Check Valves

[extreme_tooth_decay]

Thanks for that, Tim. It's too bad it doesn't have more rollers to prevent this situation from occurring. A check valve and a siphon break (in case the check valve fails) may be the only way to really address this for this pump.

 

Right, In his case, a siphon break would be a good back up.

 

For me, I only use the pump for ATO, so there is no possibility of a siphon.

 

I'm not sure I understand his exact set-up, but if he is pumping kalk-juice or salt water through the check valve (which I am not), I would expect that would cause the check valve to fail faster. Could explain why mine has lasted so long.

[Integral9]

ok, you've twisted my arm and I did a doodle.

 

 

The pump just pulls the water up and into the Kalk stirrer which then overflows into my sump. It's very simple. I have a seperate MJ600 setup to do the top off. Not shown in the image.

Edited November 15, 2012 by Integral9

[extreme_tooth_decay]

Could you set it up so the water coming into the kalk stirrer is dripping into there through air (the tube not submerged)? Then it would not be able to back-siphon into your reservoir in the event of a check valve failure.

 

That is how I do my ATO.

Edited November 15, 2012 by extreme_tooth_decay

[Integral9]

Could you set it up so the water coming into the kalk stirrer is dripping into there through air (the tube not submerged)? Then it would not be able to back-siphon into your reservoir in the event of a check valve failure.

 

That is how I do my ATO.

 

That's what I have done while I wait until my new check valves come in. This isn't ideal as less concentrated or variable concentrations of kalkwasser will be dosed into the sump. Which is fine for me for a little while, but eventually it will cause me to continually adjust the dosing times and I don't want to keep meddling w/ the timer. It took me months to dial it in and I am so done with that.

[Integral9]

I got the check valves the mail. That was fast. Apparently sustainable supply is the retail shop for grainger as the package came from grainger. Nice since there is a grainger in sterling and i imagine thats how it got here so fast.

 

Anyways, I installed the new check valve and problem solved. Only time will tell if its a good solution. Ill try and post a follow up in a few months.

[Integral9]

Follow Up:

 

The new check valves worked perfectly. In fact, I only needed 1 so I have a spare should I need it.

 

Now is my peristaltic pump needs a new "squidy" thing. So while I am looking for cheap AquaMedic dosing pump tubing, I'm also looking at switching pumps to something with more volume output than my current pump, but I haven't found a pump that can produce 1psi on 1/4" line and still catch prime. The tubing size is too constrictive for the MJ600 I am trying to use. I have a Rio 50 I am going to try, but getting the right plumbing to connect to a 1/4" airline to a powerhead is not easy. I may look into modding my K1 to accomodate 3/8" or 1/2" tubing.