Cleaning my pump/wet-dry

aiber

Member
I have a submersibile pump in my sump and wanted to clean it the other day. When I turned it off, the water level in my sump began to increase and increase...When I noticed that it was going to overflow I turned the pump back on and everything was ok. My question is: Why? Is my water level too high in the sump? If not, is this suppose to happen? What happens if the electricity goes out during the day?
Thanks:help:
 

kmsrn

Member
Hi,
When you turn off the power to the tank your sump will fill up with water until the water is below the overflow line of the overflow box. I can only speculate that you might have had too much water in your sump to begin with. Lots of luck!
 

nacl-man

Member
Do you have a HOB overflow? If you do raise the water level in the tank by raising that little box with the teeth. Also be sure that your return line from the sump to the display tank isn't siphoning more water back into the sump area when the power goes off. Solve this by drilling a small hole in the return line to break the siphon just below the normal water line in the display tank.
If all that is done remove some water from the system until you are able to simulate a power loss without overflowing your sump area and without having your pump dry run.
 

aiber

Member
Thank you for all of the information...:notsure: I don't know what an HOB is.... My tank has a quarter cylinder in the corner that suck in the water and also contains the return line.............
I cannot wait to get home to check it out....I think that I may have too much water in the sump....Thanks
 

dragracer

Member
HOB=Hang on back.
I made my own return with some 1" PVC with holes drilles in a spiral every two inches.Anyway, when I do my maintenance I don't take any chances. It way be overkill but I pull the U tube from my HOB overflow box to break the siphon and yes I have a hole drilled at the surface of the water in my return. Its foolproof. I had the same problem you do, only because in the excitment of setting up my plumbing, I forgot to drill the hole:notsure: DOAH!
 

aiber

Member
When I returned home from work I noticed that what was happenning is that there was a siphon from the return line. If I drill a hole, woudn't it spray all over the place when I turn the pump back on???Or am I missing something?
Thanks::confused:
 

barry cuda

Member
There shouldn't be enough pressure in the return line to do that, at least at that end. It'd be different if you drilled the siphon break at the bottom, down by the return pump...:D
 

dragracer

Member
I have mine drilled right at the surface.....it ripples the water some, but I would say thats beneficial, extra water flow, kinda like a super mini power head on the surface.
 
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