HELP WITH RETURN PUMP

btwk12

btwk12

Member
i have a mag 12 return pump i got it on th 22nd this month i plumbed it in that night i have been fighting it since then trying to get it set right if i dial it back a hair, the sump fills up and the overflows lose water. so i turn it back just a hair 45 min later its gettin ready to overflow my dt! when i say a hair i mean barely touch it!!! is there a trick to getting these set that i dont know about? i have been shutting it down every night because it will either be flooding or gurgling within an hour! could i have a bad valve or something? i got it from menards. both intake and return are 3/4 on the pump. the flex hose im running has a 5/8 id, if that matters. any help would be appreciated.
 
deejeff442

deejeff442

Active Member
what do you mean the overflows lose water?what kind of overflow do you have.a hang on,in tank with durso? if the pump is slowed down there should not be a problem.i had to slow down my little giant pump because it was overflowing the tank but wasnt a big deal.although the pump doesnt have its own valve.i plumbed the pump with pvc and added a ball valve.
 
deejeff442

deejeff442

Active Member
it shouldnt matter if he is turning down the pump.either the valve is messed up or the overflow.sounds like the overflow is the problem.i dont follow the op when he says it losses water?
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by deejeff442 http:///forum/thread/382688/help-with-return-pump#post_3341548
it shouldnt matter if he is turning down the pump.either the valve is messed up or the overflow.sounds like the overflow is the problem.i dont follow the op when he says it losses water?
It would matter if he's not turning it down enough.
I do agree that it's probably a valve issue, but you'd be surprised how many people throw pumps in their tank without realizing that the overflows can't handle them.
 
deejeff442

deejeff442

Active Member
all i am saying is when he turns it down the overflow losses water ?dont know what that means.i would be guessing its an in tank overflow that he is trying to keep the water level right to the top fingers which it pretty hard to do.like he said just one gph too much would eventually overflow the dt.i am guessing he dont run a durso pipe and tries to keep the water level at the top for noise reasons.
just guessing at this point.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
I'm assuming your using a ball valve to regulate your flow? If that's the case they can be really tricky to tune, and aren't very good at making minute adjustments......
What type of overflow are you running? Bulkhead size? Honestly just because you'd run a Durso doesn't mean it would drain anymore than a traditional straight pipe. The Durso is more designed at quieting a noisy overflow, not increasing it's capacity. I'm leaning more towards BLTDreef rationale......
 
deejeff442

deejeff442

Active Member
what i am saying is.my 150 tank had an intank overflow with a perforated pipe in it .not solid.so the water really stayed 4 inches or so from the bottom .it made alot of noise.i was thinking he is pushing more gph to bring the water to the top of the overflow.i eventually put in a durso which brought the water to the top and made it quiet.hope you followed that?i also stuff alot of filter media in the overflow to make it quiet with the old pipe and had to wash it constantly.we just dont know without him coming back here and explaining his setup.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
How did you establish the original amount of water in your system with the return pump off? I do not see any way you can overflow your sump with your return pump running no matter what size pump or overflow. You can in fact overflow your tank but not your sump. As far as the noise overflows are meant to have the water run down the sides not pushed away from the side for some reason and free fall to the bottom splashing and making noise
 
deejeff442

deejeff442

Active Member
hey joe hope your feeling better.i think what i am trying to say is being lost in translation.before durso tubes were around the overflows were made the way you stated my pump pushed the water over the top fingers into a waterfall.alot of noise.i am thinking the op has a big pump as to get the water to the top of the overflows.it would be almost impossible to valve the water flow to either keep the water to the top of the overflow or overfill the dt.it would be nice if the op came back and explained the set up.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
yes i agree
We need more clarification from the op. I cannot think of any situation with a inside tank overflow where you would overflow your sump with your return pump running
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
what i was saying is if i turn my return back just a hair, it drops below my teeth on the overflow therefor it doesnt let any water drain to the sump. then i would turn it back up just a hair and an hour later it would be almost overflowing my dt. i dont care where my water level lands that much in my dt just no floods and no constant noise from water loss to the over flow. my question is, is there a better valve i can get other than the one i have? maybe something a lil nore sensitive to the adjustments?
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Are you making adjustments and expecting to see the changes immediately??? Turn the pump down a hair till it does drop just below the overflow teeth....and as Bang stated either your valve is more closed than what you think or your rushing the change....
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
no i have a line drawn on my sump which keeps my sump with about 8'' of water and keeps my dt with plenty of water. i will sit in front of the sump and within 10-30 minutes it's either gettin ready to overflow my dt or dropin below the teeth i have it within 4-5gph but with that much difference it doesnt take long to get out of whack and i cant figure it out because i am just barely even touching the valve and it go's from to much return, to not enough return within minutes. the valve is just a basic 3/4'' vavle from menards. is there any better valves you can think of? or maybe i have a bad valve?
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
I need more information.
Are you familiar with the proper use of an overflow? (no insult intended, just fact gathering).
What is your overflow rated at?
What size display tank?
What size sump?
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
i know what you guys are saying now! turn the return pump up just enough to barely keep the water flowing over the overflow. and if it drops down a little bit low the return will catch it up. i was trying to keep my water level up closer to the top of my teeth. and there is no way i can get a valve to get it to stay perfect like that
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
why did you want the water to the top of the overflow teeth, are you looking for max turn over
You need to understand that without your return pump running your water level will fall to just below the teeth of the overflow, now you turn on your pump no matter how slow your pump is returning water to your DT as long as its running your water will never fall below your overflow teeth well I guess it can if you have more evaporation then return water but I don’t think that will ever happen
 
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