Tunze Osmolator Question

[dsaundry]

So I have a nice new Tunze Osmolator given to me for Christmas and I am hooking it up and have run into an issue, I had an ATO system previously which I had plumbed into a 45g plastic barrel where I kept my top up water. It worked ok but it was bit inconsistent in keeping a steady level, so the switch to Tunze started today. Got it all hooked in and got the float and sensor set and adjusted, checked it a few times with pump disconnected and all seemed fine, hooked pump up, sucked out a little water to get pump to cycle and voila, all worked fine.....however I noticed after level was reached and pump turned off a small trickle of water continued from top up hose. It did not stop and after an hour it tripped the high level warning. So can you not use your existing water supply for the Tunze?? The top up system is beside tank and it all seems to meet the spec's and instructions I received with unit. Has anybody else run into this before and what was solution?? Thanks in advance.

[lastlight]

Your exit hose needs to be higher than the water level in the barrel or it will siphon after the pump stops.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Your exit hose needs to be higher than the water level in the barrel or it will siphon after the pump stops.

Hehe, I figured this was going to be the problem before I opened the thread. Classic. I did it too with my first Osmolator.

[lastlight]

My only mistake with my first osmolator was installing the float upside down! So imagine plugging the unit in and the alarm instantly is going off! I was pretty angry but that gave way to embarrassment pretty quickly.

[dsaundry]

Well I don't know, I thought of that when I was setting it up and the pump is lower than the exit hose, the exit hose is well above water level but I guess it is still developing a siphon. Barrel is on floor and pump is at bottom of barrel. Exit hose is approximately 14" above pump level, perhaps its the fact that the hose is routed through the top of the barrel. I suppose I could drill a hole and run the hose through the bottom and seal it up then but I think that might be asking for trouble.

[dsaundry]

Ok I am a putz, I will just run the hose to one of the overflows in the tank itself and forget the sump. It's well above the pump level and doesn't seem to want to trickle anymore. It's invisible as the canopy hides it all. So I think that should be ok.

[ScubaSteve]

It shouldn't still be siphoning if the exit is higher than the water level in the reservoir. Sometimes my barrel water level gets a little bit higher than my hose exit, so I put a small tubing check valve inthe hose exit. The cracking pressure of the check valve is enough to stop the dripping in this case.

[dsaundry]

Yeah I thought about a check valve as well, but I think it's working now, no trickle of water and all seems to be ok...if anything else should pop up I will post it...thanks for all the suggestions and help....brain dead today...no alcohol in the equation either.