Plumbing Question

[cdamiano]

I am setting up a new return pump and I was looking to use some of the excess flow from the pump for some other purposes. I was planning on setting up a T connector on the riser pipe coming up from the return on the pump. This would provide 2 extra feeds from the T to use for other things and I was going to add ball valves on each of the feeds to control the flow.

Will this work? It just looks kind of odd, as far as how the water will get through the other feeds on the T. If the water is pushing straight up the riser, will it be able to still flow through the feeds on the right and left sides of the T? I'm assuming the pressure from the flow of the pump will flood the riser and then push into the right and left feeds of the T, but I just want to make sure and see if someone else has done this before.

Thanks!

 

[JB NY]

I tee off my main pump too. The main feed goes up to the tank, the tee goes to a skimmer and chiller. Works fine.

 

[yeahcheetah]

Are you using a "T" or a corss? If it is a "T", are you going to use it like a "T" or turn it 90 degrees? Confused.
Anyway. I was also thinking of doing the same thing for a Phosban reactor since added pumps in the sump will take up more space, increase heat and power comsumption. But I finally did not do so as I decided to just hang a media bag for the Phosban. I'd say theoretically this is doable. The return water will prefer straight pipes rather than turns but since the outlet for the straight flow is probably a few feet higher than the turns, pressure of the water column will press the water to the turns a bit. How much? That's a good question.

 

[cdamiano]

sorry, it's a cross, not a "T". It will look like this:

up to tank
ball valve
|
|
ball valve ------ ------ ball valve (to other equipment)
(other equip.) |
|
ball valve (true union)
pump

 

[cdamiano]

That picture didn't come out to good, but it's a cross coming up off the riser of the pump and branching out on left and right side to other equipment and on top going to return on tank. I just want to see if this will work or if I need to change this out and go with a T connector instead.

 

[pecan2phat]

As long as you can control the flow to all outlets, there should be no issues.

 

[JB NY]

I have mine like that. No problems.

 

[greggnyce]

I use a cross and it works fine. It flows to the main, refugium, and I have a hose connection attached for easy water changes.

 

[cdamiano]

Great!! Thanks to all that replied. Preparing to finally move my sump to my basement and just want to make sure that it's going to work ok with the way that I have it planned. It's been a lot of fun (not really) getting all of the fittings, ball valves, unions, etc. together for this project. It looks like I'm building the space shuttle or something.

I have to say that I can't say enough good things about using www.savko.com for the plumbing parts. They have been very helpful in helping me find the correct parts and the stuff gets here in 2 days with ground shipping. I had to make 3 orders from them, to account for a few changes (mistakes) that I made along the way in my planning. Each time they got the order out the same day and I received it in 2 days.

 

[jnfallon]

Hey chris. That will work fine. I have a homemade manifold that I tee off three times.

One heads up though, if your pump isnt pressure rated, the difference in heads restrictions can cause a lot off variance on how much water goes which way. So definately put valves on each "leg" to control.

One other tip, I plumbed like this--- tank->union ball-> return pump -> manifold -> union ball (on return to tank). This way I can shut off the ball valve and remove the pump/manifold with no cutting. Handy for changing dead pumps easily.

After modifying the manifold several times, I ended up putting in a union on that leg too, so I can take the pump put without removing manifold or remove manifold without removing pump assembly.

 

[pecan2phat]

J.,

That is why you and I drop 6 bills in plumbing alone :lol: