return pump too powerful! HELP ME PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE!

OK guys. Thank you all for responding. All I did was switch the location of the ball valve on the return line and it cut the flow dramatically (even in the full open positional except now it's rushing out of the re-direct into the sump). I'm still getting bubbles but not near as much as before. Should I take the flow director out of the return line and just use the ball valve to add back-pressure?

Should the drain pipes be submerged in the sump or just let it splash right out?

 

Yes, just a straight run up from the pump.

 

Factory standpipes often leave a lot to be desired, none compare to a Stockman, Durso, Hoffman Gurgle Buster and others.

I would still lower the sump level, even drained back thats cutting it awful close. I suggest this as I have been doing this 19 years now and have seen more than my share of floods even though the ownere has the best of intentions. Often the bump a return line and lower the Loc Line a bit etc and don't even realize it which can and often does lead to a disaster. I can honsetly say in 19 years I have never once had a sump related flood, never. In fact the only flood was a Via Aqua nano that cracked and exploded one night after it had been in use for almost 4 years.

Throttling a centrifugal pump is common, we do it all the ime in the drinking water industry. You need to understand how a centrifugal impeller and volute are designed in orderr to fully understand what I am saying. Trust em it works and actually reduces the stress on the pump not increases it. A centrifugal only draws the power required to do the work at hand plus a little for electrical and hydraulic inefficiencies. This is not true of positive displacement pumps but thats a different animal.
A Kill A Watt meter will tell you the real story if you ever get the chance to see or borrow one do so, they are neat tools.

Do you have a photo of the standpipe? It should not be below the surface but should stick up above the water level in the overflow or hang on box.

 

I just re-read your post and you say the dt overflow is rated at 600gph? This is why your dt would flood if you close the valve where you've got it split back to the sump. Your pump(950gph) is putting more water back into the dt than your overflow(600gph) can handle. As suggested you're going to have to put a valve in the return line back to your dt where you can cut the flow back to the dt so it matches your overflow gph.

 

DO NOT redirect flow from the pump into the sump. Put the ball valve in the return line to control the flow going up to the display bny adding head to the pump. I guarantee you it will improve the pumps performance, its what I do for a living.

Do not try to valve the overflow from the tank to the sump. If you do have a valve here it should always be in the wide open position except for maintenance, never throttle.

My overflow line drops into the sump below the surface using 1" reinforced tubing so it has a nice smooth entry with few bubbles and noise.Here is a picture during its construction 6 years ago.


Here is a picture of it in use:


Note the ball valves in the full open position. The tee and line leading off to the side is what feeds the refugium from the overflow, it has a seperate 1/2" valve to control its flow.

What size is that valve and the plumbing on your overflow from the tank to the sump? It looks small. It should be 1" if possible with a Mag 9.5 as the return or it wil be your restriction, the overflow should return as much or more than the pump can produce so the display level balances out, don't try to control the display level with a valve, it will balance on its own.

 

hang on guys I'm loading pics of the standpipe

Also, I asked pack this and i guess he didn't see this. He suggested ditch the ball valve and get a true PVC gate valve. Do they make these with barbed fittings or would I have to run hard PVC on that section?

 

OK here you go.





the pic below is from the back of the tank


notice there is about a 3/4" air gap in the pipe that is above the water line

 

That standpipe takes up a lot of real estate. Take a look at the pictures of the Stockman, its only as big as a single 2" PVC coupling in diameter.

You don't need a gate valve, nothing needs to be that precise. Just use regular 3/4" and 1" PVC ball valves like in my pictures and install barbed nipples in them to adapt to tubing.

 

UPDATE!

OK I took out the flow director and now it's just a straight through return pipe with a ball valve for back-pressure.

 

What size is that tee and those ball valves? They look like only 1/2" and thats to small for the overflow especially.