External Pump Plumbing from a non-drilled glass sump

[srit1]

I have a glass tank as my sump that is not drilled and is currently in use (with ~60 gallons of water in it). Not in use, I have an external return pump. I want to explore using this external return pump. Will this plumbing set up work?

Purple is the pvc line. Blue is water. Not to scale, there is about 12ft between the sump water level and the DT water level vertically. I think this will work as long as the return line stays full of water during a power outage and I do not think it can run dry in that event. What are your thoughts and experiences? Will this work? Is there another way?

 

[gobyvin]

You can do that, maybe but... there are potential big negatives:
1. The pump output will be reduced due to introduced turbulence on the suction side of the line with the extra elbows. Basically, you will be wasting electricity. (Pumping less for same $, and reducing pump life due to unnecessary inlet pressure). Almost all the pumps we use are water cooled, so intake pressure might additionally stress the pump due to less cooling in this application.
2. You will have to prime it for first use, and maybe more...
3. Your siphon break at the DT side could introduce enough air to break the prime on every on/off cycle, depends on how long it takes to break the siphon. I suspect it won’t, but hard to tell.

Basically, I would advise against it, just run sumpless while it gets drilled and a nice SCH80 PVC bulkhead of largest diameter that works with your return pump is installed. That way, all of the concerns above are gone.
If you really want to try it, try using larger diameter intake side plumbing from the sump, it might reduce the strain on the pump some. If you need a strainer on that side, make it a big one! I would do it the proper way to avoid the headaches.