sump muffler

[framerguy]

I got this idea last night while pm-ing Barb. What if I used PVC to build a detritus/bubble/trapping muffler. I gave it some thought. I figured thin wall PVC would give more clearance... and it would but I couldn't find any today except 10' lengths so I built mine out of SCH 40. Hey, I had it!

First I assembled my tools:


The only tool missing is the saw. The most important tool is in the bottle shown. I cut my PVC to length. The 4"dia. is 9" long, the 3" dia. is 17" long, the 2" is 15" long, and the 1" is about 7". Other parts were one each of a 4",3" and 2" plastic "viewing" cap. One 1" straight coupling, and one 1" 90. Also a 1.5" piece of 1" PVC.

I assembled the 3" cap "headpiece" by drilling a 1-3/8 hole in the cap, inserting one end of the short piece of 1" pvc into the straight coupling, putting the 1"pipe through the hole and attaching the 1" 90. These are not glued on place but they could be.


I then glued in place the caps for the 2" and 4" PVC. I attached the 7" piece of 1" pipe to the straight coupling, again unglued but you could. Then I drilled 7/8" holes all around the bottom portion of the 3" pipe. Then glue the head assembly onto the other end of the 3"pipe. What you have looks like this:


Put the 2" tube inside the 4" tube:


Next put the 3" assembly over the 2" pipe so the 3" pipe is sitting on the 4"cap.



Next, it's plug and play:



This baby is whisper quiet! All I hear is a faint hissing from the tiny bubbles that are left over when they burst. There aren't that many. It's only been running for an hour or so now, no back flow issues so far. I'll try to keep you updated on it's progress.

If you have the room in the sump it could be made out of larger pipe. Maybe 6" outer, 4"middle and 2" inner. I don't know, If someone can offer better suggestions I'd like to hear them...Terry?

I added a small vent hole in the 3" cap.

[tbittner]

Patent it buddy!!! What an awesome idea!

It looks like the flow would be WAY more then enough to keep detritus from collecting in it which, I believe, is desirable. This is a solution to a BIG source of the noise that is caused by having a reef tank in the living room. Water sloshing around in the sump. It should also cut down, BIG time, salt spray/creep.

I don't know if I made up the term "slow the water down" or if I read it somewhere, but I really think that is a key to keeping the salt IN the water instead of on the edges of things, such as the sump. This design very effectively does just that.

I DO see one MAJOR problem though. Coors sucks!!!

[zy112]

Sweet idea thats cool!

[BarbMazz]

Well, farmerguy,I can see the first mistake you made! Never use light beer as a tool... always go with a full-bodied lager. Then you wouldn't hear even those tiny bubbles!

And how great is it that I now have a model to follow!! I better hurry and put it together before you have that patent.

Thanks, I'm really glad you couldn't sleep last night!

[boozeman]

what would happen if a snail/ small fish went down?

[ReefGuy69]

If that happened then he will need to upgrade to a 24 case of Blue.


or you wont hear bubbles anymore. youll here a tiny squeaky "help... help"

[Frankie]

Cool idea. I like it. I will follow along to see the progress with this thing. How much flow do you have coming out of that pipe? My flow is huge and i wonder if it would just back flow. BTW if you were drinking Becks or something you probably would have had all the kinks worked out by now. JK. Be careful with sharp tools when drinking buddy.

[boozeman]

....and where are the blood stains, its not DIY without spilling some blood on it

[tbittner]

No red OR purple....

*sigh*

[framerguy]

Originally Posted by boozeman

what would happen if a snail/ small fish went down?

I think it would just be stuck in the 2" pipe. There's plenty of room in there not to clog.

I also think if you have huge amounts of flow then larger pipes would be used. 1-1/2 in, then 3", then 4", then 6". Or 1.5, 3, 6. then 8! I think that would actually be better even if your using a 1" input. I don't have that much room in this sump though.

I made the cuts before opening the beer. It was more for the comedy effect. A six pack will last me two weeks.

I think this thing is pretty cool and it seems to be working. There may be a way to incorporate a sock inside to catch stuff. I thought the 4" closed bottom would catch most detritus then could be cleaned out weekly or so.
It's a work in progress...

[ReefGuy69]

oh come on dont kid us. you were so drunk you attached your sump muffler to the kitchen sink drain and not your tank.. its ok you can fess up. HA HA HA j/k... sweet idea

[framerguy]

Originally Posted by boozeman

....and where are the blood stains, its not DIY without spilling some blood on it

look at the bottom of the 3" pipe, that could be blood. Yeah, that's it... I , uh, cut myself,no wait, I drilled my hand with the bit,, yeah that's it,, and I got blood all over the pipe... and ,, uh, I wiped it off with my shirt. but kept going ... Yeah, that's the ticket!

[boozeman]

I know it sounds crazy...but could you take a few different types of objects and send them down that tube to test how it would perform should there be a mishap. I am very interested in this muffler you created.

[Frankie]

I like it. I will build one tomorrow a little larger and see what happens.
Dude, just kidding about the beer. Drunks don't drink Coors light

[mps9506]

Nice! This is a DIY more my speed! Kinda like a reverse Stockman Standpipe.
Silly question, where did you get the caps from? Lowes, Home Depot carries these somewhere I assume?
And booze, easy way to keep fish out would be to use a Stockman stand pipe with teh same type of holes drilled in the standpipe in your overflow box. However in my experience I would get a lot of crap collecting on the holes and would have to remove and clean my stockman every month or so to maintain the flow through it. I ended up cuttin a square in the side of the pipe to keep me from having to clean it, but then small fish could get through so....