Fishyfanatic
Aquarium Advice Addict
My kitchen faucet doesn't have enough water pressure to suck out of the tank either. I have to hook it up to a garden hose outside. You could just lack the suction power in your kitchen.
Do you have the bottom piece (valve) unscrewed and pulled down all the way?
Mine sucks so hard it sounds like a vacuum cleaner.
One minor question? Where are you measuring the water pressure at over 80 psi. A plumping "standard" is to keep holdhold water pressure below 50psi, installing a pressure regulator if neccessary. As I understand it, many house hold appliances (say a dish washer) are designed for only 50psi. So usually, the only place you get a pressure measurement above 50psi is an outside hose bibb that connects to the water supply before the pressure regulator. (I learned about some of these things installing an irrigation system a few years back).
I just bought one, and I can't get it to pump squat out of my tank.... But any idea why the faucet can't start the siphon>?
My kitchen faucet doesn't have enough water pressure to suck out of the tank either. I have to hook it up to a garden hose outside. You could just lack the suction power in your kitchen.
BTW, something to remember, you have to measure the tank at the top, not the bottom. Even though the gravel vac opens up at the bottom of the tank, the water still has to climb up and over the ledge of the top of the tank.
3/8 inch lines for me. But I installed an inline water filter... it lowers the pressure ........
Yep, that will restrict the flow and cause a good sized pressure loss.
Anyway to tee the line before the filter and install a valve with hose bibb? Could use a washing machine hose to get into the sink from there.
I don't know who told you that was standard, but its not.
Standard is the pressure that is required by the MWA (municipal water authority) to supply water to all it's customers while taking into account the age of system, size of water mains, demand rate, zoning classification, height of buildings, time of day, season, and a few other items. This varies greatly.
Municipal water supplies generally range from 30 psi to 175 psi and up. The general supply range for most municipal supplies is usually in the 60 to 125 range. I know of 2 that supply from 200 - 225 psi. I also know several that give you from 25 - 40 psi in some areas.
Most household appliances are designed to a maximum working pressure of 150 psi. You can easily read the plate on your relief valve on the water heater, or the expansion tank, also check the hose on your washing machine, its made for constant pressure not like the garden hose. When you are expected to exceed about 125 psi, you are required to have a pressure reducing valve (PRV). Also a backflow preventor (BFP) on new installations. Most items operate better at 40 to 70 psi WWP (working water pressure) at the item's inlet. This is not the static water pressure (not moving) this is the residual water pressure (flowing) they need.
Get a 200 psi pressure gauge and a few adapters from the hardware store and put the gauge on your laundry sink and elsewhere in the house. You may be surprised.
A pump's energy requirement does NOT depend on the height to which you are pumping, it depends on the differential pressure against which you must drive flow. Height is one of several factors which affects differential pressure, and if you're only pumping fluid one way then it will be the only factor. In this case where you're pumping the fluid back to its point of origin, there is no differential pressure whatsoever created by the height. The downward flow of water back to the sink draws a suction on the output of your pump which results in an easier discharge flow path and less energy input required. Yes, it takes more energy to pump the tap water uphill to the tank, but it takes less energy to pump the tank water downhill to the sink.