Plumbing UV sterilizer back to return

[Keen4]

Here are my ideas- How could I make this work?

 

[RaymondsWorlddd]

Okso I am at a loss. I cant figure out how to plumb this huge thing from the back of my DT. Will you please give me some plumbers advice and tips on how to get this thing going?

It’s a lot bigger than you expected, right?? I thought the same thing lol. Are you keeping it behind your tank? I’m not sure how to do it that way. My guess would be that you would need a separate pump to supply the sterilizer with water from the DT and let it drain back into the DT.
I think the easiest thing is to just get rid of the ATO and fit the sterilizer in the cabinet.

 

[RaymondsWorlddd]

Here are my ideas- How could I make this work?

TBH I don’t think there’s enough space in the back cutout to fit what you want through there. I’m a total noob with plumbing too so I’m not sure how you would get it to work :/

 

[Keen4]

TBH I don’t think there’s enough space in the back cutout to fit what you want through there. I’m a total noob with plumbing too so I’m not sure how you would get it to work :/

I wonder if I just do some vinyl tubing for the input and just plumb the output with a valve?

If my barb is 1in. , is that the same size that I get for the tubing?

 

[Saltees]

I wonder if I just do some vinyl tubing for the input and just plumb the output with a valve?

If my barb is 1in. , is that the same size that I get for the tubing?

If buying from BRS... it’s 1” tubing for 1” barb.

 

[Keen4]

If buying from BRS... it’s 1” tubing for 1” barb.

Perfect- thats exactly where im looking at and filling up my cart now. Street 90's and spigots and pipes oh my!

 

[Keen4]

Will a braided vinyl tube work well for a return pump to deliver to the UV? Im wondering about any issues down the road.leaks, algae, etc.

 

[Keen4]

OK : This is the new piping that I did and I have a situation with the UV input and output. I need some suggestions on how to re-plumb this all over because I feel like the UV output being right next to the UV input is way to close and water is back flowing up the Output when it should be going the opposite to the return. Can the correct flow direction be controlled by valve adjustments? I am holding off until I can get my hands on a more powerful pump. The Vectra s2 wasn't strong enough to get the water up the tubing in the back of the DT into the UV but I did notice that when I ran the system, water was trying to go up both input and output. IM so lost. I really would appreciate some advice.
The first valve on the right is UV Input. The middle valve is where the uv Output to return. and the far left is going to the return with a back flow valve. You are the Plumbing buff Raymond, so I respect your expertise.

 

[jo2mat]

OK : This is the new piping that I did and I have a situation with the UV input and output. I need some suggestions on how to re-plumb this all over because I feel like the UV output being right next to the UV input is way to close and water is back flowing up the Output when it should be going the opposite to the return. Can the correct flow direction be controlled by valve adjustments? I am holding off until I can get my hands on a more powerful pump. The Vectra s2 wasn't strong enough to get the water up the tubing in the back of the DT into the UV but I did notice that when I ran the system, water was trying to go up both input and output. IM so lost. I really would appreciate some advice.
The first valve on the right is UV Input. The middle valve is where the uv Output to return. and the far left is going to the return with a back flow valve. You are the Plumbing buff Raymond, so I respect your expertise.

I don’t think you need a stronger pump unless your going to put some reactors like Raymond’s. The position of the gate valves are incorrect. The output of the UV should be going to the DT. The third gate valve should be between the input and output of your UV light. The third gate valve will act as the bypass or control flow to the UV. I also have a rsr350 and my aqua UV 25w is plumbed after the return pump and back to the DT. I don’t have any bypass valve to control the flow but I use the return pump for this purpose. So far it works.

 

[Keen4]

I don’t think you need a stronger pump unless your going to put some reactors like Raymond’s. The position of the gate valves are incorrect. The output of the UV should be going to the DT. The third gate valve should be between the input and output of your UV light. The third gate valve will act as the bypass or control flow to the UV. I also have a rsr350 and my aqua UV 25w is plumbed after the return pump and back to the DT. I don’t have any bypass valve to control the flow but I use the return pump for this purpose. So far it works.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond! Ok So let me get this right- The third valve on my far left (return) should be the middle instead? Then I should move the UV output to the far left where the return is now. What if I just remove that part completely and put the UV output split with the back flow valve right before the Return coming from the ceiling of the sump?

Also what should the solution be for the rear of the Dt where the hoses are attatched to the barbs? if I fix the plumbing to be proper, will the pump be able to get the water to go up the input tube? I just ordered an M2 just in case.

 

[Justin_Casper]

Just because everybody likes pics. I’m updating my build thread. Looking for any feedback on this!

Quick question, you have the outflow of the UV plumbed back into the return line. What’s keeping the return pump from pushing water in the UV from both directions?

 

[Billdogg]

Quick question, you have the outflow of the UV plumbed back into the return line. What’s keeping the return pump from pushing water in the UV from both directions?

I'm curious as well. I'd think that the flow through the UV would effectively be zero the way you have it. Either plumb it so that the output of the UV goes back to the sump or up to the DT on it's on line.

 

[Keen4]

Quick question, you have the outflow of the UV plumbed back into the return line. What’s keeping the return pump from pushing water in the UV from both directions?

When The valve in the return line is closed, that will create the return to go only through the UV. It can be opened a little bit and not all the way to prevent the water from back flowing because of the pressure going mainly through the UV. This is similar to how my set up is. If he wanted to stop flow to the UV or anything else attached to the manifold, he can just open the return valve and close off the other valve going to the UV for maintence etc.

 

[Justin_Casper]

When The valve in the return line is closed, that will create the return to go only through the UV. It can be opened a little bit and not all the way to prevent the water from back flowing because of the pressure going mainly through the UV. This is similar to how my set up is. If he wanted to stop flow to the UV or anything else attached to the manifold, he can just open the return valve and close off the other valve going to the UV for maintence etc.

I get what you’re saying, however if the valves are open in a way that he’s using the UV and the return, there’s no way to regulate the flow to make sure it doesn’t go in both sides.

He essential would only be able to use the UV or the return lines separately and couldn’t run both at once unless all water from the return goes through the UV. His options are All return water through UV or no water through UV. leaves almost no room to fine tune the return and UV flow separately.

I may be completely wrong and be missing something about water pressure and directional flow, but it just seems like as soon as the gate valve on the return line is open even a bit, it will send water down the outlet of the Uv

 

[Keen4]

I get what you’re saying, however if the valves are open in a way that he’s using the UV and the return, there’s no way to regulate the flow to make sure it doesn’t go in both sides.

He essential would only be able to use the UV or the return lines separately and couldn’t run both at once unless all water from the return goes through the UV. His options are All return water through UV or no water through UV. leaves almost no room to fine tune the return and UV flow separately.
On that note I personally just use the UV direction 100%. I don’t use the return unless I need to do maintenance on my UV. I. I tell the flow to the UV by my pump settings, not the valve. That’s how it was recommended to me and it’s worked fine so far.

I may be completely wrong and be missing something about water pressure and directional flow, but it just seems like as soon as the gate valve on the return line is open even a bit, it will send water down the outlet of the Uv

Your correct considering how the valve he has is on a slope vs how mine is completely horizontal. I can use both sides without back flow. Also keep in mind his pump is very large. So more power would give stronger direction in velocity.

 

[DCR]

He is creating pressure drop (head loss) across the valve on the return. There will always be less pressure on the outlet side of the UV than on the inlet, so water can never go in the outlet side of the UV (unless there was a large leak in the UV). The more he closes down on the return valve, the more differential pressure he is creating across his UV and the more flow will be directed through the UV. It will work.

 

[Keen4]

I get what you’re saying, however if the valves are open in a way that he’s using the UV and the return, there’s no way to regulate the flow to make sure it doesn’t go in both sides.

He essential would only be able to use the UV or the return lines separately and couldn’t run both at once unless all water from the return goes through the UV. His options are All return water through UV or no water through UV. leaves almost no room to fine tune the return and UV flow separately.

I may be completely wrong and be missing something about water pressure and directional flow, but it just seems like as soon as the gate valve on the return line is open even a bit, it will send water down the outlet of the Uv

Your correct considering how the valve he has is on a slope vs how mine is completely horizontal. I can use both sides without back flow. Also keep I. Kind his pump is very large. So more power would give stronger direction in velocity

He is creating pressure drop (head loss) across the valve on the return. There will always be less pressure on the outlet side of the UV than on the inlet, so water can never go in the outlet side of the UV (unless there was a large leak in the UV). The more he closes down on the return valve, the more differential pressure he is creating across his UV and the more flow will be directed through the UV. It will work.

yes you said it so well and with terminology. This is how my valves are set up and I don’t have issues. Just makes sense.

 

[RaymondsWorlddd]

Well things didn’t work as I planned. I had lost so much pressure with all the turns that the flow was too slow for anything. My thought was that the way the angles on the wye connection were, I could merge some water flow and have it return to the tank. I think it worked fine, but the total flow was just too little. I ended up plumbing it different. Water is now pulled from the skimmer chamber and returned to the return chamber using a separate Varios on the manifold.

 

[Keen4]

Well things didn’t work as I planned. I had lost so much pressure with all the turns that the flow was too slow for anything. My thought was that the way the angles on the wye connection were, I could merge some water flow and have it return to the tank. I think it worked fine, but the total flow was just too little. I ended up plumbing it different. Water is now pulled from the skimmer chamber and returned to the return chamber using a separate Varios on the manifold.

Darn that sucks man- same here lol. I had to buy all new piping and fittings and start over. The valve placement was wrong. Not sure if you seen it here on your post. I also posted pics of the re-do. Let me know what you think?! Id been waiting to see your response. Its been working great so far. The UV was able to fir behind my tank and I used tubing to travel through the back of the sump. I already had to remove the unit and clean out the tubes. They seem to get dirty easily.

 

[Omikkk]

Can i ask you where did you get thoose fittings?