Best way to start a syphon on a long hose?
- Thread starter Quo Vadis
- Start date
There are various valves that help. Some gravel vacs have a one way valve that you shake up and down until siphon starts and some have a hand ball type pump to start the siphon
To start the siphon, you have to fill the hose with water. For a short hose, you can suck it. Obviously, you can't do it with a long hose. For a long hose, the easiest way is to hook up one end to the faucet, and the other end submerged in the tank. Turn on the faucet until water comes out steadily in the tank and turn it off. Now you can unhook it from the faucet and relocate the end to a lower point to drain the tank. It helps if you buy a quick disconnect attachment to make it easy to unhook from the faucet. I have been doing WC this way with a 50 ft garden hose for 20 years. No need to buy a python.
what exactly do you consider long? no problems getting my 50' 3/4" started like that. all you need is to get a little flow over the end of the tank.
I try to leave a little bit in the hose when I coil it up. lowering the hose flat on the floor and away it goes. doesn't take much flow to start it up.
+1. For my 180, I use 2 X 25' hose. One of the hose, I designate as the "clean" section , is the one that goes into the tank and stay inside the house. The other section is the hose that stays outside, attached to the outdoor faucet, and always has a bit of water in it since its always attached to the faucet. When I do my w/c, I put the clean section into the tank to the level i want it to drain to, using a clamp to hold the hose in place. I then connect both hoses together and then disconnect from the faucet. I place the disconnected end of the onto my lawn where the tank water will empty onto. To get the siphon going all I do is pick up the hose, near where the 2 hose are connected, to about waist high and walk towards the lawn side. Basically, running the left over water inside the "outside hose" out towards the lawn. This action will create a vacuum and start the siphoning. Hope this write-up makes sense because it sounds more complicated on paper than it actually is.
If all else fails then use a dry vac to get the siphon started.
Sure, it sounds 100 times more complicated on paper than just do it!
In short, all you have to do is to hook up the long hose with the faucet as if you were filling the tank with the other end submerged. But as soon as filling starts, unhook the hose from the faucet and walk and drop the hose to the discharge point.
I do not use the outside faucet to start the siphon, but my washer room faucet, the same one I use to fill my tank as it combines hot and cold water. When I unhook it and walk to the discharge point, I have to plug the flow with my hand until I get outside. It's easier to unhook from the faucet and plug the flow with your thumb if you hook up a "Quick Disconnect". In summer months, I discharge the water to the lawn or a rain barrel for later watering use. In winter months, I discharge the water to my toilet. The lower the discharge point, the faster the siphoning. So winter month WC is slower because the toilet water level is higher than my lawn.
In short, all you have to do is to hook up the long hose with the faucet as if you were filling the tank with the other end submerged. But as soon as filling starts, unhook the hose from the faucet and walk and drop the hose to the discharge point.
I do not use the outside faucet to start the siphon, but my washer room faucet, the same one I use to fill my tank as it combines hot and cold water. When I unhook it and walk to the discharge point, I have to plug the flow with my hand until I get outside. It's easier to unhook from the faucet and plug the flow with your thumb if you hook up a "Quick Disconnect". In summer months, I discharge the water to the lawn or a rain barrel for later watering use. In winter months, I discharge the water to my toilet. The lower the discharge point, the faster the siphoning. So winter month WC is slower because the toilet water level is higher than my lawn.
This. I have used long hoses and it was fairly easy exactly this way. Technically you could clamp the hose to the tank, but I never did that and wouldn't recommend it. Instead, just coil the hose up inside the tank so that there is adequate weight of water inside the hose so that when the water drains over the top of the tank the hose isn't pulled out of the tank. It takes little effort to start the siphon and in a long hose there is simply no chance you'll suck water, especially with a transparent hose.