Ok so here goes the explanation of the system. First of all the overflow tube only cost like 15$ to make so fairly cheap. I made it by measuring the tank height from the top of the bottom frame to the top of the tank. I cut two pieces of PVC that length, we will call the A1 and A2. Then I added 3 inches to the total length of the PVC and cut a piece that long, called B. Then I measure a piece that was about an inch shorter than my A1&2 pieces and cut it, called C. So now you should have all your necessary cut pieces though you may need to modify them a bit to suit you needs.
To construct it you will need:
The cut pieces A1&2, B, and C
5 street elbows
2 regular elbows
1 T piece
1 end cap
1 check valve
PVC primer
PVC cement
Instructions:
1. Insert piece C into one of your reg. elbows. This piece is important to get to the height u want inside your tank as it will set your water level.
2. Insert a street elbow into the elbow you just connected to C.
3. Insert A1 into the street elbow in step two. At this point all your connections should look like a U shape. These will be the pieces inside the tank.
4. Insert a street elbow onto A1 and face it out of the tank. Then connect your last regular elbow to the street elbow just mentioned and have it face toward the ground.
5. Connect A2 to the last regular elbow in step 4.
6. Connect a street elbow to the bottom of A2. Then connect another street elbow to the one we just connected an face it upward toward the ceiling. These two street elbows should form a U shape as well.
7. Connect your T piece into the last street elbow from step 6 and face it away from the rest of your overflow towards the direction you want your sump to be. The T piece should be connected so it is a T on its side (-I like that. )
8. Connect piece B into the top outlet of the T piece. Your whole overflow should now look like two U shapes connected.
9. Place your final street elbow into the horizontal output of the T (which is now like this -I ), and angle it downward towards the floor.
10. At this point you will drill a hole about 5mm into your endcap piece and put it onto the end of piece B. this will reduce noise level of the overflow. The bigger the hole the more noise.
11. You now have an overflow tube! Congratulations! You can either hard plumb this down to your sump (which is what I did) or you can use flex tubing. Remember to prime and cement your pieces together to avoid leaks!
Steps 1-4.
Steps 5-8
Steps 8-9
Step 10 also you can see where to put your check valve to do your initial prime of the overflow tube. You should never have to prime this again so long as you don't remove the overflow tube from the tank.
Step 11. Optional hard plumb or flex tube plumb to your sump!
Trickle Tower build explanation to come tomorrow. Man that took awhile! Hope all of you who want to build one find this useful!
