Plumbing question - Gravity feeding a skimmer

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mattseattle

mattseattle

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 14, 2003
Messages
2,694
Location
Seattle, WA
Ok, I'm trying to finish the return plumbing today on my system. This is what I have to connect the overflow to gravity feed the skimmer. I've designed this after reviewing tons of threads regarding gravity feeding a skimmer on an H&S as well as Deltecs. Hopefully this will work. I'm just worried about surging but I think the ball valve and the T will help with that issue.

thoughts?

P4180002.jpg

P4180004.jpg
 
you know for someone that has never worked with PVC I think I do pretty well. If I can find something to help me design it I am usually good to go. It's definitely clean at least. I just need to put a union on it somewhere so I can remove it if I ever need to do maintenance.

by the way, thanks Krish! welcome to another one of my threads. :)
 
you know for someone that has never worked with PVC I think I do pretty well. If I can find something to help me design it I am usually good to go. It's definitely clean at least. I just need to put a union on it somewhere so I can remove it if I ever need to do maintenance.

by the way, thanks Krish! welcome to another one of my threads.
Click to expand...

LOL...I hardly miss any threads:p Yeah, you definately look like you know what you're doing. Very neat man...:)
 
just wait till it all comes together and i hook up the OM-4 way to the bulkheads as well as the return system then you'll wonder what exploded on the back of my tank. :)
 
just wait till it all comes together and i hook up the OM-4 way to the bulkheads as well as the return system then you'll wonder what exploded on the back of my tank.
Click to expand...

Naw man...A year of planning is worth something. It's when you rush you have problems...:)
 
my one horror story today and it's sort of funny. i got in a little hurry with the circular saw cutting the pvc. well it chipped and threw this chip right at my forehead. man it hurt...but thank god i had on safey glasses.
 
Yeah, last night I tried to cut off a 1.5" piece of PVC with my table saw. That's not a problem if you have a long pipe, but I was working with a pipe scrap that was probably only 5" long to start with and it's pretty dicey trying to run your fingers that close to the blade because there's not much to grip on to.

The result was that the pipe slipped and the saw flung it across the garage. Never did find it... :)

Should have used a mitre saw for this but I don't have one. Anyway, I always wear glasses. My dad told me a story about how he was using a radial saw to do a lengthwise cut on a 2x4 and it grabbed ahold of the wood, flung it 20 feet across the garage and through the wall. Luckily he was not standing in front of it or his intestines probably would have gone with it...

Ok I'm getting off topic here, sorry for the distraction. I don't know anything about gravity feeding skimmers. I was thinking about doing it for the tank I'm setting up, but it seems like there are a lot of variables so I don't think I'm going to do it. Could always change it later...
 
yeah, i'm definitely going to try it as i'm so tired of a feed pump for everything on my old set up. i have a feed pump for a skimmer, for my phosban reactor, for my calcium reactor and for my chiller. i'm going to try to limit that to the least amount as i can. it's a lot of work to clean them and make sure they are always working correctly. one little snail. :)

well i learned my lesson about safey glasses and proper stance when using tools. i had a piece of wood hit me in the head once and i did not have on my safey glasses. if it would've been a half inch lower it would have hit me square in the eye. lesson learned. :)
 
You guys are going to get hurt, pleast don't use a table saw to cut pvc UNLESS you have a crosscut sled to do it with. Same thing with a circular saw, that is very dangerous and you could very easily hurt yourself.

On the note of your plumbing to the skimmer that is perfect, if you have the time you may want to swap ou the ball vavle for a gate valve for much more precise flow adjustments for the water going into your skimmer. It looks like it is all coming together nicely.
 
Thanks big t! yeah i tried to find a gate valve locally and i couldn't so i bought the ball valve. guess i'll see if i can order one online real quick. :)
 
wwouu Matt that's a lot of plumbing you're doing there :) .
I hope that once there's water, you won't have any flood problems.
 
LOL...They don't sell safety goggles here in the Bahamas or ear plugs:lol: Well they do, but people laugh at you if you wear them:p For 1 inch pvc and under, I use those pvc scissor looking things and for anything bigger, I use a chop saw. I usually buy extra so that I never have to fight with trying to cut a small piece. I only have 10 fingers and they all serve a purpose:D
 
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