Choking back a return pump.

[Shad Quill]

If I dial or choke back my return pump say to 50 percent am I doing harm to the pump? Or is it the same as it working at a significant head height?

 

[lbacha]

It is similar to working at a high head but that isn't good for a pump either. I would put a tee in your return with a valve that goes back into your sump. Adjust the valve till you get the flow you want into the display tank. You could always use this to run a reactor later as well

 

[Shad Quill]

It is similar to working at a high head but that isn't good for a pump either. I would put a tee in your return with a valve that goes back into your sump. Adjust the valve till you get the flow you want into the display tank. You could always use this to run a reactor later as well

That's a great idea. In the end I'll definitely take that idea and do something with it. I have 2 open ends on the manifold I could use.
I'm basically at the leak test point and I'm trying to test the basement portion with the DT shut down which is way too much flow for the manifold to handle.
I have a basement sump and I'm hoping that with the 15 feet of head height my sump will handle the flow.

 

[Shad Quill]

Here's what I'm working with

 

[cracker]

why do you need/want to cut back the flow?

 

[Shad Quill]

why do you need/want to cut back the flow?

Just for the sake of running a loop in the sump. I don't want to include the DT in the loop.
With out the head height to eat up a bit of flow it's way too much for this half inch manifold and I wanted dial it back to take some pressure out

 

[ca1ore]

Putting back pressure on an AC pump will not hurt it, whether it's head pressure or a valve. It will even draw less power.

 

[Shad Quill]

Putting back pressure on an AC pump will not hurt it, whether it's head pressure or a valve. It will even draw less power.

The more I'm reading.. I'm seeing a lot of people saying this.

 

[AllTheCorals]

Putting back pressure on an AC pump will not hurt it, whether it's head pressure or a valve. It will even draw less power.

This.

Looping back to the sump is nice with strong flow to help keep detritus circulating. I can’t afford to give up flow with my current system so i have a few cheapie power heads that turn on every other hour for 10 minutes.