faulty pump?

[sausageman]

Well, after moving, I had to reduce the 55 gal tank to a custom built 17 gal or so acrylic tank. I drilled the tank on the back side ( wanted to do the bottom, but the table i am using is solid so cant plumb straight down.)... with a 1" bulkhead down towards the bottom. I basically plumbed a standpipe in the tank, has good flow, but not nearly as much as if it was jsut an elbow and a piece of pipe to the top of the water.

Well I have the sump sitting next to the tank, about 2 feet or so of piping to it. With the 55gal, i used a HOB overflow, and the 4 feet of head pressure cause a good return flow rate with a mag 5.

Now with the smaller tank and the drilled tank, the flow from the overflow is not nearly as much as it wa sbefore... so I have to reduce the outflow of the mag 5 pump I have...

When i do this with a ball valve, the pump begins to make a loud clicking noise which is pretty annoying. It's almost as if you are taping on glass with a coin or something.

So is this the faulty pump? A while ago on another pump I was able to restrict flow without this problem.

and is there anyway I can increase the overflow gph without going deaf from the noise.

thanks .

[xtopher]

so I guess I am not seeing what you are trying to express why would you reduce the intake to the pump? This is a good way to burn your pump out really fast. If there is not as much water going through the overflow it means that your GPH has decreased to head loss. Is there a particular reason you need more water volume going through the overflow??? otherwise I would suggest to get a larger pump to increase volume. As far as I know you should never restrict your input only output.

[sausageman]

The pump is pumping to much, and begins to overflow the tank...

the overflow doesnt have as much flow to the sump, so if i leave it long enough the water steadily rises.. the only solution I have thought of was to buy a smaller pump, which i am trying to avoid.

[xtopher]

You can restrict the outflow with a gate valve or a ball valve. The gate valve is much easier to adjust but is more costly. put this on your outflow of the pump and it should solve the problem for you

[sausageman]

Originally Posted by xtopher

You can restrict the outflow with a gate valve or a ball valve. The gate valve is much easier to adjust but is more costly. put this on your outflow of the pump and it should solve the problem for you

That's where the problem comes in... I have a ball valve placed ont he outflow of the pump... problem is, when i turn it to restrict the flow.... the pump makes a loud clicking noise... not sure if it's a faulty pump? or does this always happen?

[xtopher]

can you post a pic. as this is the sound most pumps make when the inflow is restricted.

[xtopher]

maybe also you may have something inside the pump? is it brand new????

[sausageman]

Originally Posted by xtopher

maybe also you may have something inside the pump? is it brand new????

I think i fixed it..... I took apart the pump.... and there was a little bump in the plastic sticking up... it didnt connect anywhere or had no purpose form what i saw.. so the little prop that spins around was hitting it every once in a while....so i went ahead and filed it down, and for the past 15 mins, i havent heard the noise so far.

[Geoff]

sounds like you fixed it. i was about to say, that whenever i have come across this sound it was because my ceramic impellor shaft broke. it is an easy fix, but just annoying.

G~