How do I get that "pop" on the surge flapper?

[HippieSmell]

I'm building a Borneman style surge device, and I can't seem to get the flapper to fully open, it just ends up getting stuck half way. Any suggestions?

[areze]

smaller float? so the flapper doesnt open till the float is almost totally submerged... and lifts way up.

[HippieSmell]

Really? That's it? I'll give it try, thanks.

[BeanAnimal]

There are a few simple things you can do.

The two easiest are either
1.) Use a larger fill pump
or
2.) Use a float on a camed arm attached to the float. The float pulls the arm, the arm pulls the flapper.

Either should be self explanatory regarding the operation and why it works. If not post back and I will explain.

Bean

[sfsuphysics]

sounds like a problem of your flapper not having a good seal on the flusher device, and as a result not much force is required to yank it up.
Because once its up there should be enough water going past it to keep it pushed up.

[BeanAnimal]

yup that could be it also... that was to obvious for me to think about, instead I offered hard solutions :P

[spslover123]

Hehe, at the moment Im building a fun little tank with 4 of these surge devices on them. =D. I had the same problem; the drain would just equalize with the pump rate. So... Whatcha have to do is have the flapper, then a U bend underneath the flapper, and then bend it back towards the tanks slightly lower than the flapper. Lemme see if I can ASCII this...

_ _ O - flapper
| | |
| ---
|
| - to tank

Hope that helps,
tommarow I will post some pictures

[spslover123]

Oops! forgot the explanation why... Because in DIY; thats the most important part. =)

What the U bend does is creates a bit of back pressure that holds down the flapper just a second longer. Then, when the flapper opens, you get adequate flow to keep it open.

And now to hi-jack the thread =D. When my surges drain I get a HUGE bubble that "farts" out and then the rest of the drain has lots of bubbles inside the flow. I was told that the bourneman surges were supposed to get no bubbles =(. If anyone has any idea what may be causing this/ how to fix, I would appreciate it =)

Chris

[BeanAnimal]

spslover... you have put (albeit a bit confusing) word to the idea of a levered or camed float :)

There are a lof of threads on reducing or eliminating the bubbles. The bottom line is that it is possible, but the best workaround creates a pretty hard THUMP when the flapper closes. I might add that depending on the height, this THUMP can be soft enough to only suck the flapper down into the drain, or violent enough to break the plumbing :)

DO like myself and many others have done... break down and buy an actuated ball valve and hook it to a timer.