Overflow Fluctuating

[Matt_Mc]

Good Afternoon
Yesterday afternoon my overflow began rising and falling rapidly. My tank is 3 years old and I haven’t run into this issue before.
My return is running at max and I currently have my valve to 100% open. With the overflow rising and falling my sump is doing the same. This is causing my ATO to come on and also go into alarm for high water level. Does anyone have any suggestions. I will try to attach a video shortly.

 

[Matt_Mc]

Here’s a video

 

[Water Dog]

Can’t view the video, but what type of overflow are you running? HOB, Durso, Herbie, Beananimal?

 

[KrisReef]

This sounds a siphon is emptying the collection cup?

How many drainpipes do you have from the collection area to the sump?

This is total speculation (@livinlifeinBKK )

 

[Matt_Mc]

Thanks for reaching out. It’s a ghost overflow that is a 3 pipe. I believe that is called a bean animal.

 

[Matt_Mc]

Here’s another attempt at a video.

 

[Matt_Mc]

 

[KrisReef]

Sometimes something will get stuck in the overflow mainpipe and that changes flow patterns.

Good you have more than one. Nothing to worry about and good luck figuring out how to rebalance it. I have two drains and I have balanced them in the past, dead silent! Run that way for months and out of the blue something changes and the sound from the tank changes too.

 

[Matt_Mc]

Yeah this drastic rise and fall in my sump is not allowing me to control ATO. I’m just not sure how to clear the main line out to correct the issue.

 

[KrisReef]

I adjusted mine by increasing the water depth in the box using a short piece of pipe to make the over flow depth deeper. I am not familiar with the Bean Animal set up,...
I have also turned the elbow (yours is facing down) ~90 degrees to change flow noises. Let's see what the Animal users have to say.

 

[KrisReef]

I guess I should add, that the three drains are there to have redundancy if one or two get blocked. I don't want to give advice that leads to an overflow. The other place where flow change may have arisen from is at the return pump intake. Something has to have caused the change to flow somewhere in the system to make it out of balance compared to what you have before. HTH!

 

[Matt_Mc]

Thanks for your help Chris.

 

[Matt_Mc]

So after just sitting next to my sump for a while I noticed the sound or pitch of my pump rising and falling rapidly. I’m starting to think my pump is failing at the top end which is causing my problem.
I lowered my pump speed from 100% to around 60% and noticed the level fluctuation in my sump subside. Then adjusted my valve till the noise went away. I believe I will need to replace my pump before it fails completely.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

So after just sitting next to my sump for a while I noticed the sound or pitch of my pump rising and falling rapidly. I’m starting to think my pump is failing at the top end which is causing my problem.
I lowered my pump speed from 100% to around 60% and noticed the level fluctuation in my sump subside. Then adjusted my valve till the noise went away. I believe I will need to replace my pump before it fails completely.

I was going to say that this seems to be a return flow issue. When the water level in the tank/overflow drops, that's when you get the noise, and a drop in tank/overflow level is caused by water draining faster than it's returning to the tank.

How old is your current return pump? When was the last time you cleaned it?

 

[Matt_Mc]

I was going to say that this seems to be a return flow issue. When the water level in the tank/overflow drops, that's when you get the noise, and a drop in tank/overflow level is caused by water draining faster than it's returning to the tank.

How old is your current return pump? When was the last time you cleaned it?

I bought it used off of the forum about 4 years ago. I’ve cleaned it once since I’ve installed it. I do clean the black intake cover every week. If I pull the pump and clean it, do you think it would help the issue at max speed?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I bought it used off of the forum about 4 years ago. I’ve cleaned it once since I’ve installed it. I do clean the black intake cover every week. If I pull the pump and clean it, do you think it would help the issue at max speed?

It can't hurt.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I bought it used off of the forum about 4 years ago. I’ve cleaned it once since I’ve installed it. I do clean the black intake cover every week. If I pull the pump and clean it, do you think it would help the issue at max speed?

It can't hurt. Unless you already have a replacement pump on hand, I'd try this. Then, if it seems to correct the problem, I'd probably still buy a replacement (new) but keep this one as a backup.