Advice on planning a Waste Chamber with Pump

[Gazza]

Hi Max,

No the K1 did not stop the pump thats the beauty the basket it catches anything that is to big for the pump

[TicToc]

Steve, Martin, Hoofman Gent/Ladies,

Many thanks for tips on waste chambers, funnily enough a 'strong' plastic bin and a screwfix pump is certainly worth a follow up on cost, need to look at bin though as once its in the concrete there's no turning back.

Cheers
TicToc

PS Gazza - that blanket weed could easily have been used as free range spinach

[Jules]

You don't even need to put it in concrete as long as it is slightly lower than your Nexus outlet all the water will drain in by gravity as it gets pumped out. this allows for a smaller pump as the water will find its own level.

Just another curve ball for you.

Jules

[eds]

Ed’s waste chamber appears to be more effective for the quick drop/draw out of the system, even though with hindsight, an exact science he wishes his was a bit deeper. How much deeper Ed?

Well I wish the whole of my pump was below the bottom waste pipe. At the moment the waste chamber is only a couple of inches below the waste feed from the vortex but it works fine. Just make sure you can reach to the bottom of the chamber for getting any gunk out if it needs cleaning; mine is a stretch!!!

[kayoss]

Hi Gazza

How do you flush your bottom drain mate?

I can see it would be possible with the sump system, but don't understand how it will work with your closed, pumped system.

Cheers

[Gazza]

Hi Bob,

I think people are looking at this as if to flush a bottom drain and not to get rid of the waste water thats why you don't need a big draw on the system as you are just getting rid of waste water...i think

I pump out my waste water from the main vortex after its all agitated and then when its all been pumped to waste by the waste pump i shut it down and isolate the waste side and then open up the 4" ball valve and fill the vortex up with pond water and in doing so purge the bottom drain.Once its full i do it all over again or to when i am happy its all nice and clean

[TicToc]

[Revised]

Yes, there's different approaches to solving this particular issue and I suppose it all depends on each ponds individual configuration.

Gazza - when your pump is engaged does it immediately start pumping the waste or does it take 10/15 /20 seconds to get going? What happens when it has completed the task and water has been dumped, has it created a vacum?

[Gazza]

Hopefully we are all singing from the same song-sheet and if we get all this sorted now when you carry out the install you will be able to hit the ground running

How fast does water flow with gravity remembering this is a fair old pump so the force is a lot but we are not purging any lines we are just getting rid of waste water and once mine is gone its gone and the last vortex full is normally clean but its only water as anything bigger is in the basket.

One of the reasons i wanted it this way was because its a closed circuit so i will never have any smells from left water and some sumps do tend to chuck up a tad

[Davej]

Must say that I didn’t think of the idea of connecting up the wastes to a pump system at the time of construction so went for a sump pit. It is a bit of a pain as it needs to be cleaned out every so often and if the pump fails it gets messy!!

With the right pump think a pump system would be ideal solution for the waste side.

Gazza - how do you manage with the overflow from trickle in /trickle out ?

TicToc – With your build going to be at ground level U would need to route pond overflow somewhere?

Regards

Dave

[Gazza]

Hi Dave ,

Are yes now thats a good one and i also use the same pump for the QT and that also has a overflow so i have one pump...two systems....with two overflows...and two waste pipes from the systems

My god this will be confusing Dave you better come round soon to have a look as even worse i also have a shnoddle valve on the waste leg as well

Dave i already know you are a sharp young man and would of realized i have a few valves in the system so here we go (i may have to do some pictures) 4 waste pipes one from each vortex waste and once valve for the waste from the QT tank so thats the big ones all 2" i then have the two overflows which are smalled pipe and both have ball valves on them so as long as the valves are closed when i pump to waste i am OK.

Before you ask yes i have had a overflow valve open and switched the pump on and yes it does come out rather fat as i gave it a go to see what happness...like you do

[Davej]

Hi Gazza,

Sounds like it will be worth a visit, need to try and get my head round how the low pressure overflow fits in!!

I have to pump the sump pit best part of 50m to the drain via a 2" pipe so if I could dispense with the pit and avoid one extra job then sounds like worth looking into!!

Regards

Dave.

[Gazza]

Hi Dave,

The overflow is gravity as long as the water can flow and the head is above the level of the drain then the water will go down the drain.The other good thing is its nice and clean and the only time you have to get wet hands is when you clean the basket and normally you don't have to do this every time

when i designed this pond i wanted to make it as easy and clean as i could as then i knew that this way i would keep on top of everything easier......unless i am working silly hours....like recently

[Gazza]

OK here we go some pictures of the overflows:

Overflow in the QT:

[img]http://www.koipix.com/gallery/albums/userpi ... G_5204.JPG[/img]

[img]http://www.koipix.com/gallery/albums/userpi ... G_5206.JPG[/img]

Overflow in vortex:

[img]http://www.koipix.com/gallery/albums/userpi ... G_5216.JPG[/img]

[img]http://www.koipix.com/gallery/albums/userpi ... G_5217.JPG[/img]

[img]http://www.koipix.com/gallery/albums/userpi ... G_5219.JPG[/img]

[Davej]

Ta Gazza

Very helpful!!

Will have a play with gravity feed from the overflow to see how this works, can't see why it shouldn't. Thereafter linking up the wastes should not be too great a burden!! Pretty sure that with the right pump the speed of emptying the Nexus would not be an issue.

It will never be as clean and tidy as your set up!

Am hatching a cunning plan, if sump pit were made redundant then I have a nice dry watertight hole in which I can relocate the filter from the wildlife pond and change from pump fed to a much more satisfactory gravity fed!!

Work - You gotta earn the cash when you can - but why is it always busy when the sun is shining!

Regards

Dave

[Gazza]

Hi Dave,

Why do you need to empty the Nexus quickly many have just gravity on small pipes and some on flexible that run a long way and they all seem to work and as you say these pumps are not slow i will have a look later and see if i can see what my pump is