Is My UV plumbing ok

[m.kristoff]

I am seeing some crazy numbers from my Apex flow meter. Some times it is reading negative and then as high as 3200 gph. I do get 0 when the valves are off. Is there an issue with the way I plumbed it? I believe the negative readings are that it is running backwards on the loop

should I only use the main valve to adjust the flow or the return valve? or is this just a bad idea all together?

One pump feeds the manifold, and return. I also have it looping to the UV after the manifold to the tank.

the Flow meter on the return is fairly consistent

 

[Shirak]

Yes it could go backwards with your plumbing setup. You need a gate valve on this part of the line to control how much water goes left at the T and up the T to the UV. Without it the water will preferentially go left and not to the UV. A gate valve here will allow you to dial in exactly how much flow you want through the UV by reducing flow through the Left branch of the T.

 

[m.kristoff]

Yes it could go backwards with your plumbing setup. You need a gate valve on this part of the line to control how much water goes left at the T and up the T to the UV. Without it the water will preferentially go left and not to the UV. A gate valve here will allow you to dial in exactly how much flow you want through the UV by reducing flow through the Left branch of the T.

I Was just looking at that. I figured that the water would have less resistance going up and that part is 1" 1/4

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I’m seeing a lot of looped UVs into manifolds lately?? Did brs make a bad video on this or something? The UV should dump straight into the tank or back into the sump not back into your manifold or return.

 

[Shirak]

The UV plus the extra elbows, flow meter, and additional pipe all add resistance to the flow.

 

[m.kristoff]

I’m seeing a lot of looped UVs into manifolds lately?? Did brs make a bad video on this or something? The UV should dump straight into the tank or back into the sump not back into your manifold or return.

I'm considering just dumping in the sump. Less complicated.

 

[Shirak]

I'm considering just dumping in the sump. Less complicated.

What is the purpose of the UV?

 

[m.kristoff]

The UV plus the extra elbows, flow meter, and additional pipe all add resistance to the flow.

My pump is a red Dragon running @ 35%. have plenty of horse power left. not sure increasing flow would fix it

 

[m.kristoff]

What is the purpose of the UV?

been running UV's forever. big believer in them. Running for parasite prevention

 

[Shirak]

My pump is a red Dragon running @ 35%. have plenty of horse power left. not sure increasing flow would fix it

No it will not fix it. Without a valve on the left part of the T the water will flip flop back and forth through the UV. You need to restrict flow a little through the left branch of the T to force water up and in one direction through the UV. For parasite prevention you only need a gate valve closed a small amount to overcome the higher resistance in the UV portion of the plumbing and force a slow flow through the UV.

 

[Shirak]

You could run it back to the sump but if you pull from the sump and return to the sump you should pull from the end where the drain from the tank is and return to the return pump to the tank so you don't just cycle sump water over and over. This plan is really only good for parasite control too as you would not get enough tank turnover for algae/dinos

 

[m.kristoff]

No it will not fix it. Without a valve on the left part of the T the water will flip flop back and forth through the UV. You need to restrict flow a little through the left branch of the T to force water up and in one direction through the UV. For parasite prevention you only need a gate valve closed a small amount to overcome the higher resistance in the UV portion of the plumbing and force a slow flow through the UV.

makes sense.. more than likely ill just dump the UV return directly to the sump. That way is i want to increase the flow i can

 

[Shirak]

makes sense.. more than likely ill just dump the UV return directly to the sump. That way is i want to increase the flow i can

I assume you mean to use the same return pump to send water through the uv and back to the sump? You will be recirculating sump water over and over and have a sparkly clean sump.

 

[Sean Clark]

It looks like the flow sensor is not set to the correct diameter in Fusion. I would start there.

 

[Shirak]

One gate valve where I circled in yellow and you can control exactly how much of your return goes through the manifold and how much gets sent to the UV before going back to the manifold and returned to the tank. Flow problems solved.

 

[m.kristoff]

It looks like the flow sensor is not set to the correct diameter in Fusion. I would start there.

it is set at 1"

 

[Sean Clark]

it is set at 1"

Well then something is wrong because your pump is definitely not pushing that kind of volume through that snake of 1" pipe. Wish that I could help more looking on.

Am I correct to presume that your 867 main is measured down stream to the left of the frame off of the same pump and line and is also a 1" flow sensor?

 

[m.kristoff]

Am I correct to presume that your 867 main is measured down stream to the left of the frame off of the same pump and line and is also a 1" flow sensor?

Correct. there is a 2nd flow sensor down stream being feed by the same pump.

 

[Yodeling]

This plumbing doesn’t make sense to me at all. You’ve essentially plumbed it to push water into the UV from both sides (inlet and outlet). You should not be hooking your outlet to the manifold because it’s under pressure from the return pump. The outlet needs to be its own line going back to the tank. Alternatively, you could plump it to go back to the sump but it will not be nearly as efficient.

 

[m.kristoff]

This plumbing doesn’t make sense to me at all

The trend lately has been to do this. I figured I would give it a try. My tank is empty, so I decided to experiment. it's a "little" more efficient than dumping back to the sump which a lot of people do.

a gate valve will solve the problem to balance the flow between the 2 lines.

More than likely i'll either put a valve on it or just run the UV side as the full return