Help With Reverse Siphone?

[danfish]

i have an aga rr 120 gal with dual megaflow tank. when i shut off the power water keeps reverse siphoning back into my sump eventually filling it up and overflowing, i read somewhere that drilling holes in the return would stop the siphone by releasing air into the return. can anybody pls show me where to drill these hole (pls post pics bc if i drill in the wrong place is not fixable) or is there anything else i can do besides drilling holes. thx in advance

 

[home wrecker]

put a check valve on the return ......that makes the water only go on one direction

 

[Psycho graphic]

I would not suggest you use a check valve as beside the fact it will restrict water flow, they are notorious for failing due to slime and calcium build-up. Drill two 1/8" holes about 1/4" below the water surface. This should be low enough to keep the water from splashing, causing salt creep. The reason for two holes is in case one get's clogged.

 

[Kedd]

Don't use any check valves, they will fail at sometime.

How deep is the return in the tank?(end of nozzel)
Is it lockline?
These must not be the stock returns from AGA, they come drilled at the bottom of the 3/4 90 where you screw the lockline into it.

If there's no hole in the return, the tank will back siphon to the level of the return output(deepest point of the nozzel).

I just use this level as my guide and don't worry about the hole in the return, because it will also plug and fail unless it's cleaned regularly.

 

[Kedd]

Stock AGA return

Hole drilled in 90

 

[sporty]

Basically when enough water has backed siphon into the sump to expose the hole you drilled, it will suck air and as a result break the siphon action.
That would be a reason not to drill it too low below the water line because its going to take that much water to expose that hole to air and it might over flood your sump.

 

[danfish]

Don't use any check valves, they will fail at sometime.

How deep is the return in the tank?(end of nozzel)
Is it lockline?
These must not be the stock returns from AGA, they come drilled at the bottom of the 3/4 90 where you screw the lockline into it.

If there's no hole in the return, the tank will back siphon to the level of the return output(deepest point of the nozzel).

I just use this level as my guide and don't worry about the hole in the return, because it will also plug and fail unless it's cleaned regularly.

it is a aga stock return, the back siphion does stop when the power is turn off but i can still see water trickling down the return tube at a very slow pace and if there is a power outage and im not home eventually it will over flow it my sump. any idea why this is happening? thx

 

[Psycho graphic]

I have had a few setups trickle small amounts of water even with siphon breaks. I don't know why they did this, but all stopped after about 5 minutes. The amount of water this added to the sump was very lttle. The best thing to do IMO is shut the system down till the siphon break hits, mark the level in your sump with a marker or tape and keep an eye on it for about a half hour and make sure it does'nt keep trickling water and overflow.

 

[leonarsi]

Mine came with a small hole drilled on the inside of the right angle shown in your picture. Means that any water that is squirted out the hole when the return pump is on directs down. Works great for me

 

[Kedd]

Two things I would try, but no need to do both, the second will allow you to keep a larger volume of water in the system


1. If you can, lower the water level in the sump until with all power off and siphon stopped completly there is no overflow.

2. Raise the nozzel level of the return, which will not allow as much water the be back siphoned.

When all is said and done, with a power outage and pumps off it should not even be close to overflowing the sump, which I'm sure is what your trying to do.

There is always some trickling, but it will stop once the nozzel is exposed.

Good luck