[kirk]

yes i may be crazy but that's besides the point.

I just got a eheim 2213 from a friend. I don't think it's been used for very long, maybe a year? I set it up today to replace my aquaclear 70. I was looking forward to some near silent eheim filtration.

Well i get it hooked up and start it up. The usual air clearing and lingering bubbles. After the filter runs a while, i notice this odd high pitch whistle. What the heck!? So i shake the heck out of the filter to get the last bit of air out and the same thing. Not a rattle. Not a buzz. Not a hum. A steady whistle. Hmmmm...

I was sure to clean and inspect the impellar. All good there. I just cleaned all the lines, media and the canister etc. It was primed correctly - from the bottom up - siphoned from the tank.

I tried adjusting the valves to slow the rate of flow and noticed a change in pitch. Huh? Well i thought it was coming from the motor.... curse! These things aren't quiet! What the heck! Well later tonight i thought it sounded like maybe it's coming from the output hose! But the hose? I put my ear up to the tank and i hear nothing. But i listen to the tank near the hose. Ha! That's it. Could the spray bar be whistling? It looks like a flute! A piccolo even so.

So i put my hand in the tank to cover a hole on the spraybar. Again a change in pitch! This time higher. I began to play a tune, HA HA :fish:

All the above is true except the musical tune part!

I am getting exceptional flow from the 2213 'cause the top of the filter is just below the water line of the tank. The filter sits on the window sill behind the tank so i was able to reduce the length of hose to a minimum. Also the media and lines were just thoroughly cleaned. Another aspect which may be contributing; i noticed when cleaning that the spraybar appeared as trimmed shorter than normal thus increasing pressure. There is now seven holes - all look stock size.

Is this a short bar? I will open up a few holes to reduce pressure and maybe eliminate that whistle.

Thought i'd share this unique discovery! Anyone else here ever get anything like this? I searched for whistling eheim but did not find anything similar.

Kirk

 

[freph]

I've never heard of a spray bar whistling....maybe it's a connection that's whistling somewhere? That's certainly very odd...

 

[BlazednSleepy]

Is the spray bar under neath the water line?

 

[samamorgan]

To create a whistle there has to be some sort of tag on one of the spraybar holes at the right shape. Take a drill bit of the correct size and stick it in each hole and ream off any excess plastic. Also if it's above the water, put it below the water and you probably wont hear anything. It should be below the water anyway.

 

[Da Plant Man]

My spray bar whistles. I like it, my pet conure tries to whistle back, also

 

[accordztech]

Plug each spraybar hole one by one. When the whistle goes away then ream that hole out.

 

[OVT]

Round toothpicks work great for cleaning and plugging spray bar holes

 

[kirk]

Is the spray bar under neath the water line?

yes, completely submerged.

 

[kirk]

To create a whistle there has to be some sort of tag on one of the spraybar holes at the right shape. Take a drill bit of the correct size and stick it in each hole and ream off any excess plastic. Also if it's above the water, put it below the water and you probably wont hear anything. It should be below the water anyway.

It makes sense that a tag could cause a whistle, but the holes are perfectly round and burr/tab free.

My spray bar whistles. I like it, my pet conure tries to whistle back, also

Cool, at first it was annoying but maybe i need some birds in here too!! haha

Plug each spraybar hole one by one. When the whistle goes away then ream that hole out.

I've tried that. It just changes the tone/pitch no matter which hole/s i plug. I think i'll drill them out bigger, or at least one or two of them until i get the song right...

Round toothpicks work great for cleaning and plugging spray bar holes

nice tip, thanks. if i drill out this won't work so well for plugging though.
How many holes are on a stock 2213 spray bar??

 

[Salmon McCloud]

My spray bar whistled and I discovered the problem was the outlet hose was pinched together just slightly and that little pinch caused an increase in pressure which caused the whistle. Look around for this and you may find your problem.

 

[kirk]

well there was an increase in pressure. In my case the bar was trimmed shorter and the holes were the original stock size. Essentially the same thing as pinching the hose a little. This caused some whistling at the bar.

I can confirm this 'cause i just drilled out two holes and the pitch reduced. I then drilled a third and the whistle went away. That's where i'm leaving it.

BTW: the bit i used was an 1/8th inch. Just 1mm larger than the stock 2mm size.

 

[SamandAnne]

Great post, thanks!

I know this is an old post, but I'm very glad I found it! My spray bar is whistling, too. The suggestions here were perfect, so I just wanted to comment on it. I DO have a kink in the outlet hose that I'll have to figure out how to straighten out. I never would have looked to that as the source of the problem. Hopefully I'll be able to straighten that out and take care of the problem. Thanks for posting your final solution and for all the suggestions!

 

[Jonnyb]

My spraybar is also whining.

A couple of years later, this thread helped me, too!
Yes, pitch changes when flow is adjusted at the filter outlet. fun.
When flow is reduced a lot, the hum disappears, but that's not helpful.
Changing the depth of the spraybar can also affect the sound...
I'm going to just try to enjoy the tone for now, until i'm sure i'm happy with the new tank and filter.
It's a Tetra EX1200 Plus. The double spraybar does seem a little short for a filter of this power.
The giant eheim 2080 1200xl of similar power has a much longer spraybar, and does not sing

thanks!

JB