Clear 15mm pipe

[WotEver]

What are you smoking....

This nice guy gave me a bag of it... it's cool, man

[magnetman]

A potential problem with clear tubing used in a domestic water supply is that this allows light in which may encourage the formation of algae or weed. Maybe the mains water supply is so heavily doped with chemicals that this wouldn't be a problem but I can't help thinking there is a good reason why clear pipework is never used in plumbing applications.

[blackrose]

But I'm pretty sure that if you set up a test system with tank - sight tube - tap and just opened the tap, this would hold true. But when you add a suction force instead of just opening a tap, I bet you get different results. Also, what about a venturi effect draining your sight tube as the contents of the main tank whizz past its opening?

 

Height of tank head also has a great influence. As Soldthehouse said, his gauge pipe only got drained after the tank was half empty. It was at this point that the force of suction overcame the force of pressure on the tank of water.

 

I would be interested to know how high the water level was in his gauge when full and when half empty (above the pump).. Mine will be about 55cm above the height of the pump when full.

Edited January 25, 2010 by blackrose

[soldthehouse]

Height of tank head also has a great influence. As Soldthehouse said, his gauge pipe only got drained after the tank was half empty. It was at this point that the force of suction overcame the force of pressure on the tank of water.

 

I would be interested to know how high the water level was in his gauge was when full, when half empty.

A case of mistaken identity methinks, never the less an interesting topic with over 600 hits...

[RLWP]

If you stand on an island and listen carefully you'll hear it sizzle as it dips into the water. Ra then rescues it with his boat and all through the night he shines it up just in time to push it back into the sky at dawn.

 

I thought everyone knew that...

 

Tony

 

How does he relight it when it has got all soggy?

 

 

Richard

 

I like theology

[WotEver]

How does he relight it when it has got all soggy?

According to wikipedia (so it's got to be right) he protects the sun's fires from the primordial waters of the underworld as it passes through during the night using his solar boat, the Mandjet.

 

So the sizzling might just possibly be imagined, I guess.

[blackrose]

A case of mistaken identity methinks, never the less an interesting topic with over 600 hits...

 

Sorry, did I mean Bob the welder?

[RLWP]

According to wikipedia (so it's got to be right) he protects the sun's fires from the primordial waters of the underworld as it passes through during the night using his solar boat, the Mandjet.

 

So the sizzling might just possibly be imagined, I guess.

 

 

Must be on a good rate that Ra. Working with dangerous materials, specialised training, permanent night shifts...

 

Richard

 

It's very clever that Mandjet being a solar boat cos he's got the sun with him to power the panels!

[soldthehouse]

Sorry, did I mean Bob the welder?

Forgiven, there a lot to decipher on here over a simple request as to where to get some clear plastic tube... thats where the best conversation goes..... anywhere...

Edited January 25, 2010 by soldthehouse

[blackrose]

Forgiven, there a lot to decipher on here over a simple request as to where to get some clear plastic tube... thats where the best conversation goes..... anywhere...

 

Anyway, I've got some spare Speedfit fittings and pipe inserts in my bag of plumbing bits, so if it doesn't work I've only done a fiver. I'll take some pictures and report back in a few days.

 

Mike

[blackrose]

Deleted - duplicated post

Edited January 25, 2010 by blackrose

[blackrose]

A potential problem with clear tubing used in a domestic water supply is that this allows light in which may encourage the formation of algae or weed. Maybe the mains water supply is so heavily doped with chemicals that this wouldn't be a problem but I can't help thinking there is a good reason why clear pipework is never used in plumbing applications.

I think the reason one seldom sees clear pipe in plumbing applications is simply because it's more expensive and generally unnecessary.

 

This manufacturer seems to think it's safe for use with potable water. http://www.harvel.com/piping-clear-pvc.asp

 

Anyway, I filter anything I drink through a ceramic filter.

Edited January 25, 2010 by blackrose

[Rick-n-Jo]

Well the clear sight tube was pretty much exactly what I was planning to do, but having got here through 60 odd posts, the number of reasons why it might not be such a good idea is making me think again about an electric gauge mounted in the tank top instead.

 

Any good ones, or indeed are there other ways?

[Bob the welder]

Well the clear sight tube was pretty much exactly what I was planning to do, but having got here through 60 odd posts, the number of reasons why it might not be such a good idea is making me think again about an electric gauge mounted in the tank top instead.

 

Any good ones, or indeed are there other ways?

the pipe way is fine and simply but u need a seperit feed from tank .bob

[ditchcrawler]

the pipe way is fine and simply but u need a seperit feed from tank .bob

Or use an isolating valve and only open it when you want to check the level.

[Bob the welder]

Or use an isolating valve and only open it when you want to check the level.

thats one way .bob

[magnetman]

Well the clear sight tube was pretty much exactly what I was planning to do, but having got here through 60 odd posts, the number of reasons why it might not be such a good idea is making me think again about an electric gauge mounted in the tank top instead.

 

Any good ones, or indeed are there other ways?

 

might be possible to adapt one of these and fix it into the top of the water filler.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4ft-Float-Dial-Level...=item2c4fbfca21

 

we used to have a similar one on an aga tank in the garden when I was little.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

or a fully adjustable one which can be set for any depth of tank

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/0-2m-Float-Dial-Leve...=item2556d217cc

 

Maybe one could build this onto a short extension and fit a hozelock nozzle on the side of the extension piece so the gauge would be working at the same time as the tank being filled.

 

 

or this?

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/APOLLO-ULTRASONIC-OI...=item4ce9fcb9d6

[MoominPapa]

I've gone a completely different way about this: there's no-where I can conveniently mount a vertical tube to act as a sight-gauge, and the electric level gauges lock both expensive and difficult to fit. So I've bought a water-meter from bes.co.uk for £12 and mounted it in the supply pipe after the pump. One run full to empty to measure accurately the size of the tank (in progress now) and I should be able to tell exactly how much water I have left with a bit of arithmetic.

 

MP.

[blackrose]

Ok, here's the installation of my sight tube water gauge. The 2mm wall thickness of the tube was too thick to put a pipe insert in (normally a prerequisite of push-fit plumbing to ensure the pipe section remains circular). Since the tube was very rigid I reasoned that it wouldn't need an insert.

 

 

Bob the welder was quite correct that the water pump would drain the tube and then draw air. The problem seems to be that because the tube is between the tank and the pump (thus closer to the pump), it's easier to draw water from the tube.

 

The solution seemed to be to make it more difficult for the pump to draw water from the sight tube and easier for it to draw water from the tank. So I capped the top of the tube with one of these, taped it on and closed the top.

 

 

Then I hosed out the tank breather just in case it was partially blocked.

 

The closed cap on the tube had the effect of creating a vacuum in the sight tube when the pump cycled. Eventually the tube still drained, but since the pump can't draw a vacuum it has to draw water from the tank even with the tube empty.

 

When the tap is turned off and the pump stops cycling the sight tube starts to fill again, but to take a true reading I just slightly twist open the cap to equalise the pressure and the water level rises by a couple of inches.

 

Here's the finished job.

 

 

Seems ok to me. Where there's a will there's a way!

Edited January 27, 2010 by blackrose

[soldthehouse]

Ok, here's the installation of my sight tube water gauge.

 

 

Bob the welder was quite correct that the water pump would drain the tube and then draw air. The problem seems to be that because the tube is between the tank and the pump (thus closer to the pump), it's easier to draw water from the tube.

 

The solution seemed to be to make it more difficult for the pump to draw water from the sight tube and easier for it to draw water from the tank. So I capped the top of the tube with one of these and closed the top.

 

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i8/mikeclaude/P1000276.jpg[/url]

 

Then I hosed out the tank breather just in case it was partially blocked.

 

The closed cap on the tube had the effect of creating a vacuum in the sight tube when the pump cycled. Eventually the tube still drained, but since the pump can't draw a vacuum it has to drraw water from the tank.

 

When the tap is turned off and the pump stops cycling the sight tube starts to fill again, but to take a true reading I just slightly twist open the top on the cap and the water level rises by a couple of inches.

 

Here's the finished job

 

Seems ok to me. Where there's a will there's a way!

Good result and if the water is constantly changing then the sunlight wont affect it, well done...

[alan_fincher]

I expected Bob to be right, based on what used to happen with a rather nasty central heating circuit in a house I once owned. (Central Heating pump could against all odds drag water down an expansion pipe, and continued to do so even when I made it a lot bigger).

 

Personally, I'd go with the suggestion to put a quarter turn valve at the bottom of your site gauge, normally kept shut, and which you could simply open briefly when you wanted it to show current level, (ensuring you were not drawing off water for the brief time it had to be open).

 

A kind of advantage to that is that the level would change from that recorded when you last checked to what you had currently, which might give a better feeling for how fast you are currently using it.

 

But if you want to know the current situation without turning a tap, then of course what you have covers it.

[blackrose]

Personally, I'd go with the suggestion to put a quarter turn valve at the bottom of your site gauge, normally kept shut, and which you could simply open briefly when you wanted it to show current level, (ensuring you were not drawing off water for the brief time it had to be open).

Thanks, that's not a bad idea, although as Soldthehouse says, the clear tube of standing water might be more prone to going green than a tube in which the water is regularly changed.

Edited January 27, 2010 by blackrose

[Bob the welder]

The pressure on the surface area of the main tank as opposed to the small surface area of the sight tube will mean that the contents of the main tank will always have a greater tendency to find their way along any supply route and i wouldnt even place a small wager on the sighttube level ever dropping.. but what do I know....

what in deed .bob

[soldthehouse]

what in deed .bob

Ive got feelings Bob...

[Bob the welder]

Ive got feelings Bob...