how to quiet drain line?

gfk · 07/19/2006, 06:30 PM

I have 3/4" pvc draining from a durso and internal overflow. the durso is silent, but the water is making splashing noises in the drain line.

i have two 45's and then a 90 at the bottom of the sump, any suggestions how to quiet it down some?

gfk · 07/19/2006, 07:16 PM

anyone?

MJAnderson · 07/19/2006, 07:21 PM

Bit confused...if the Durso is silent, where is the splashing noise? The Durso should have a hole at the top. Are you getting noise from there or is it from under your tank?

gfk · 07/19/2006, 07:23 PM

the durso is silent, and has a hole

the water noise is coming from the pvc under the tank, and when the bubbles rise to the top of the sump's water level

Avi · 07/19/2006, 08:50 PM

This is the fix that completely silenced that same problem for me.....

MJAnderson · 07/19/2006, 09:46 PM

Avi, dont you get the same bubble noise with that? Where are the bubbles created? On the way down or at the exit point?

gfk · 07/19/2006, 11:57 PM

i kind of see the way that could work, but could you explain it more?

im guessing the air escapes up top and somehow is silent, not sure why though

xtm · 07/20/2006, 01:05 AM

I have the straight pipe setup... it sounded like a gargling toilet until I found this fix: I inserted an airline tubing in the drainpipe all the way to the middle of it and I let the other end of the air line to hang loose outside the tank. The idea is to supply air to the syphon to make it suck smoothly. I am still using this "mod" and I guarantee you this works 100%.

Think about it as drinking coffee from a lid.. you try to sip from the hole but there's also a tiny hole right above it. That tiny hole makes "siphoning" the coffee much easier because it helps with the airflow.... same thing with this "mod" it's the same principle.

outy · 07/20/2006, 01:24 AM

gfk the noise your talking about is in the drain line directly below the overflow?

Avi · 07/20/2006, 06:00 AM

I've read many posts where it's reported that xtm's fix will work and you could do it that way. I read those reports after I used the method depicted in the diagram. The idea there is that the air in the line doesn't get expelled all at once, and then collect only to repeat that same thing again over and over, which is what results in the annoying "toilet flush" noise. It causes the air to slow down and exit in a more disbursed way so the noise doesn't occur. I've had it on my sustem for over two years and it's worked like a charm. So, there are more than one way to resolve your issue, gfk.

MJAnderson · 07/20/2006, 06:51 AM

xtm,

Did you thread the tube down the pipe where the hole is in the cap now? Or did you do away with the cap entirely?

rick s · 07/20/2006, 08:58 AM

This worked for me. Here is an old post:

To cure my "water falling noise" I went very basic. Instead of having the water fall into a pipe and crashing into the water that is standing in it, I got rid of the pipes and connected a 3' flexible pool hose to my bulkhead. The flexible hose gently bends from vertical to horizontal. As it gently bends, the water gathers and gently slows down. No crashing, no gurgling, no noise.

My overflow is just a plain piece of pvc, open at the top, with a sponge on top of it to keep snails and junk out of my sump.

Be aware that the brand new hose gave me a lot of bubbles for a few days until the walls coated over. Now, there are none.

I also found that by making very slight changes in the bend angles, "angle of attack", and how it twisted and turned I could take it from relatively quite, to almost silent. The output of the hose works best for me when approximately half of it is above the water line.

A lot of the waterfall "trickling" noise I had was just that. It was the water falling those 3 inches from the tank into the overflow box. I got rid of that by putting a piece of foam inside the box, against the 2 walls, just above the water line. Now the water falls into the foam/sponge instead of splashing into the water.

Just another option. . .

Mr Bojangles · 07/20/2006, 09:35 AM

I have done the T tube at the end and it works the best, but the sound is from falling water. The way used to to that worked well but can be bad is put a gate valve and slowly closed it till the sound stopped. This slowed the water down in the tube and made the sound go away.

Hal · 07/20/2006, 10:02 AM

If the noise is coming from the water that is sloshing around in the drain pipe while en route to the sump, you can insulate the drain pipe in two ways. First, you can wrap lead tape around the drain pipe. This increases the mass of the drain pipe which reduces the vibration. Vibration = noise. The other way is to add foam insulation (the kind you wrap hot water pipes with) which will tend to absorb some of the noise.

Don't expect 100% quiet from either method, but they should help if that is the transmission mode for the sound.

Amphiprion · 07/20/2006, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by xtm
I have the straight pipe setup... it sounded like a gargling toilet until I found this fix: I inserted an airline tubing in the drainpipe all the way to the middle of it and I let the other end of the air line to hang loose outside the tank. The idea is to supply air to the syphon to make it suck smoothly. I am still using this "mod" and I guarantee you this works 100%.

Think about it as drinking coffee from a lid.. you try to sip from the hole but there's also a tiny hole right above it. That tiny hole makes "siphoning" the coffee much easier because it helps with the airflow.... same thing with this "mod" it's the same principle.

When I did this, the siphon sucked the airline tube in while I was away, lol.

j_beau_13 · 07/20/2006, 05:07 PM

your never going to completely silence the drain because the durso pushes air down the tube to get the water to drain...only way to completely silence the water splashing is to get ride of the air in the drain...its called herbies method and i did it for my 75 gal reef-ready bc it was in my room and all you hear now is the hum of the pump....http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...verflow+system

gfk · 07/20/2006, 06:45 PM

it quieted down a little over night, i think its being coated a little bit inside the piping.

im gonna use the foam wrap first since we sell it at my work and i can get it cheap

07/19/2006, 06:30 PM	#1
gfk Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Benicia, CA Posts: 1,601	how to quiet drain line? I have 3/4" pvc draining from a durso and internal overflow. the durso is silent, but the water is making splashing noises in the drain line. i have two 45's and then a 90 at the bottom of the sump, any suggestions how to quiet it down some?

07/19/2006, 08:50 PM	#5
Avi Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Westchester County, NY Posts: 7,327	This is the fix that completely silenced that same problem for me..... __________________ I'd keep the whole ocean if my den were big enough Current Tank Info: 120 gallon reef with 210 lbs. of live rock, Aqua-C EV180 Skimmer, Aquactinic double 250W MH with blue plus t5 support; 58 gallon freshwater planted tank using CO2 and T5s; 30-gallon cube with a few fancy goldfish; and a 110 gallon FOWLR

07/20/2006, 01:05 AM	#8
xtm Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Panorama City, CA Posts: 4,703	I have the straight pipe setup... it sounded like a gargling toilet until I found this fix: I inserted an airline tubing in the drainpipe all the way to the middle of it and I let the other end of the air line to hang loose outside the tank. The idea is to supply air to the syphon to make it suck smoothly. I am still using this "mod" and I guarantee you this works 100%. Think about it as drinking coffee from a lid.. you try to sip from the hole but there's also a tiny hole right above it. That tiny hole makes "siphoning" the coffee much easier because it helps with the airflow.... same thing with this "mod" it's the same principle. __________________ Function before fashion Current Tank Info: 120g SPS Tank (48x24x24)

07/20/2006, 06:00 AM	#10
Avi Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Westchester County, NY Posts: 7,327	I've read many posts where it's reported that xtm's fix will work and you could do it that way. I read those reports after I used the method depicted in the diagram. The idea there is that the air in the line doesn't get expelled all at once, and then collect only to repeat that same thing again over and over, which is what results in the annoying "toilet flush" noise. It causes the air to slow down and exit in a more disbursed way so the noise doesn't occur. I've had it on my sustem for over two years and it's worked like a charm. So, there are more than one way to resolve your issue, gfk. __________________ I'd keep the whole ocean if my den were big enough Current Tank Info: 120 gallon reef with 210 lbs. of live rock, Aqua-C EV180 Skimmer, Aquactinic double 250W MH with blue plus t5 support; 58 gallon freshwater planted tank using CO2 and T5s; 30-gallon cube with a few fancy goldfish; and a 110 gallon FOWLR

07/20/2006, 08:58 AM	#12
rick s Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Chester, VA Posts: 2,993	This worked for me. Here is an old post: To cure my "water falling noise" I went very basic. Instead of having the water fall into a pipe and crashing into the water that is standing in it, I got rid of the pipes and connected a 3' flexible pool hose to my bulkhead. The flexible hose gently bends from vertical to horizontal. As it gently bends, the water gathers and gently slows down. No crashing, no gurgling, no noise. My overflow is just a plain piece of pvc, open at the top, with a sponge on top of it to keep snails and junk out of my sump. Be aware that the brand new hose gave me a lot of bubbles for a few days until the walls coated over. Now, there are none. I also found that by making very slight changes in the bend angles, "angle of attack", and how it twisted and turned I could take it from relatively quite, to almost silent. The output of the hose works best for me when approximately half of it is above the water line. A lot of the waterfall "trickling" noise I had was just that. It was the water falling those 3 inches from the tank into the overflow box. I got rid of that by putting a piece of foam inside the box, against the 2 walls, just above the water line. Now the water falls into the foam/sponge instead of splashing into the water. Just another option. . . __________________ Rick Current Tank Info: Reefer Emeritus

07/19/2006, 07:16 PM	#2
gfk Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Benicia, CA Posts: 1,601	anyone?

07/19/2006, 07:21 PM	#3
MJAnderson Premium Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: East Bay, CA Posts: 2,633	Bit confused...if the Durso is silent, where is the splashing noise? The Durso should have a hole at the top. Are you getting noise from there or is it from under your tank?

07/19/2006, 07:23 PM	#4
gfk Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Benicia, CA Posts: 1,601	the durso is silent, and has a hole the water noise is coming from the pvc under the tank, and when the bubbles rise to the top of the sump's water level

07/19/2006, 09:46 PM	#6
MJAnderson Premium Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: East Bay, CA Posts: 2,633	Avi, dont you get the same bubble noise with that? Where are the bubbles created? On the way down or at the exit point?

07/19/2006, 11:57 PM	#7
gfk Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Benicia, CA Posts: 1,601	i kind of see the way that could work, but could you explain it more? im guessing the air escapes up top and somehow is silent, not sure why though

07/20/2006, 01:24 AM	#9
outy Moved On Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: auburn CA Posts: 4,021	gfk the noise your talking about is in the drain line directly below the overflow?

07/20/2006, 06:51 AM	#11
MJAnderson Premium Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: East Bay, CA Posts: 2,633	xtm, Did you thread the tube down the pipe where the hole is in the cap now? Or did you do away with the cap entirely?

07/20/2006, 09:35 AM	#13
Mr Bojangles Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Brevard county, Fl Posts: 914	I have done the T tube at the end and it works the best, but the sound is from falling water. The way used to to that worked well but can be bad is put a gate valve and slowly closed it till the sound stopped. This slowed the water down in the tube and made the sound go away.

07/20/2006, 10:02 AM	#14
Hal Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Longmont, CO Posts: 1,889	If the noise is coming from the water that is sloshing around in the drain pipe while en route to the sump, you can insulate the drain pipe in two ways. First, you can wrap lead tape around the drain pipe. This increases the mass of the drain pipe which reduces the vibration. Vibration = noise. The other way is to add foam insulation (the kind you wrap hot water pipes with) which will tend to absorb some of the noise. Don't expect 100% quiet from either method, but they should help if that is the transmission mode for the sound. __________________ Some days it's not even worth chewing through the restraints. Current Tank Info: 250g starphire: 72x28x30, BeanAnimal drain with an oversized non-durso emergency drain, 4 inch DSB, 3x Reefbreeders Value LED fixtures, SWC/MSX 300A skimmer, Geo kalk reactor, 3 Vortechs w/bb, carbon reactor, and a RKL

07/20/2006, 05:07 PM	#16
j_beau_13 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: N Carolina Posts: 465	your never going to completely silence the drain because the durso pushes air down the tube to get the water to drain...only way to completely silence the water splashing is to get ride of the air in the drain...its called herbies method and i did it for my 75 gal reef-ready bc it was in my room and all you hear now is the hum of the pump....http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...verflow+system

07/20/2006, 06:45 PM	#17
gfk Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Benicia, CA Posts: 1,601	it quieted down a little over night, i think its being coated a little bit inside the piping. im gonna use the foam wrap first since we sell it at my work and i can get it cheap