piercho
New member
KW Diffusor
Mike, I made my KW as a square box. You'll need to read the link on Snailman's site for this to make sense. The directions on Snailman's website have you make 4 of the sides out of cross-cut basswood, and the top and bottom out of something like 1/2" thick plank. I made all 6 sides of mine out of cross-cut 2"X2" basswood. My skimmer was 4" in diameter and that was the biggest box I could fit down the pipe past the inlet. That comes out to 12 in^2 of BPSA per inch of pipe radius (neglecting the area lost to joints), and that was enough for me.
The biggest square that will fit in a 10" pipe is 7" X 7". A 7" box would be a rediculous amount of BPSA, IMO. Plus, its got to fit up past your outlet and or down past your inlet. If we plug in the number from my skimmer (12 in^2 BPSA per inch radius), that comes out to a box with 3.2" X 3.2" sides if all sides are basswood. So based on my experience I would recommend at least a 3" box for a 10.5" skimmer, or an equivalent amount of BPSA. Theres no need to make the diffusor a box, it can be any shape where the edges can be glued and you get enough BPSA.
A couple of notes here. Basswood swells when wetted and the sides go way out of square. That was probably why KW used slightly oversized planks for the top and bottom of the box, to make glueing easier. I used bridge clamps to smash mine together when glueing, and used a thicker CA that would fill the gaps. When you cut the basswood, I'd used a bandsaw or something gentler than a chop saw, to avoid burning the pores in the wood shut. You'll need a drill & tap to put in your fitting, and I always CA'd my threads before scewing the fitting in to get an airtight seal at the threads.
I want to add that IN NO WAY am I recommending a wood diffusor as outperforming a synthetic diffusor. I was just saying that I got longer life out of mine than people generally say you can. That probably came from filtering the input air very well.
Mike, I made my KW as a square box. You'll need to read the link on Snailman's site for this to make sense. The directions on Snailman's website have you make 4 of the sides out of cross-cut basswood, and the top and bottom out of something like 1/2" thick plank. I made all 6 sides of mine out of cross-cut 2"X2" basswood. My skimmer was 4" in diameter and that was the biggest box I could fit down the pipe past the inlet. That comes out to 12 in^2 of BPSA per inch of pipe radius (neglecting the area lost to joints), and that was enough for me.
The biggest square that will fit in a 10" pipe is 7" X 7". A 7" box would be a rediculous amount of BPSA, IMO. Plus, its got to fit up past your outlet and or down past your inlet. If we plug in the number from my skimmer (12 in^2 BPSA per inch radius), that comes out to a box with 3.2" X 3.2" sides if all sides are basswood. So based on my experience I would recommend at least a 3" box for a 10.5" skimmer, or an equivalent amount of BPSA. Theres no need to make the diffusor a box, it can be any shape where the edges can be glued and you get enough BPSA.
A couple of notes here. Basswood swells when wetted and the sides go way out of square. That was probably why KW used slightly oversized planks for the top and bottom of the box, to make glueing easier. I used bridge clamps to smash mine together when glueing, and used a thicker CA that would fill the gaps. When you cut the basswood, I'd used a bandsaw or something gentler than a chop saw, to avoid burning the pores in the wood shut. You'll need a drill & tap to put in your fitting, and I always CA'd my threads before scewing the fitting in to get an airtight seal at the threads.
I want to add that IN NO WAY am I recommending a wood diffusor as outperforming a synthetic diffusor. I was just saying that I got longer life out of mine than people generally say you can. That probably came from filtering the input air very well.
