Grow Mediums First overflow - reduce water level?

[Ace12]

@Olderfart no offense taken. Thanks for educating us on how it actually works. When I took mine out and cleaned it I assumed it was from the top seal maybe I cleaned something out. You were spot on though it was overwatering causing it to not operate correctly. I don't think it was seated right either...seems you know quite a bit more then I do about them. I'm only about halfway through my first run but very impressed. Also first coco grow using megacrop 1 part and its going amazing got my 5x5 about bursting with 4 autos. hey also I'm assuming augopot sells the silicon pieces? Great idea to have some spares.

 

[JaysAutopots]

Beat me to the draw @St. Tom. @yak22, if the tray overfills, the problem is probably failure of the inner float valve to seal. The cure is to turn off the reservoir, remove and dis-assemble the valve entirely, clean everything (including removing, cleaning and re-installing both silicone seals) and put it all back together. Make sure that the valve area of the tray is clean before repositioning the valve. If you can see grooving on the silicone seals where they press onto the seal surface, reverse them to present a flat smooth face to the seal, and make sure that they are inserted fully and flat into their cavities.

One additional possibility is that you have not pressed the valve fully into place onto its retainer post. The bottom of the valve cover needs to be flush with the tray surface.

Have a look at the troubleshooting sticky for more details, and shoot me a pm if you don't get it sorted.

Good luck with it.

RE: the valve cover needs to be flush with the tray surface ...

my XL tray has three ridges that prevenst the autovalve from being pushed down flush to the tray and the "T" has a plastic stop to also prevent it from being pushed down any further.

I'm new to the setup, just now trying to evaluate if the valve is functioning properly.

 

[Olderfart]

RE: the valve cover needs to be flush with the tray surface ...

my XL tray has three ridges that prevenst the autovalve from being pushed down flush to the tray and the "T" has a plastic stop to also prevent it from being pushed down any further.

I'm new to the setup, just now trying to evaluate if the valve is functioning properly.

As long as the cover is fully engaged to the supports you mention, you should be fine. "flush" was a slight misnomer, "fully seated" would have been a better choice of words. The cure for flooding is still disassembly and thorough cleaning.

Something else I noticed on the current run is that if you use your own DIY tray, the valve needs to be sitting on a hard surface, not on flexible poly used to line the tray. My valves misbehaved slightly until I added a plastic bed for them to sit on.

Good luck with your grow, any further questions about the valves, just post away.

 

[Big Sul]

I had issues and contacted Autopot, cuz no matter what I did, I experienced intermittent flooding. I have my own opinion of a reason, but nothing concrete. Company sent new grommet trays. Not a drop of water since. Can move pots with ease. I attached a link to a thread I started About it. more of an informative post than anything else.

https://www.autoflower.org/threads/grommet-trays.85757/