ocean runner venturi

Bean, do you have a Kill A Watt? I'd love to see a curve of air suction and power as a function of head from 6"-60". Of course those numbers would be a strong function of the venturi but hey, it would be more data than is on the internet now!
 
No kill a watt. I am not even sure if this DIY thing is any good... it may suck. I know it cost me more to make than it would to buy the mazzie. It could be done cheaper... but my pump will rest on this so it needed to be beefy.

I also need to get a different flow meter as 10-100 is pretty broad and the ball bounces a LOT.
 
How about the VBF-52 here?
(have to choose 4" on the drop down before it shows up)

Should be better suited to the range the OR3700 operates in and the longer scale (4" vs. 2") should result in less instrumental error.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7825053#post7825053 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
Yeah that would be a much better choice... except I am tired of spending money on this project :(
Click to expand...

Oh dont I know it :)

I have spent ALOT of money on this project so far. Last night i went out and got a new circle cutting jig and bit for my router as well to the tune of $35. I have also bought two diff air meters (the first one was the wrong scale :( ) I also bought a full 10' length of 6" PVC that is now wasted because I decided I wanted a clear body and not to cheap out. So needless to say I have about $60 in wasted materials/tools. I still have to either buy or borrow somone's hole saws too :(
 
why would we want to adjust the air input?
dont we want as much air input as possible?
IMO an adjustment valve on the air input, can only do one thing, turn DOWN the air flow, am I missing something?
 
orlenz,

Too much air in the reaction chamber can result in an unstable foam head. If the foam is violent and boiling, it won't produce as much skimate as if it was calm and stable.
 
Some mfgs like deltec even suggest in the manuals that their air intakes be at 2/3 or something like that because otherwise there can be too much air. It depends on what you have to start with, but I have had to restrict the air intake some on some skimmers as well. I like to use larger air tubing, at 3/8" most of the time...which can be a little too much.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7825711#post7825711 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by orlenz
why would we want to adjust the air input?
dont we want as much air input as possible?
IMO an adjustment valve on the air input, can only do one thing, turn DOWN the air flow, am I missing something?
Click to expand...
I was so with you on that, but I just learned something and I still can't figure it out as to why.

I was testing different ventures on a new skimmer. I was just measuring air flow. Later I tested the foam reaction. I noticed that when I remove the flow meter the foam went down. I hooked it back up and the foam column went up 2". The slight resistant increased the foam column in the neck about 75%. I am not at all sure as to why. It must have made the bubbles smaller (keeping more bubbles in solution longer is all I could think.

this skimmer was way low on air to water ratio so it was not about to much air causing aan unstable foam head.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7824592#post7824592 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
Well I have installed my DIY unit on the input of the OR3700 Pump. I only have a 10-100 SCFH dwyer so my readings are rather crude at this point. I also don't have any OEM venturis to play with. However, first testing at 6" of head bounces the ball between 20 and 30 on the meter. So I figure this thing is at least pulling 15 scfh at low head. If I have time this afternoon I will try it at a much greater head. Others have indicated that the 3700 at best will pull 20 SCFH... so we will see.
Click to expand...
the screw in valve at the botom of your flow meter should stop your ball from bouncing screw it in untle your ball stablizes. On that 10-100 scale 15 Scfh may not stop bouncing.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7829263#post7829263 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
OR the slight restriction may have stabilized the air intake instead of letting it oscillate.
Click to expand...

This gets my vote as plausible.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7829438#post7829438 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
The adjustment screw adjusts the flow through the meter. Turning it down will reduce the overall flow to the skimmer :)
Click to expand...

Yes it will, but just by the slightest amount. So you can get a reading. Otherwise it just a bouncing guess. If you had a 0-20 scfh scale you would not bounce as much but you would still have to screw it in a little to stabilize your ball.
 
One of the reasons for drawing back the amount of air is because once you go past a certain point, you can end up with too much air in the pump which actually starts to choke the pump's performance. I have this happen with a couple pumps...too much air in the mix and the impeller just loses its 'bite'. Usually though, this results in a pulsing (too much air, pump throughput drops, air goes out, pump picks up again, too much air gets sucked in, it chokes, etc)....but I suppose it is possible for a NW pump to continue w/o 'pulsing' and still be drawing too much air.

OR, drawing back the air caused your pump to draw more water, raising the water level... just in case, are you sure its more bubbles/head and just not more water?

oops, sorry, nevermind...i didnt see this page yet...
 
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