System Stuck....need to know why?

[Apollo]

Here are my thoughts;

1. All your barrels will break siphon at that point because that is the point of equal pressure, if you siphon from a bucket once you lift the end of the hose to the height of the water in the bucket the siphon stops. This is not a bad thing, water is still being circulated from the bottom of your GB's, you'll always have some water remaining in your GB's. As an emergency water source for worms, long roots and as a wicker effect.

2. Your pipe siphon will not "fire" without adequate water volume...you might have to increase you rate of flow. Or build your pipe siphon out of 1/2" PVC. I would work on more water volume, not sure how long it takes for your barrels to fill. To much time may leave your plants out of water to long, with some water remaining in your GB it helps in decreasing your refill time.

3. Where the water meets the return pipe to the sump is where most of your problems lie. You have your 90 elbow going straight down. This needs to be turn 90+ degrees to the right. By angling it slightly upward you create back pressure in the water flow leaving your GB, this will cause the pipe siphon to "fire".

4. That last 90 elbow must never be completely under water...it needs to allow air to move back to the pipe siphon in order to break the siphon. It may take several air glops to break siphon. Think of it this way...back to siphoning water from a bucket with a hose. In order to break the siphon air has to enter the hose from either end, this air breaks the siphon in the hose and water will drain out of the hose.

5. I would like you to try this; take 1 barrel, take the 90 out of the 2" pipe , turn it to the right 90+ increase this angle if the pipe siphon falls to "fire" after it starts to cycle (it should take a minute or so). Make sure you have enough water volume entering your GB to fill it in about 8 minutes, from where it normally breaks siphon, (not totally empty).

I take it that you have no swirl filler in your system, media, water and barrels look real dirty.

Check out "Hello from Phoenix AZ..." he's using the 1/2 barrels, just a thought.
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I HAVE NOT FAILED. I'VE JUST FOUND 10,000 WAYS THAT WON'T WORK. Thomas A Edison

[foodchain]

Okay. Lot's of trial and error all day. Learned a lot on how things work, but not much on why they don't. Phone conversation with Apollo has me trying something tomorrow. I will update it once I find out results.

The idea of using the letter N design instead of M only partially resolved some issues. And created others.

In the morning I will remove the 2" pipe, replace with gutter and try apollo's idea of turning last 90 elbow parallel to the ground.

Barrels are dirty due to taking two years to build this nightmare of a project. Cleaning as I go.

[foodchain]

Okay. I removed the 2" return pipe to sump, and replaced with a graded 6" plastic gutter. I then reinstalled the M fittings in 4 of the barrels. And turned the 90 degree elbows from everything from straight down all the way to straight up, and everything in between. The result, much better gas exchange on the gutter, but the siphons still do NOT fire. I have attached pics below to see exactly what is what.
What happens:
The siphon starts as the barrels reach their "full" point, the siphon starts, but doesn't disengage. Current theory is that I am adding too much water flow into the barrel. With no media, it sounds like I am supposed to be taking 16 minutes to fill each one. So now I am going back out to isolate ONE barrel, empty it as far as it will go and watch the clock to monitor the fill rate. Then turn 90 elbow parallel to the gutter and see what happens.

***update***
I adjusted the intake flow from 10 minutes all the way out to 35 to fill. No change. Waste of time.

[foodchain]

Okay, so pics are sideways. Humor me, and turn your head. You can see different 90's at different angles. In the middle barrel, you will see that the discharge flow matches the intake flow. This drains the barrel but never releases to allow a complete refill.

If anyone has input, please chime in.
I am running out of days to resolve this. Tomorrow is the last full day I have to get this right. Otherwise it goes to sitting until I have time again.

[foodchain]

OK. 2 more pics. In these pics I rebuilt the M piping w/ 1/2 inch connecting to 3/4 for the rest of the discharge pipe.
.....NO.....
This didn't work either. Note the flow out matches the flow in. Increasing the flow, is easily done by opening and closing valves...the result though is that the discharge line's flow increases are decreases to match the intake flow. Same result regardless of the amount of water coming in. Just changes how fast it happens.

[foodchain]

Next up for tomorrow morning.....wrip out the M in 1/2 inch, and convert to N and reconnect. Cycle it that way on just one barrel.

To say I am frustrated is an understatement.

I am considering tearing down and selling this stuff off. I have been fighting with this every day for a week, all day...and am no closer to resolving. I am putting a cut off date on the calendar. If I do not have resolved by that date, it's all going to be sold or taken to the landfill. If anyone is interested, let me know. Ideally, this stupid thing will work. But I have other responsibilities that are being neglected so that this "simple" design could be installed.