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RE: Bulkhead fittings or "trumpets?" (was Re: My killifish rack)
Hi Wright,
This is very similar to how I chain my 55G drums together [4 of them] that I
use for aging water:
___
| |
| || || |
| || || |
| || || |
| || || |
| |__|| ||__| |
|___________| |________|
It is made out of 1 1/2" PVC and 90 degree ells.
With one drum full of water I drop the siphon down into the drum and at the
same time the opposite end drops down into an empty drum. Then I take the
shop vac and create a momentary vacuum on the pipe opening in the empty drum
and then pull it out right away. In about two minutes after doing that,
both drums equalize at half full. The siphon effect never breaks, even if
the water goes below the inlets, provided the whole siphon pipe is not
jostled. I think surface tension forces take over to not break the siphon
effect.
But, the question I have for you is: Why doesn't the water escape from the
"drilled hole" in your apparatus when the water level in the aquarium/source
is higher than the siphon outlet/low end?
Thanks,
mike
-----Original Message-----
From: Wright Huntley [mailto:jwwiii at pacbell_net]
Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 12:42 PM
To: killietalk at AKA_Org
Subject: Bulkhead fittings or "trumpets?" (was Re: My killifish rack)
Al Anderson wrote:
> Could you do a close up of the fittings you used for the bulkheads?
>
I could see the idea from one of the pictures he already posted from
OFOTO. Click on the link in Ron's message.
That said, may I be so presumptious as to put in a word in opposition to
drilling tanks and installing bulkhead fittings? I long ago lost count of
how many tanks I broke, because the through-side pipe got bumped. It was
way too many. I just saw a couple I broke sitting in someone's back yard
last week, that were still awaiting repair.
It is too easy to fabricate a reliable overflow that goes over the top of
the tank wall, so the structure of the tank is not weakened with a drilled
hole.
How, you may ask?
Solution 1. Well, years ago, before we had submersible power heads to run
water to or inside outside filters, we did it with an airlift operating in
a "U" tube over the wall and into the filter box. At an inch or two down,
the tank level stops dropping, as air can no longer lift water over the
top of the bend. Just run the outer tube into a drain instead of a filter
box.
Even better (Solution 2/ultimate?) is what I think of as the "trumpet"
solution. [I could call it trombone or tuba, but I played trumpet for
years in high-school and college, so it gets my vote.] It requires no pump
or air, and operates most reliably.
Brass band instruments have looped tubing that goes back and forth to get
a long instrument small enough to carry easily and fit in a case. So does
my suggestion for a self-starting siphon overflow. It can be made of
heated clear tubing, bent to make a "U" over the rim and then a full loop
on the way down, outside. [Fill with fine sand so it does not collapse
when heated and bent.] PVC pipe can be used for larger systems if you get
comfortable with not seeing it work. :-) Small systems, like shoe-boxes
can even use it made from heated and bent refrigerator poly ice-maker
tubing (the frosty white, stiff stuff). [A piece of bent welding/brazing
rod inside it while dunking in boiling water can be withdrawn when cool to
leave permanent bends.]
_____ HOLE
/ \ /
| | ___ ___
| | / \
| | | |
| | | |
| \____/ |
^ |
|
V
This ASCII art version (if it survives your formatting) shows the
(unfolded) pattern one needs. Counting the bends from left to right as
1-6, think of hanging the part between bends 1 and 2 on the back of the
tank and ^ deep in the tank water. Bends 3-6 can be at angles such that
the three verticals are tight against the back of the tank, instead of the
unfolded way I sketched them.
Fill the tubing with water, and it will siphon water out of the tank. If
an airhole is drilled into the top of the loop outside the tank, the flow
will stop when the tank reaches that level. Air is sucked in to let the
last water fall into the drain on the right. The rest of the tube stays
full, as there is no height difference to make it back siphon into the tank.
This is cheap and every bit as functional as a drilled fitting, but the
tank retains its strength and can be used for other purposes without an
ugly plug. The trumpet also can be moved to any tank where needed.
Keep the 1-2 horizontal higher than the one with the hole, 5-6, and the
inlet end (before bend 1) well below the hole height. Always cover the
inlet with a piece of filter foam, panty hose or a wad of filter floss to
avoid loss of small fish. Make it big enough that the flow never can be
fully blocked.
For drip inlets, I like a piece of acrylic yarn pulled through a "U" tube
of that frosty refrigerator tubing. It makes, by capillary action, a
self-starting siphon so the source needs no extra pressure, and there are
no narrow valve apertures to clog. [Anyone who has let a mop strand hang
out overnight know this works. :-)]
Wright
PS. My symapathy for those who use proportional fonts on e-mail. No, I
won't do another version you can understand. ;-)
--
Wright Huntley -- 209 521-0557 -- 731 Loletta Ave, Modesto CA 95351
"The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to
think things out for himself... Almost inevitably, he comes to the
conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and
intolerable." -- H. L. Mencken
http://www.sfbaka.net/
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