Plumbing/Pump Cleaning ???

[Big Dave]

Hey everyone-

Ok, here's my problem. I not the plumb-master so I need some help. I want to re-do my plumbing on my inline return pump so I can disconnect it fairly easily for cleaning. Right now, I have a bulk head at the end of my sump, then ball valve, pvc to return pump, and pvc'd back to main tank. I am going to add another ball valve on the other side of the pump too. I want some type of quick disconnect on each side of the pump so it can be removed easily. To take it off now, I have to unscrew the thread connectors on each end of the pump, which is pretty much impossible. The pump is about a year old, so I need to give it a cleaning - and re-do my plumbing. Is there a good water-tight connector for this? Where do they sell them? HD doesn't have the greatest plumbing selection when I've needed something in the past. Any other ideas? Please post pics if you can, cause I'm not really sure what I will be looking for!

Another question... how flexible is flex-pvc? Flexible enough so I can bend the return over the top, or would I need to still use elbows or a u-tube? Can I use 1" flexible hose for the return, or is the chance of it getting pinched too great?

Thanks for the help! I have faith in you all to help me out again!

-Big Dave

[Geoff]

from you description i think you are looking for unions. I got all of mine at HD. They come in FPT and slip. they are usually grey in colour. they make real easy to disconnect parts of your plumbing. i have one before and after every piece of equipment in my plumbing.

G~

[maphew]

i have always gotten them at the mom and pop ace hardwares. they are called quick disconnects i think. they have a rubber gasket in them so they dont leak.
good luck
matt

[Big Dave]

I did some looking at HD last night. Just to make sure I saw the stuff you are talking about, they are the compression unions. They have the rubber gasket that compresses as you tighten the threads on the union, right?

-Big Dave

[Minnreefer]

YUP