Will the pump push it?

[RaeRae]

Hello all. I have a two story home and am tired of carrying five gallon buckets up the stairs. I was wanting to take a return pump of a smaller size and reduce the out put down to an air stone size line. Then put it on a timer for my ATO. I have to go about 25 feet and up one story. Has this been done before? Is the pressure going to be to much? I just don't want to have to buy a large pump for this. I can hide this small line easy verse a 1/2" line. And how big of a pump you think I will need?

[atreis]

The pressure will not be too much, however you will have greater frictional losses from the smaller line than you would from a larger one. You'll need a pressure-rated pump rated for a head height of something like 1.25x the actual vertical height you're looking to lift water.

FYI, my ATO is setup pretty much just like you descrive - one story up, using airline, going across about 75 feet horizontally and 12 feet vertically, for the same reasons you mention.

I recommend using silicone airline, as it doesn't kink as easily, and get a single length long enough for the entire run so that you don't have to use fittings within the wall or ceiling which could potentially leak. When running it, be very careful to not pull it tight when going around turns to prevent kinking.

I wanted a pump that was submersible, and there aren't many of those that can handle that kind of head height. I ended up using a Danner Pro Hy-Drive (MarineDepot has them) and it's worked nicely in this application for three years now.

BTW - when picking the pump, the gph it will push is irrelevant. You just can't push that much through airline (I get something like 10 gph). It's the head height that matters. Also, I had to make a fitting (by drilling an end cap) as I couldn't find a useful combination of reducers that would get the pump outlet down to the size of airline.