ebb and flow sucking sound when draining

anybody know how to stop it? Its the only unnatural sound in my room I'd like to get rid of.

A pic of the area in question and a bit more description, and I bet we can find a solution. I am not that familiar with ebb and flow, tho plumbing in general, I got a pretty damn good handle on that..lol

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

try slowing the drain down , but if you do this you gotta make sure that the feed rate is slower than the drain (to prevent overflow) unless you have a fail-safe mat big enough to catch your reservoir.
i'd put a ball valve on the drain tube and see if "dampering" it would help.

re-thought about ebb and flow
i forgot the drain IS the supply, and that the overflow was just to make sure it doesn't over flow..
how about getting a smaller pump and doing the ball valve thing.
it may take the whole 15 minutes to fill, but you may not get that noise anymore..
i figure the noise isn't when it overflows but it's when the pump turns off.
what i'm saying here is if you figure a way to slow down the final drain, the noise will lessen. But also be careful that whatever you restrict it with doesn't wear on your pump

reading into this i guess all you have to do is slide a piece of small tubing down through the fill pipe about halfway into the reservoir and fasten it somehow.. it should prevent the syphon and quiet it up (sort of like those gas cans with the vent in the nozzle)

thanks for the responses.
as you said, the drain is the fill, the "big" pipe is just the overflow.

Ball valve is an idea though I dont really want to slow my drain any more than it is. These are 2x4 trays with 1/2" fill tube.

Hmm wonder if I upped my fill tube size and pump size.

What size fill and overflow lines are you using and how long is the overflow tube?

1/2" fill 1" overflow.
660gph pumps.
The overflow doesnt make noise its just the drain back that makes a sucking, gurgling noise.
the overflow is 4" tall in the tray. and it only actually uses the overflow for less than a minute. trays fill in 5 minutes and the pump shuts off.
overflow line is roughly 2.5-3.5 ft of 1" tube back to the rez.

ilikecheetoes said:

1/2" fill 1" overflow.
660gph pumps.
The overflow doesnt make noise its just the drain back that makes a sucking, gurgling noise.
the overflow is 4" tall in the tray. and it only actually uses the overflow for less than a minute. trays fill in 5 minutes and the pump shuts off.
overflow line is roughly 2.5-3.5 ft of 1" tube back to the rez.

Click to expand...

That all sounds right. Mine does the same thing but I don't really hear it because of the fans and scrubber.

i can hear it through a sheetrock wall over a 14" fan, a 6" and a 4"...
Its 8 trays and when the pumps shut off its like the fucking hoover dam draining in there LOL.

Im moving locations and im thinking about using one huge rez. run a single 1/2" with a T at each tray for the fill tube. A bag ass sump pump so it still fills fairly fast still. Then the drain will be slower as all of them dump through the single 1/2" back to the rez.

and before somebody asks, I use 2x4 trays because they are easy to move and clean and deal with. anything bigger is a fucking pain to even get in a car to take home. and god those 4x8 trays are just monstrous.

I only run my pumps during lights on, which is at night, so its less of a concern for noise, but I do like stealth.