Problems with ebb n gro Please Read!!!!!!!

[widowman64]

So im having this problem with my ebb n gro system. When the fill cycle is activated, buckets fill and everythings fine. when the drain cycle is activated, all the water drains back out like expected. the problem is at the end of the drain cycle. Right when the drain pump turns off, the remaining water in the drain pumps tube flows back down into the controller bucket and its just enough to reactivate the pump. It will not stop doing this. Does anybody have input with this flaw????

 

[sirtom68]

Go to Youtube and look up sublbc He is running a ebb & grow right now and knows quite a bit about the systems and its flaws. Better yet, email him [email protected] Im sure he will be happy to help you out. I think he may still creep around here some, he used to be a regular a few years back.

 

[widowman64]

he has too many videos on there but do you understand what im getting at? the water thats in the tube (draining from the controller bucket to the res.) flows back down into the controller bucket and reactivates the pump. And when is reactivates, its not enough water to make it up and over into the res so it just keep draining back down and reactivating pump.

 

[sirtom68]

I think I know what you are talking about. The pump constantly kicks on and off because water is being pulled back from the res, which is higher, or is it just the small amount of water in the tube that is the problem? You may want to make sure that the return to the res isnt below the water level in the res,a little space between the return line and the highest point of the res water level, let it fall back in the res from the controller. If it is inserted below the water line, you will have water trying to siphon back into the controller thus reactivating the pump and that would cause the issue that you are having, I would think anyways. I have never seen one up close so I may be off base a little, but you need a siphon brake of some sort.

 

[widowman64]

i dont have a tube going from the top of the res and into the water so it cant be syphoning! its just the small amount of water thats left in the controller isn't enough to make it to the top of the res, so it goes back down into the controller, then back up the drain tube, and back down into the controller.

 

[sirtom68]

Ok, the switch in the controller, can you raise it just an inch to prevent it from reactivating or is it mounted somewhere in a fixed position? I know it is ok to have an inch or two in the bottoms of your plant buckets, the water wont stand long enough to go stagnant. Do you think that would work?

 

[widowman64]

well,sorry, but ur deff. wrong about it being o.k. to have that water still in there. I know this because I fisrt bought this system 3 years ago and my first run with it (keep in mind that it was the older system and that they have upgraded it since then) I didnt raise my buckets and there was always the 1-1.5 inches left in the bottom of the pots and all the plants suffered really bad root rot. nearly killed all of them. Found out i needed to raise the buckets and saved all my plants from dying. Now ive moved to the legal state and just got the newer version of this system and the bottom of the pots are hollowed out about 1.5 inches to fix this problem, but i still put my pots on 2x6's just to be sure because im growing in a garage and the ground is not level (as with every garage). With this new system I just now realized another difference between the older version and this one. That being that the old system had 3 float switches inside the controller and this one just two for fill and drain. I think the benefit of having the 3 in the old system was that 2 were mounted about an inch apart on the bottom for the drain. Which I think was to fix this problem that im having rite now! in order for the drain to kick on both float switches had to be floating, and the pump would shut off after the lowest switch was down. So when this little extra water came back down the tube it wouldn't be enough to reactive the pump because it wouldn't reach the second float switch. Why the heck did they change it??? I'm probably gonna call them tomarrow.

 

[widowman64]

But i think i just fixed it tho. See the bottom float switch is on an angle so that it only takes a small amount of water to turn off the switch. i just turned it slightly more verticle so that it could pump out a little bit more water and not reactivate the drain pump when the extra water in the tube flows back down. hopefully this keeps working for me. However im still calling cap tomorrow to yell at them retards.

 

[sirtom68]

Without actually seeing it, the best thing i can think of would be a check valve, but you would think that would have came with the system. Do you have ANY amount of tubing that you could trim off the return to lower its volume, in other words, run only the minimum amount you can from the controller to the res? Not saying you do have, but if you do have extra tubing in that section, it could be your problem as well, tubing laying loose or coiled up on the floor maby?

 

[widowman64]

actually i went with the minimum tubing I needed at first, and the problem existed. So i used a longer piece of tube and made it dip down a little under where it connects to the controller bucket so that the extra water would get stuck in the tube and not go back into the controller. but it didn't work, I still had the problem. But I just turned that bottom float valve a little and it hasn't dont it since. maybe they put that valve on too much of an angle when they made this system. idk tho, a call tomorrow i'm sure will answer my questions.

 

[widowman64]

This is a good thread tho for EnG users. 3 years ago when i bought the system i remember the guy at the shop talking about this problem only he was saying that it was caused by an over rated pump in the controller, and that a slower rated pump would fix the problem. or maybe it was a faster rated pump that fixed it. idk it was a long ass time ago.

 

[hellraizer30]

ive got a new version and a old one its a simple fix all you have to do is raise the timer side of the control box
a 1/8th of a inch and the pump issue goes away. as for water geting left behind in the bucket and the control
box that just the way it was made and doesnt cause any IL affects.

 

[widowman64]

ive got a new version and a old one its a simple fix all you have to do is raise the timer side of the control box
a 1/8th of a inch and the pump issue goes away. as for water geting left behind in the bucket and the control
box that just the way it was made and doesnt cause any IL affects.

yea i thought we were talking about the 1 inch of water left in the pots, not the controller. But you are right, the water left in the controller hasn't ever caused me problems. Actually I called cap today and the guy knew what I was talking about rite away. He said that it was their mess up and that a bunch of systems got shipped out that didnt come with this check valve thing like they were suppose to. He said he would mail me the check valves for all 3 of my systems. If you recently purchased an ebb n gro, it would be a good idea to make sure your came with a check valve or your pumps aren't going to last long.

I thought of raising the one side of the control and did that but with no success. I used a piece of cardboard to raise it and poured a little water in there to see if it would stop draining but it didnt work. Then I turned the float switch a little and that worked for me.

 

[hellraizer30]

check valve can you post a pic of it?

 

[StickyGlands]

This system use two switchs for the drain pump? One on one off? Raise the on switch by a 1/4 in should fix it.

 

[widowman64]

This system use two switchs for the drain pump? One on one off? Raise the on switch by a 1/4 in should fix it.

raising it 1/4 in would not fix it because you would also raise the water level the same amount + filling the first hole would be a pain.

The old unit came with 2 floats for the drain pump to work with but they took the second out with the new one because it was causing some really problems or something. I use to have the old one and I know its still working fine. Ill post a pic of whatever check valve they send me. Should be here sometime next week.

 

[widowman64]

this is what google fed at me. I'm sure cap's gonna send me something similar.

 

[sirtom68]

Kinda figured that a check valve would be the answer.

 

[widowman64]

yea i didn't know they existed but now im wondering if that thing will clog easily and break.

 

[hellraizer30]

i have the new and old version and none of them came with oue of those!