Inflow ball valve position question

[castle]

Hopefully this image helps, the outflow from the aquarium to the pump has a T section where one pipe goes to the pump, the other goes to the drain. After the T both pipes have ball valves to turn off their flow. The drain would be gravity fed, with the pump off.

Have I missed anything here?

 

[Aqua sobriquet]

I’m not sure what you’re asking but the diagram looks a bit odd?

 

[castle]

Sorry yes, I’m not a plumber so don’t know the correct flow diagram; i tried to flatten a 3D plan 😅 my question is about having the drain valve closed with the pump valve open would the pump create a vacuum/pressure off the T to the valve in the drain? Or am I overthinking it 👍

Your diagram is simplified and correct 😊

 

[martinjcxn]

I would say you’re overthinking it. There may be some vacuum effect to the left of the T-piece but not at a magnitude even close to exceeding what the valve can handle.

In any event all it can do is suck the ball valve more “closed”.

My canister has a reactor with 3 ball valves that allow me to shut off water to the reactor so I can remove and clean it. During this cleaning time I simply turn closed the two valves to the reactor and fully open the other - letting my canister run while I clean.

Point if this: I’ve never had an issue with ball valves and rerouting water.

 

[ian_m]

One thing to take into account is cleaning the pipe work.

Every couple of years/months/weeks you may want to be able to completely take out the pipe work for a yearly/monthly/weekly thorough cleaning. Thus having some way of getting all the water out of the pipework and getting the pipe work apart easily will make this job a lot easier. Of course you could design it to be cleanable/brush'able in place.

I have seen many people assemble and glue pipe work in place, looks wonderful and is 100% leak proof, but once glued was impossible to remove from the tank for cleaning.

 

[castle]

@ian_m i didn’t think of that, and it makes sense. I’ll add one this weekend - annoyingly wasted a bit of pipe but totally right.

 

[martinjcxn]

Great point with regards to cleaning.

If it helps I used irrigation fittings that screw together to construct my reactor piping. So it’s quite easy to remove, take apart and clean as needed.

Perhaps you can find something similar.

 

[castle]

The pipework for the most part is behind 1000kg+ aquarium, so it’s a bit of a mare to ever get behind should it fail.

I’ve planned now to add a “rodding” point at the top of the inflow so I can rod down to the T . For sanity I will also add another rodding point after the valve for the drain and I will be able to rod back up from the exit to the drain to in a worst case scenario.

After going to all this length, I should have sumped it.