mseepman's 16" starfire nano

mseepman · #1 08-21-2008, 02:39 AM

Well, I did some dry fitting of my Herbie plumbing today and was hoping for some input to make sure that I haven't screwed anything up.

The rear pipe would be my emergency overflow pipe. I left it high so that I will hear it if water starts needing to use this pipe. The front pipe has a gate valve for adjustment and a union so that I can take it apart if I need to.

Please give me your opinion.

LeeR · #2 08-21-2008, 03:36 AM

hey, i would suggest a true union above the gate valve and one for the back up retern to... just incase you need to move the tank or fix a problem with the gate... good call on a gate and not using 90 elbows. Will your return be run up over the back?

fkshiu · #3 08-21-2008, 04:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mseepman

Well, I did some dry fitting of my Herbie plumbing today and was hoping for some input to make sure that I haven't screwed anything up.

The rear pipe would be my emergency overflow pipe. I left it high so that I will hear it if water starts needing to use this pipe. The front pipe has a gate valve for adjustment and a union so that I can take it apart if I need to.

Please give me your opinion.

I would actually have the emergency drain go all the way down into the sump water. A Herbie seems to work best when there's is just a trickle of water going down the emergency drain. As well, barometric pressure can cause the water level in the overflow to vary over the course of a day which will sometimes cause a trickle to go down the emergency drain. Having the emergency drain that high would cause a lot of unnecessary splashing and salt creep. If your main drain is clogged, the massive flushing sound from the emergency drain going full bore will be more than than enough to alert you to an issue.

mseepman · #4 08-21-2008, 05:44 AM

Machete, the return will be going up over the back...I have an SCWD and two u-tubes which will hopefully give me some alternating currents in the tank. I also have a union for the emergency but wasn't sure whether to use it or not. If I lower the emergency pipe into the tank as well, I will for sure need to use it.

Fkshiu, thanks for the advice...I don't have any Herbies to readily look at so all advice is appreciated. I will lower the emergency as you suggested.

Anyone else with some thoughts?

JDigital · #5 08-21-2008, 07:52 AM

The herbies I have seen, all the emergency pipes are left out of the sump water level, including my tank. If it is submerged, it will be just as quiet as the main drain if you get a clog. The whole point of a herbie is silence, having a trickle in the emergency would kind of defeat the purpose, IMO.

I'd leave it where it is... and I would scrap the union on the emergency to, The emergency pipe is usually tall enough in the overflow that it only drains the for and inch or so (again, on the herbie systems i have seen).

mseepman · #6 08-21-2008, 06:09 PM

Thanks for the info JDigital.

I have a question on bulkheads...mine are slip on the bottom and thread on top. The 3/4" adapter I have to thread into the bulkheads doesn't seem to thread very easily. Do people use silicon to make it go easier or lubricants? Shouldn't the PVC threaded adapter screw all the way into the bulkhead?

JDigital · #7 08-21-2008, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mseepman

Thanks for the info JDigital.

I have a question on bulkheads...mine are slip on the bottom and thread on top. The 3/4" adapter I have to thread into the bulkheads doesn't seem to thread very easily. Do people use silicon to make it go easier or lubricants? Shouldn't the PVC threaded adapter screw all the way into the bulkhead?

It should... unless the adapter has been cross-threaded somehow.

mseepman · #8 08-21-2008, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDigital

It should... unless the adapter has been cross-threaded somehow.

I've check both my bulkheads...no cross threading. It's just a really tight fit that I've never tried to push past the first 5 threads or so just in case I couldn't get them apart again.

fkshiu · #9 08-21-2008, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDigital

The herbies I have seen, all the emergency pipes are left out of the sump water level, including my tank. If it is submerged, it will be just as quiet as the main drain if you get a clog. The whole point of a herbie is silence, having a trickle in the emergency would kind of defeat the purpose, IMO.

I'd leave it where it is... and I would scrap the union on the emergency to, The emergency pipe is usually tall enough in the overflow that it only drains the for and inch or so (again, on the herbie systems i have seen).

You don't hear anything if there's just a trickle of water going down. Surface tension makes the salt water adhere to the sides of the pipe as it goes downward. It's only above a certain volume of water that the you start hearing anything. In fact, Herbie himself concluded (somewhere in the original RC thread) that adjusting it so that you get a slight trickle down the emergency drain appears to most easily stabilize water levels.

If you get a clog in the main drain you will get a very noticeable flushing sound because there's no valve to slow the water down.