My 650g plywood tank also Wetsuit
- Thread starter sashimimaster
- Start date
Egon;5000804; said:
Great....NOW you tell me
. I would have to do extensive remodeling to do that. I would have to cut into the tank and install a new bulk head. ATM I'm still wrestling with having a stable water level. For some reason I'm having some issues with balancing the outflow vs inflow. They way I thought I designed it was whatever overflowed from the tank would just get pumped back in. But it seems that the outflow is not quick enough to keep the big pumps fed. So the water level goes up and down.
Last night I had a little mishap. I didn't think there was enough water in the system so I added more. At one time it seemed like it was stable with one pump running. Then all of a sudden something broke loose and the outflow was way too fast and overflowed the sump.
I had to clean up about 10 gals. It doesn't seem like much but as you know water gets everywhere. Wife wasn't too happy about that. 
As I was cleaning up (had lots of time to think) the only conclusion I could come up with was there must have been some type of trapped air that was reducing flow. When that got pushed through it was like the dam broke.
So now I'm waiting for everything to dry out and then start it up again. Slowly.........
AOmonsta;5001160; said:
Thanks bud. I think I'm good with the leaks. It's pretty solid. I've noticed no bowing or movement of any kind. Had a few small pipe joint oozing but for the most part pretty tight.
On that thought I noticed that the joints that had some issues I used that Gorilla pvc glue. It was kinda free when I ordered my bulkheads. It says it doesn't need the purple cleaner so I didn't use it. And it's supposed to be no fumes and better for environment. I'm wondering if it had something to do with that. Now on the other joints I went with the traditional primer/cleaner then glue I've had no issues. Maybe it's that Gorilla glue
sashimimaster;5002028; said:Great....NOW you tell me
ATM I'm still wrestling with having a stable water level. For some reason I'm having some issues with balancing the outflow vs inflow. They way I thought I designed it was whatever overflowed from the tank would just get pumped back in. But it seems that the outflow is not quick enough to keep the big pumps fed. So the water level goes up and down.
Last night I had a little mishap. I didn't think there was enough water in the system so I added more. At one time it seemed like it was stable with one pump running. Then all of a sudden something broke loose and the outflow was way too fast and overflowed the sump.
As I was cleaning up (had lots of time to think) the only conclusion I could come up with was there must have been some type of trapped air that was reducing flow. When that got pushed through it was like the dam broke.
So now I'm waiting for everything to dry out and then start it up again. Slowly.........
I don't understand what your balancing? Maybe I have to go back and read this thread again.
The sump concept is simple: Water in the sump is pumped up to the tank. The extra water in the tank overflows back down to the sump. The cycle continues until power is lost then all the extra water drains back down to the sump. The sump needs to be large enough to hold this extra capacity. I run my sumps almost empty because of this. I don't have power loss often but when it happens I don't spill a drop of water. The sump fills to capacity until the power is turned back on.
I think the problem is the flow rate of the draining set up. The pumps are so fast that it drains the sump dry and it ends up cavitating before it can fill up. Then the water slowly rises and when it covers the top of the pump intake it starts pumping again. Within 5 seconds it's drained again and the cycle starts over.
Here's a picture of my set up. There is two intakes at the bottom and one intake at the top of the water level. They both connect to the overflow and down into the sumps. The water trickles through the pipes and the sump and gets to the end of the first sump. Then both pumps feed off of it and drain it dry. Is there something fundamentally wrong with my design? ATM I've got one pump off and the other one throttle down to like 10% and it's still over pumping. How do I increase the drain rate?
Here's a picture of my set up. There is two intakes at the bottom and one intake at the top of the water level. They both connect to the overflow and down into the sumps. The water trickles through the pipes and the sump and gets to the end of the first sump. Then both pumps feed off of it and drain it dry. Is there something fundamentally wrong with my design? ATM I've got one pump off and the other one throttle down to like 10% and it's still over pumping. How do I increase the drain rate?
sashimimaster;5003706; said:
The pump output is under pressure. Your moving more water through the 1.5" returns than the 2" gravity fed line. Any bends in the drain line will slow the water also. Any strainers in the drain line will slow even more. Go with three inch drain lines.
I have two 2inch drains at the top of my 220. I had it for a while powered by a t4000 calpump at 5'ft head should have been like 3000gph. I then reduced the pipe from the pump to the tank from 1.5 to 1", so the true flow was only likely 1000gph or something.
So I know none of this is reliant to you, but depending on how I had those drains drains setup and connected in the inside the drains would drain to slow or to fast.
So I know none of this is reliant to you, but depending on how I had those drains drains setup and connected in the inside the drains would drain to slow or to fast.
