I'm going to be adding UV, a carbon reactor and flow sensors to my tank. Looking for some advice at plumbing desing i have drawn up just to make sure it all looks good before I start cutting things apart. Let me know what you guys think and if there is anything I should change or could make better.
Plumbing Help
- Thread starter nlutfi
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sunken3
Valuable Member
ok, so you are planning to use the ball valve after the UV to control flow to both the tank and the UV? Also, like i mentioned unless i am looking at this wrong you have both CORs attached to the UV - it doesnt matter that you "consider" the flow from the UV a drain, if it is attached to the COR15 you will have back pressure on the UV.
PigDaddyF15E
Active Member
Ok. I talked with my father-in-law who is a retired Civil Engineer/Professional Engineer. I'm paraphrasing below so forgive me if I don't use his terminology.
All of this assumes you are pumping from a sump that is a couple of feet below your display tank. If you are pumping up from a basement or using a bunch of 90 degree elbows then the head pressure becomes a factor. What I generally got was that water in this case wants to go for the path of least resistance...in this case into your DT instead of flowing back against the other pump. BUT...there are a couple of ways to do it:
You CAN use the T Junction with you have drawn in near the top left of your drawing. The larger pump works best if it is the one flowing straight through the T junction. Having the smaller pump come in from the side does create issues as it's meeting up with the column of water flowing "straight" through and coming from the stronger pump. Basically the water is looking for the path of least resistance (paraphrasing here) so it will want to go up and into the tank instead of trying to go back down the T junction toward your UV sterilizer. BUT...this can cause eddies to form similar to how you might hear your shower or some plumbing make noises or get sudden/brief pressure spikes.
Using a Y fitting...so both of your pumps come in and flow out the bottom of the Y is the best bet. In this case the laminar flow of the water wants to go up into the tank instead of making a 135 degree turn and flow back down towards the UV or vice versa. Once again...path of least resistance and since you aren't making the two water pipes "crash" into each other at a 90 degree angle by using a T it's even smoother and less likely to have issues.
Not saying I'm an expert or that I understood what my father in law was telling me...
Hope it helps.
All of this assumes you are pumping from a sump that is a couple of feet below your display tank. If you are pumping up from a basement or using a bunch of 90 degree elbows then the head pressure becomes a factor. What I generally got was that water in this case wants to go for the path of least resistance...in this case into your DT instead of flowing back against the other pump. BUT...there are a couple of ways to do it:
You CAN use the T Junction with you have drawn in near the top left of your drawing. The larger pump works best if it is the one flowing straight through the T junction. Having the smaller pump come in from the side does create issues as it's meeting up with the column of water flowing "straight" through and coming from the stronger pump. Basically the water is looking for the path of least resistance (paraphrasing here) so it will want to go up and into the tank instead of trying to go back down the T junction toward your UV sterilizer. BUT...this can cause eddies to form similar to how you might hear your shower or some plumbing make noises or get sudden/brief pressure spikes.
Using a Y fitting...so both of your pumps come in and flow out the bottom of the Y is the best bet. In this case the laminar flow of the water wants to go up into the tank instead of making a 135 degree turn and flow back down towards the UV or vice versa. Once again...path of least resistance and since you aren't making the two water pipes "crash" into each other at a 90 degree angle by using a T it's even smoother and less likely to have issues.
Not saying I'm an expert or that I understood what my father in law was telling me...
Hope it helps.
Thanks for all the input! I will definitely try and use a "Y" fitting over the "T". The sump is in the basement actually but directly under the tank so it's a straight run up about 7ft-8ft. I kind of figured the flow would all want to go back together vs fighting each other. I might just have to try it and see what happens. I'll have flow sensors in place as well so I should see if there are any issues.Ok. I talked with my father-in-law who is a retired Civil Engineer/Professional Engineer. I'm paraphrasing below so forgive me if I don't use his terminology.
All of this assumes you are pumping from a sump that is a couple of feet below your display tank. If you are pumping up from a basement or using a bunch of 90 degree elbows then the head pressure becomes a factor. What I generally got was that water in this case wants to go for the path of least resistance...in this case into your DT instead of flowing back against the other pump. BUT...there are a couple of ways to do it:
You CAN use the T Junction with you have drawn in near the top left of your drawing. The larger pump works best if it is the one flowing straight through the T junction. Having the smaller pump come in from the side does create issues as it's meeting up with the column of water flowing "straight" through and coming from the stronger pump. Basically the water is looking for the path of least resistance (paraphrasing here) so it will want to go up and into the tank instead of trying to go back down the T junction toward your UV sterilizer. BUT...this can cause eddies to form similar to how you might hear your shower or some plumbing make noises or get sudden/brief pressure spikes.
Using a Y fitting...so both of your pumps come in and flow out the bottom of the Y is the best bet. In this case the laminar flow of the water wants to go up into the tank instead of making a 135 degree turn and flow back down towards the UV or vice versa. Once again...path of least resistance and since you aren't making the two water pipes "crash" into each other at a 90 degree angle by using a T it's even smoother and less likely to have issues.
Not saying I'm an expert or that I understood what my father in law was telling me...
Hope it helps.
PigDaddyF15E
Active Member
In that case I think you want to make sure that the pump is "strong" enough to pump water up that high. Head pressure (rating on the pump) I believe is the term and I think there are lots of calculators that people link around here that will help you determine.
I haven't built our tank yet...but I've been looking into plumbing UV in from the start. Just like you I'd put a flow sensor after it all and make sure you are turning over the tank enough and also getting the right flow through the UV...so it'll take several sensors just like you have drawn in.
I haven't built our tank yet...but I've been looking into plumbing UV in from the start. Just like you I'd put a flow sensor after it all and make sure you are turning over the tank enough and also getting the right flow through the UV...so it'll take several sensors just like you have drawn in.
I don't think I will have any head pressure issues, my cor20 is running alone right now at like 35% so I should have plenty of "power" if I need to crank it up. I'm thinking it may be better to move the check valves up closer to the "y" as well and after the UV
