Ok so yesterday was the day of trials and tribulations. And some stress. After speaking to Felix and getting reassurance on the tank situation, I filled the tank to the teeth of the overflow. The return lines created a siphon, as I had accidentally left open the manifold union ball valve. So first some water splashed on the floor. I shut the valve only to notice that water was pouring out of a union. After some panic and a gallon on the floor, I drained the water down some and began working on the union. I took it apart and reconnected. The only thing I could think of is somehow I had mis-threaded it. Having reconnected it I spotted a small trickle running down my left return line. Just below the ball valve I have there. Ok, no sweat - just take off the union and we'll see what's wrong. I was a bit concerned as the trickle looked like it was coming from the PVC connection....
Well it turns out, this was one of the last pipes I put in place and I forgot to cement the pipe to the union! It was just dry fit. So last night I glued it in place and today I filled the tank all the way and started testing the siphons in the Bean Animal. As i grew in confidence I filled up the tank some more wating the siphons kick in and fill the sump. No leaks this time! So i decided it was time to fire up the Varios 6 pump.
The Varios 6 is a DC pump that pushes a reported 1720 gallons per hour. I started it at 20%, then began increasing. No leaks, and the Bean Animal was quickly adjusting to the new volume. Lots of interaction with the secondary siphon (open channel). Initially the system was very loud. I decided to push the pump to maximum output (which is significantly less due to the 3/4" pipe, elbows, split lines, and check valve). Now that it was running full tilt I started restricting the gate valve to ease the primary siphon. Its now fairly quiet but not yet dead silent. I will have to play with it some more but I'm really happy that she's holding water and things are running leak free. Here is a video of the tank. I'd love some suggestions on how to further tune the Bean Animal. I also wonder if the fact that my pipes run down and then at a right angle, in some way affects the small amount of water that you want to run down the open channel pipe. Thoughts?
Enjoy.
Ok so yesterday was the day of trials and tribulations. And some stress. After speaking to Felix and getting reassurance on the tank situation, I filled the tank to the teeth of the overflow. The return lines created a siphon, as I had accidentally left open the manifold union ball valve. So first some water splashed on the floor. I shut the valve only to notice that water was pouring out of a union. After some panic and a gallon on the floor, I drained the water down some and began working on the union. I took it apart and reconnected. The only thing I could think of is somehow I had mis-threaded it. Having reconnected it I spotted a small trickle running down my left return line. Just below the ball valve I have there. Ok, no sweat - just take off the union and we'll see what's wrong. I was a bit concerned as the trickle looked like it was coming from the PVC connection....
Well it turns out, this was one of the last pipes I put in place and I forgot to cement the pipe to the union! It was just dry fit. So last night I glued it in place and today I filled the tank all the way and started testing the siphons in the Bean Animal. As i grew in confidence I filled up the tank some more wating the siphons kick in and fill the sump. No leaks this time! So i decided it was time to fire up the Varios 6 pump.
The Varios 6 is a DC pump that pushes a reported 1720 gallons per hour. I started it at 20%, then began increasing. No leaks, and the Bean Animal was quickly adjusting to the new volume. Lots of interaction with the secondary siphon (open channel). Initially the system was very loud. I decided to push the pump to maximum output (which is significantly less due to the 3/4" pipe, elbows, split lines, and check valve). Now that it was running full tilt I started restricting the gate valve to ease the primary siphon. Its now fairly quiet but not yet dead silent. I will have to play with it some more but I'm really happy that she's holding water and things are running leak free. Here is a video of the tank. I'd love some suggestions on how to further tune the Bean Animal. I also wonder if the fact that my pipes run down and then at a right angle, in some way affects the small amount of water that you want to run down the open channel pipe. Thoughts?
Enjoy.
https://youtu.be/fkPkJEmRAEA