Running high powered pumps in an EBB n GRO?

[NorCalFor20]

I have a greentree ebb n gro system with 2 maxijet 600 pumps one in the res on in the controller bucket, they're rated ay 160GPH but i want to upgrade to a nice Little Giant NK-2 Submersible Pump (325GPH)

I would get one for the controller bucket and one for the ressy

would this work or too powerful?

 

[EvilTwin]

Hi Norcal,
I would say it would be OK to do that for the fill cycle (the pump in the res) but think about all the issues with putting that in your controller. First off, I'd think it would cycle on and off too often. (hard on the pump) Also, your system already has floats to control the motor while the pump has it's own internal floats with shut-off. It just seems there could be some complications with that...though perhaps not.

If you're looking for faster fills, I'd suggest going with 3/4" hose rather then the 1/2". I just built a 17 pot E&F using Ogre's plans and really wished I'd gone with 3/4" hose. I'll bet that's your bottleneck.

Hey, how's the electrical situation going? Still fighting that main breaker? Sorry I didn't answer your query about what else to shut off. Didn't have a good answer.
Anyway, good luck on both issues.
ET

 

[Cheeb]

ET is spot on.. but has it worded backwards. You should only use a larger pump in your controller (draining pump).

A larger fill (res) pump would only fill your controller faster - causing it to cycle.
Going with bigger tubing is the only solution.

But draining the system (pump in controller) could be as big as you'd like. You cannot drain this system too fast.

hope that clears up any confusion.

peace
cheeb

 

[EvilTwin]

Norcal,
My post was based on observing my system, which has some major differences from the commercial units. I'm not 100% in agreement with cheeb, but clearly we agree on hose size. Cranking up your pumps won't get the job done...no matter which pump.

It takes a long time for the pots to drain back to the controller (with 1/2" tubing) so that's why I was thinking that you'd get excessive cycling with a large pump in the controller.

Hope you get it all worked out...
ET

 

[Cheeb]

right right.. a larger pump in the controller (drain) would merely pump the water faster out of the controller - faster then buckets can drain back to the controller.

my question - is why do you want to run larger pumps? trying to fill and drain faster?

In my opinion the beauty of this system is the ability to use small quiet pumps to fill and drain a larger number of buckets. Its quiet, uses little energy..and works.

peace
cheeb

 

[EvilTwin]

Hi Guys,
As I observe and troubleshoot my new system, and thinking about Norcal's question...I've come to the conclusion that there's probably an optimal size pump for each system. Too small, and you will get slow filling (or draining) and too large and all you do really is cycle the pump off and on more frequently without really changing the fill/drain times. So the trick is to find that magic gallons/hour where your pump and your system are perfectly in synch. I use an eco 396 for my drain pump and I don't think a bigger pump would speed things up much.

However, if I bumped up the hose to 3/4", then I could use a bigger pump since the system would be able to respond to it. Or so it appears to me...
Cheers,
ET