the official 180 build begins !

[gwaco]

what a day ! tonights postings won't be long as i am whipped . i decided to start this build with the sump . spent most of the day cleaning out stuff and boy do i have a lot ! first pic shows what i had to take out ! notice the cans of kalk on top of the cabinet ! theres about 50 lbs of it stashed up there and another 20 lbs stashed inside the house ! don;t think i will ever need kalk again !

[gwaco]

now with most of it cleaned out . it ended up being alittle harder to figure this out since the wife still wants to keep her car in the garage , so i have to work with the same space that was there prior . it'll be a tight fit but i think it will work out .

[gwaco]

i had to change the skimmer around alittle and elavate it . the pump will go underneath as shown . one of the things i have to decide on is exactly what do i want to do with this pump . besides the skimmer i would also like to have it run through the chiller which will be situated on top of the stand . should i put in a y pipe and feed each one seperate off the pump of just go thru the chiller first and then to the skimmer ? the big down fall i see by going thru the chiller first is it has one inch pipes and i'm afraid to loose the volume . i plan on going into the skimmer with 1 1/4 spa flex to get rid of any 90 's . any ideas ?

[gwaco]

would like to get both sumps inthere to get alittle more done but that means i will have to relocate the pump that is there now running the 75 . the two sumps will be interconnected but am having a hard time deciding whether to connect them with one two inch pipe or two 1 1/2 inch pipes , or two 2" pipes . ideas ?
thats all i got for tonight , i wish i would have had more time in the day so i could have tried out the skimmer again , man time flys ! oh one last thing , on a chiller the fan pulls air thru the unit , not pushes it correct ? i need to know so i can figure out the best way for air flow around it . night all !!!! edit ; the cabinet on the top is where a lot of the stuff from the cabinet in the first pic needs to go back into . it has nothing to do with the sump .

[Viv]

Gotta tag along! Very excited to read and watch!

[Little Luey]

Looks good. Keep it up.

[Loverotties]

I'd put something under the pump on the ground,so if water is on the floor.

[Wiskey]

Very cool! I too will be watching. One thing, do you think it is a good idea to have the skimmer right above the pump? If it leaks, or overflows, your pump is going to get drenched

Keep us updated!
Whiskey

[gwaco]

Originally Posted by Loverotties

I'd put something under the pump on the ground,so if water is on the floor.

not to worried as the slope in the garage will pull the water away ! but i will have a rubber pad under it to help isolated it .

[gwaco]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

Very cool! I too will be watching. One thing, do you think it is a good idea to have the skimmer right above the pump? If it leaks, or overflows, your pump is going to get drenched

Keep us updated!
Whiskey

leaks ! what are leaks ? the nice thing about this pump is that it is a sealed motor , there is no cooling fan on it so i don't have to worry about any dripping getting pulled in the motor . only real place for water to get into it is in the cap box where the plug enters . i will be sealing this up a little better than what it is now . baring a storm surge that completely floods the garage ( which at that point i have a lot more to worry about than a pump ! ) i think it will be o.k. ! i did one thing today ! picked-up the bit to drill the tank out . since i have a really big drill press i think i am going to make a rack and lay the tank on its side , then move the press into position and drill it this way , free-hand kinda scares me ! plus i can keep the speed and pressure constant . with 16 speeds i think i can come up with the right combo . this i will get pics of .
but what about some of the other questions ? anyone !

[Wiskey]

If I were you, I would run the chiller and skimmer off of different pumps. The chiller has allot of restriction and you don't want to hurt your skimmers performance with that.

HTH,
Whiskey

[gwaco]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

If I were you, I would run the chiller and skimmer off of different pumps. The chiller has allot of restriction and you don't want to hurt your skimmers performance with that.

HTH,
Whiskey

thats why i was thinking about teeing or y" ing it . i agree 100% that going thru the chiller then to the skimmer would ruin the pumps potencial .

so help me plan this out ! heres what i need to run and heres what i have available to run them with .

the to run column -
1. returns from the sump to the tank .
2. the skimmer
3. the chiller
4. the u.v. light

the whats availible column -
1. the monster l.g. pump , 2150 g.p.h. @ 5 ft . 1900 g.p.h. @ 10 ft , 1680 g.p.h. @ 20 ft . ( what a pump ) this pump uses 445 watts .
2 gen-x mak 4 ( pcx 40 ) rated at 1190 g.p.h. ( but i'm sure i drops off quick ) 110 watts
3. gen-x mak-5 (pcx 100 ) rated at 1550 g.p.h. , max head 29 ft , 360 watts .
4. mag -7 , 700 g.p.h. 12 ft max head . 60 watts
5. mag - 5 500 g.p.h. 10 ft head max . 45 watts


so what would you do , keep in mind i don't want to use the two largest pumps together since that would be over 800 watts - unless using the two large ones would do away with all the other 3 pumps .

the travel distance from the sump to the tank will be approx. 10 ft . there will be two nozzles going into the tank with one having a penductor . BUT ! only one nozzle will be operating at any given time . so from the pump it will tee or y with in 1 ft. or so, so each nozzle will have its own 9 ft ( approx) of 1 or 1 1/4"pipe. each nozzle will be controlled by a soleniod valve .

the chiller will have to be bench mounted as in pics , so it will need to remain where it is . i still need to find out wheather the air blows thru the unit or is sucked thru as this will change its position on the bench.

the skimmer is pretty much set , and the u.v can be mounted anywhere inside the cabinet . so throw your thoughts out there !

[redwinger]

I would use the mak5 on the skimmer and the mag 7 on the chiller and UV. Then use the mak4 for the returns.

[Spanky]

I can't follow that without a lot of coffee, and that much coffee would mess me up for the rest of the day.

Here's what I would do.

Use the biggest return pump for the tank/sump/tank loop, and don't use a eductor on it.

Use the most pressure rated pump on the separate UV loop, but use an eductor to make up for the lack of volume.

Get a chiller with a drop in loop so you don't need a pump for it at all.

-or-

Plumb the chiller on the UV loop - after the UV - again less flow but more pressure and make up the difference with an eductor.
What I don't like about that is too many things on one loop - more chances of leaks - and to service the UV you have to turn off the chiller.

In any case, run the skimmer on it's own loop - sump/skimmer/sump - so you have control over it.

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by redwinger

I would use the mak5 on the skimmer and the mag 7 on the chiller and UV. Then use the mak4 for the returns.

I agree.

Whiskey