Horizontal Drain Pipe = bad flow

[myram]

Today I redid some plumbing, and it made a huge difference.

This is a before pic -

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h178/maineultraclassic/54gal%20Bowfront/sump3.jpg

The drain line came down from upstairs, then went horizontal for about 24-30" before hitting the 90 elbow for the filter sock. That caused a lot of back pressure, and I couldn't get much flow at all without getting the flushing effect in the durso stand pipe. I had the return pump dialed back at least 60-75%....probably in the 100-150gph range.

Here is the after pic -

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h178/maineultraclassic/54gal%20Bowfront/sump-2.jpg"

Ran the drain line direct to the filter sock in a constant down angle, put in a 45 elbow to reduce the angle, and removed the ball valve since the nipples seemed to cause back pressure as well(and I never used it). There is much more flow now, and I'm able to run the pump wide open at approx 360gph. Moved the rest of the wall mounted stuff around to fit the new arrangement.


Things are already looking better with the increased flow thru the sump, and the added flow in the tank is nice too.

Steve

[NYC/NJREEFS]

Plumbing looks good, when I had my 72 bow front tank I made the same mistake. I had gargling noises all the time. Then I hard plumbed it with 2" drain (PVC) which eliminated all the noises and gave me great flow.

[Breadman03]

That's okay. I bought a house in poor condition at a price that makes it a worthwhile investment. Well, a couple days ago the dining room ceiling collapsed. The 1890 plaster was falling apart, so the previous owner put in a drop ceiling to cover it up. A few small chunks of plaster fell and brought most of the drop ceiling with it. I ripped out everything and found that my tub and sink drain slow not because of old pipes, but the ~15 feet of horizontal run! I don't think it has an inch of drop between the trap and the main line!

But yes, horizontal should be avoided.

[Wazzel]

The barb fittings were your problem. Not the horizontal runs. Bard fitting reduce yore ID, and add losses due to the change in diameter. When you run through a valve like your old setup you get losses on the inlet and the outlet. All your house drains and the sewer pipes etc etc etc run horizontal for long distances. Pipes running horizontal do not add any additional losses over a slanted pipe of the same length.

[James77]

The before pic looks as though it has a dip in it....that will always cause problems. The dip looks as though it happens right at the ball valve and immediately after it. That tends to build up water, and cause a siphon...hence the flushing sound.

Glad to hear you solved it though :)

[myram]

Yeah, that's why I got rid of the nipples...........only 1 in this setup now. I love the vinyl tubing since it's so smooth with no hard bends or anything, but the nipples really restrict the flow.

I may hard pipe in the future, but that would make changing the filter sock difficult without some mods to the holder.