Mixing station pump issue :(

[rseleri]

I finished building my mixing station taking inspiration from this video: as i found it to be the most useful design for my case. Anyway, purchased a Chinese SUNSUN return pump of 1500g/h . My problem is inconsistent behaviour of the pump which i cant understand if its by a faulty mixing station design or just a bad pump. The best way to describe the issue is if the return pump decides sometimes to work and sometime to just make sounds of working. I dipped it in a bucked and it did worked but again, cant say for sure where the problem is. Could air interfere here due to the fact that im running a dry pumping?

Attaching my design (sorry for the mess):

 

[Red_Beard]

Looks like you are deadheading your inlet.

are all the valves off when it is not working? That could definitely do it. Also bear in mind, these pumps are not self priming, meaning, if they don't have water touching the pump they will not pump and just get airlocked. Gravity should be able to push water from one of your totes to the pump should you open one of the valves, but the discharge line(the one on the top of the pump) would need to be open to air or have some way to vent to prevent that airlocking.

 

[rseleri]

Looks like you are deadheading your inlet.

are all the valves off when it is not working? That could definitely do it. Also bear in mind, these pumps are not self priming, meaning, if they don't have water touching the pump they will not pump and just get airlocked. Gravity should be able to push water from one of your totes to the pump should you open one of the valves, but the discharge line(the one on the top of the pump) would need to be open to air or have some way to vent to prevent that airlocking.

So how the guy in the video is pulling water from his tank using the quick connectors in the middle? Does he siphon it first somehow? I was under the impression that hose in the tank, pump is on --> water is out of tank through this pump

 

[Red_Beard]

for the quick connect in the bottom middle, you would just open the valves. those would be gravity fed.

to get water to pump out of the top you would need to open a path to bleed the air out of the pump. either take the qc off, open the valves circled, then put the hose back on and turn the pump on or open the one into the other tank (green circle) for a bit to prime the pump. just be sure to close it before you turn it on.

you just need to make sure the water level in the tote is above the middle of your pump. gravity will push that water to the pump, you just need to make sure the discharge isnt blocked off so the air can vent out.