown this in the video).

Understood?

The tinkling sound isn't too bad, although if there was a way to eliminate that, it would be nice.

Any thoughts on #2? I tried adjusting the valve on the primary, which does raise and lower the water level in the overflow, but I can't fully eliminate the gurgling. Is it ok that the durso isn't fully underwater? I've seen pictures of tanks where the durso was fully submerged, and there was a tube to the surface, coming out of the air hole at the top.

And then there's number 3. The first time I heard that, I thought the tank had sprung a leak. It comes on about every minute or so. Any thoughts on that? All I can think of is to add a valve for the secondary, so I can restrict the water so much that there isn't a spilling sound inside the line. But that might be tough to keep in tune. (Did I mention that the sump is 65 feet away?)

 

[Sebastiancrab]

I added a valve on my secondary. It was the only way to get it quiet.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

The trick for mine was to watch the bubbles.

Turn off your return and open the primary up all the way

Turn return pump on.

Wait for system to stabilize

Turn primary 1/4 turn, wait 30 seconds, repeat. Keep doing this until the primary has just a little bit of bubbles. If bubbles go away completely you turned it too far.

 

[Dburr1014]

First off, the secondary should be at a height so water going over the wier is minimal, maybe 1/2".
The primary should be tuned so minimal water is flowing in the secondary.
And 3rd,is the pipe below the water line in the sump? Should be, again maybe 1/2".

 

[Dave-T]

I added a valve on my secondary. It was the only way to get it quiet.

Can you elaborate? What did the valve do, what was the cause of the noise that the valve fixed?

The trick for mine was to watch the bubbles. ... Keep doing this until the primary has just a little bit of bubbles.

What bubbles? Where would I see these bubbles? The primary is underwater, there never are bubbles.

First off, the secondary should be at a height so water going over the wier is minimal, maybe 1/2".
The primary should be tuned so minimal water is flowing in the secondary.
And 3rd,is the pipe below the water line in the sump? Should be, again maybe 1/2".

Are you saying that the water level in the overflow should be 1/2" below the tank water level? I'm at around that, maybe a little more. And what do you mean about the secondary height? I control water level with the valve on the primary. Should I lower the secondary? And not sure what you mean about the water line in the sump... All three pipes empty into a roller mat, that is above the sump...

 

[ZombieEngineer]

What bubbles? Where would I see these bubbles? The primary is underwater, there never are bubbles.

In the sump, not the overflow box.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

See video of me tuning mine.

 

[Dave-T]

In the sump, not the overflow box.

I’m still not getting how I would see bubbles in the sump. My drains go into a roller mat.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

I didn't notice your video before, but just watched it. Your setup isn't a bean animal, it's a herbie.

For that style, your durso pipe is about 1/2"-3/4" too high and your emergency drain should be low enough that just the tiniest trickle goes down it.

Do you have a gate valve on the durso drain?

 

[Dave-T]

I didn't notice your video before, but just watched it. Your setup isn't a bean animal, it's a herbie.

For that style, your durso pipe is about 1/2"-3/4" too high and your emergency drain should be low enough that just the tiniest trickle goes down it.

Do you have a gate valve on the durso drain?

No, it’s a bean animal. I guess you’re saying that because you can’t see the primary. As I said, it’s under water. Like this:

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Gotcha. Open up your primary enough that nothing flows through the durso at all. Then 1/4 turn at a time close the valve up until just the tiniest trickle goes down the secondary. Wait a full 30 seconds between turns.

In your video, it looks like your secondary is at least half siphon, which is why it's so noisy. You ideally want almost no flow through the secondary.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

You want water level to look more like this. The graphics always misrepresent that.

 

[Chrisv.]

Yes. Almost no water should enter the secondary. Think of it as an emergency. The third pipe is just an emergency emergency.

 

[Dave-T]

Huh, ok. Thanks. That is different from how I have it now. I’ve battled gurgling in the secondary, I thought that was from too little flow. But let me lower the overflow level a bit and see how that sounds.

 

[Dburr1014]

Yes as others said, just a trickle in the secondary.
The secondary also controls how far the water spills over the wier. If it is to far, it makes that trickle noise. To silence that, raise your secondary line. The water doesn't have to travel down over the wier much to skim the top layer in the tank. Raising it won't mess with the other syringe at all, only the level in the box.

 

[Dave-T]

Yes as others said, just a trickle in the secondary.
The secondary also controls how far the water spills over the wier. If it is to far, it makes that trickle noise. To silence that, raise your secondary line. The water doesn't have to travel down over the wier much to skim the top layer in the tank. Raising it won't mess with the other syringe at all, only the level in the box.

Unfortunately, the height of my secondary isn’t adjustable. Yours is? How did you rig that up?

The water level in my overflow is already about as high as it can get. Any higher and the water starts going over the top of the teeth in my weir. Even though the level in the overflow is still lower than the level in the tank. I wonder if I have the return pump running too fast for the size of my overflow. (Or the teeth are too wide…)

What do you mean by “syringe”?

 

[Dburr1014]

Unfortunately, the height of my secondary isn’t adjustable. Yours is? How did you rig that up?

The water level in my overflow is already about as high as it can get. Any higher and the water starts going over the top of the teeth in my weir. Even though the level in the overflow is still lower than the level in the tank. I wonder if I have the return pump running too fast for the size of my overflow. (Or the teeth are too wide…)

What do you mean by “syringe”?

That was supposed to read "settings" not syringe.
Do you know the size of that pipe? Is it glued in? Can you raise the u slightly if it's not glued in?

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Unfortunately, the height of my secondary isn’t adjustable. Yours is? How did you rig that up?

I adjusted mine by making a new one out of PVC fittings and not gluing them. I cut various shaft lengths and fit that into two street elbows, one of which I drilled a hole into.

Yours is as high as you can go right now. The only adjustment you could make is to lower is, not raise it.

 

[Dburr1014]

Could cut the pipe and fit in a connector that makes it adjustable again