finaddict August 30, 2018 Share August 30, 2018 How do you drain your return lines if you have a wye check valve? I am trying to drain my tank to move it and I cant get the water out of the return lines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl August 30, 2018 Share August 30, 2018 Arent the check valves removable for maintenance? I thought they unscrewed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finaddict August 31, 2018 Author Share August 31, 2018 They unscrew and let a torrent of water out when you do that. I gotta find a way.... the only thing i can think of is to run a wire snake up the pipe to move the plunger up and let the water drain into the sump. Major pain in the butt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bues0022 August 31, 2018 Share August 31, 2018 Why do you have a check valve? I'd suggest next time you setup your tank to find a way to do your plumbing so you don't need one. You've found one problem with them, and especially with SW tanks there can be so much junk that develops/grows (small tube worms for example) in dark places that when you really need that valve to work....it won't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl August 31, 2018 Share August 31, 2018 They unscrew and let a torrent of water out when you do that. I gotta find a way.... the only thing i can think of is to run a wire snake up the pipe to move the plunger up and let the water drain into the sump. Major pain in the butt Eh? The water should just flow down the pipe. You have something like this, correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finaddict September 1, 2018 Author Share September 1, 2018 That is the valve I have. But once you turn off the return pump the water reverses direction towards the pump and closes the valve to prevent the re erase siphon situation. That is the state it is in now but I want to get the water out of the pipe to move the tank. I put in the valve as an extra layer of protection in case my pump dies. I believe my sump would handle the extra water if it did reverse siphon but why bother hoping? This tank will be in my carpeted family room so I just put a valve in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami September 4, 2018 Share September 4, 2018 Eh? The water should just flow down the pipe. You have something like this, correct? Does that black plunger thing pull back after you unscrew the cap? If so, won't the water just flow down the pipe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k September 4, 2018 Share September 4, 2018 Whomever is advocating to not have a check valve- that’s silliness. ALWAYS use a check valve- preferably a double union clear type in conjunction with a gate valve near the pump return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finaddict September 4, 2018 Author Share September 4, 2018 Does that black plunger thing pull back after you unscrew the cap? If so, won't the water just flow down the pipe? The cap does unscrew but the plunger is in the down position because I shut the return pump off. Therefore if I unscrew the cap the plunger is still in the down position and the water flows out where the cap was unscrewed. I will take a picture tomorrow to show you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl September 4, 2018 Share September 4, 2018 The cap does unscrew but the plunger is in the down position because I shut the return pump off. Therefore if I unscrew the cap the plunger is still in the down position and the water flows out where the cap was unscrewed. I will take a picture tomorrow to show you. Just pull the plunger and put the cap back on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bues0022 September 4, 2018 Share September 4, 2018 Whomever is advocating to not have a check valve- that’s silliness. ALWAYS use a check valve- preferably a double union clear type in conjunction with a gate valve near the pump return. That was me advocating for not using a check valve. I have good reason behind such a "silly" thought.... (I may be new to this forum, but definitely not to reef keeping) Relying on a check valve to stop water backflow is asking for a problem. There are plenty of things in our tanks that will grow in dark areas. Most often are those white tube worms, but I've also had various hitchhiker sponges too. While a check valve might be able to help from time to time, Murphy will come and rear his ugly head with a small sponge, a few little tube worms, or a bit of stuck algae preventing the valve from completely working when you desperately need it to most. Then if you have a single return positioned 12" down from the top, you'll siphon all of that water back into your sump if your sole backflow mitigation strategy is that check valve. Therefore, I find it best to design your sump/plumbing such that a valve is unnecessary. So, size your sump to be able to hold all the water from your return line. Design your returns so you do not siphon back more water than your sump can accommodate. So now, WHEN the power quits during a storm (of course this will happen when you are out of town), you will not get gallons of water on your floor because you have sized all plumbing to be able to handle all backflow before the siphon breaks from your return line. Can you use a check-valve? Sure. But I certainly would never advocate for using one as a primary method of safety to keep water in the desired tanks (up or down). As with most things in this hobby, if it can fail, it will fail. Have multiple redundancies, or design your system to fail safe rather than to fail catastrophic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finaddict September 5, 2018 Author Share September 5, 2018 I put in the valve as an extra layer of protection in case my pump dies. I believe my sump would handle the extra water if it did reverse siphon but why bother hoping? This tank will be in my carpeted family room so I just put a valve in place. Since the plunger is in the down position ( the pump is off), if I unscrew the cap to grab the plunger all the water comes out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bues0022 September 5, 2018 Share September 5, 2018 How long has he wye been in use for? Are you certain there is water above it still? I’ve never known one to continue to function (keep a perfect seal) after being used in a reef tank for a while. Thy usually slowly will drain down. If you already have most of the inhabitants out, turn the return off, let it sit for a day and it’ll probably be empty above it. Or, empty your sump of water, duct tape a shop vac to the outflow of your return line and let er rip. I clean out my dishwasher like this when it gets an error code of extra junk in it, instead of paying a tech $200 to clean it for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finaddict September 5, 2018 Author Share September 5, 2018 So the valve is brand new. This is the first tank with a sump that I have built so I connected it all up and ran it in my garage for two days to make sure my plumbing didn't leak. Now I have drained the tank and sump and i am ready to move it inside. I think the shop vac idea is a good one... as long as I get most of the water out of the two lines I should be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami September 5, 2018 Share September 5, 2018 Just grab the plunger and pull it part way back, not all the way. That should open the path so you can drain the line down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finaddict September 5, 2018 Author Share September 5, 2018 Here is the thing. As I unscrew the cap the water begins to flow out since the plunger is in the down position. If I were to unscrew it and grab the plunger the event would already be over as the returns would have drained out the side with the cap...and a gallon of water with be on the floor. I think the shop vac is the way to go here. Hopefully I get enough time to try it today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k September 11, 2018 Share September 11, 2018 Real plumbing jobs by professionals always use check valves. And real plumbing jobs do not rely on check valves, but use them as another level of redundancy. Even with a check valve, you always allow for enough room in the sump in case of critical failure of the valve. As far as anything that might grow in them goes, if you’ve put the correct type in, you will be cleaning it from time to time and ensuring that it works correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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