Herbie plumbing
- Thread starter Dmac
- Start date
Why use the U pipes (2x elbows)? Hard to tell from the pic but you want the emergency to be able to barely start draining/flowing at the max height you want your water level to be to prevent any loud waterfall noise coming from the overflow. So my personal preference is slightly below the overflow weir/teeth to be at its quietest. Hope that helps.
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believe it or not I did watch the video, lol. But for some reason I was thinking the height of the second drain had to do with my water level and the tank. And it says exactly why I had somebody else do my plumbing on my first tank. I'll shorten it and then should be good to go. Civics14- most of the examples I saw for this had u's in the piping so I followed suit.
I mean, my overflow came with it but I don’t understand the need for it. I understand it should be lower but depending on your flow, that water coming thru the weir sounded like a waterfall to me. Test it to see what works for you tho.
I saw mixed ideas on this. Most said the airline wasn't necessary and I saw some that didn't even drill it.
If the trickle line (Higher pipe) has the two elbows and no hole drilled in it them, it will constantly go full syphon, purge, refill, full syphon, purge... This is not what you want.
It would be much easier to set the main drain flow without the elbows on the trickle line. You can see how much water is flowing into it and anytime you walk past the tank a quick glance at it will tell you if everything is running good.
I didn't drill mine, but only because it was something that I never got around to doing, I always meant to. If your plumbing is big enough and straight enough I don't see any reason the air wouldn't clear out of the pipe pretty quickly and you'd have a full siphon. Its on my list to drill though
Gotcha. I've already glued them, so I'll leave the u and just put a filter on it.
If you cut the elbows off that pipe would be at about the prefect height. If you want to keep them and shorten it from the other end, then just drill a hole in the top of the elbow above the pipe.
if you shorten that taller pipe you are not going to have a quiet system. The water level INSIDE THE OVERFLOW - is 100% determined by the height of that taller pipe. Too low and you are going to have a waterfall sound.
You want the U bends on the pipes - and you want a hole drilled on the top of the taller one only. A 1/8" hole with no tube or anything stuck in it works perfect in this drain setup - just keep it from getting plugged.
Use what you have in that photo and do the following - then walk away from it and 2 years from now it will still be working just fine with zero adjustments.....
1. Open the gate valve you have on the shorter pipe all the way open.
2. Turn on your return pump and let the flow get settled - wait at least 5 minutes
3. Start closing that gate valve under the tank - one turn at a time - wait a full minute between each turn. Once the water level starts rising above the lower pipe - SLOW DOWN - only turn the valve about 1/8th of a turn at a time or less - AND WALK AWAY FOR 5 MINUTES.
4. Continue this until your water level inside that overflow is perfectly in the middle of the U on the higher pipe.
The only hard part about adjusting this is to GO SLOWLY when adjusting that gate valve.
Unless you alter your return pump or plumbing in some way - you should literally never need to touch that gate valve again. If you do - it's because a snail or something got in one of the pipes and is causing a partial clog.
You want the U bends on the pipes - and you want a hole drilled on the top of the taller one only. A 1/8" hole with no tube or anything stuck in it works perfect in this drain setup - just keep it from getting plugged.
Use what you have in that photo and do the following - then walk away from it and 2 years from now it will still be working just fine with zero adjustments.....
1. Open the gate valve you have on the shorter pipe all the way open.
2. Turn on your return pump and let the flow get settled - wait at least 5 minutes
3. Start closing that gate valve under the tank - one turn at a time - wait a full minute between each turn. Once the water level starts rising above the lower pipe - SLOW DOWN - only turn the valve about 1/8th of a turn at a time or less - AND WALK AWAY FOR 5 MINUTES.
4. Continue this until your water level inside that overflow is perfectly in the middle of the U on the higher pipe.
The only hard part about adjusting this is to GO SLOWLY when adjusting that gate valve.
Unless you alter your return pump or plumbing in some way - you should literally never need to touch that gate valve again. If you do - it's because a snail or something got in one of the pipes and is causing a partial clog.
+1 on Leo's lmm1967 post
One exception, the return pump can get dirty or plumbing partially blocked by snails, etc, causing slight changes in flow, requiring adjustment or cleaning of pumps or plumbing.
One exception, the return pump can get dirty or plumbing partially blocked by snails, etc, causing slight changes in flow, requiring adjustment or cleaning of pumps or plumbing.
I've done 7 in the past 14 months and I have 1 more to do. They're not as daunting after the first couple times.
