gate valve

[drunkintimmy]

are gate valves really that unreliable ? the only time it would be closed at all is pump cleaning here and there or an emergency

 

[JohnK]

They are likely to have a very slight leak when used as a shut off.

Beyond that you could use one but the question would be; why not just use a cheaper (and easier to keep clean) ball valve?

 

[stingythingy45]

A gate valve works great for the exit of a skimmer,nice fine adjustment, no biggie if it leaks.
But,I like ball valves.I have quite a few in my system.

 

[drunkintimmy]

im trying to upgrade my sump and go 30 inches long instead of the 24. the only way to make the plumbing after the sump work is do a gate valve cuz its shorter then the pump then about 4 inches thenn the elbow up

 

[drunkintimmy]

also what about knife valves

 

[planereefer]

+1 for ball valves.

I've never heard of or seen a knife valve, but I'm assuming ball valves are easier to come by and more common and I think that's why most people use them.

 

[drunkintimmy]

so i should go with a smaller sump with a ball valve rather than a larger with a gate valve or any other type.

 

[JohnK]

It's not a big vs small thing. Gate valves work great for adjustment and not so great for shut off. Ball valves work great for shut off, but not very well for adjustment.

 

[drunkintimmy]

So honestly do u think I would be OK with a gate valve or knife valve after the sump before my pump only shutting it off here and there for short periods of time? Like pump cleanings

 

[JohnK]

It wouldn't work ver well since they usually don't seal 100%, and cleaning pumps usually takes a while (for a good vinegar soak that is). It would work with a gate valve, but you'd have a puddle to clean up every time you took the pump offline for cleaning.

You could probably do something along the lines of having an extra union half, elbow and short section of pipe - so that you could close the gate valve, remove the pump, then attach the extra union half/elbow/pipe with the pipe pointed straight up preventing a puddle from dripping out while you clean the pipe.

On the other hand, unless you have a pump that has built in unions you are going to have to use a gate valve AND a union, at which point it will take up just as much linear space as a true union ball valve (ball valve with unions built into one or both ends). If that's the case, then just use the true union ball valve and be done with it.

 

[drunkintimmy]

I think I'm going to have to go with the smaller sump so I don't have any issues :-/

 

[drunkintimmy]

Oooorr what about putting the ball valve in the sump itself ?

 

[JohnK]

Oooorr what about putting the ball valve in the sump itself ?

You could do that. You would want to arrange things so it would be easy to remove the valve for cleaning, and the socket/threads it would attach to would stay clean, but this wouldn't be hard to acheive. You could even simply leave a short section of pipe attached to the inside of the bulkhead and keep the valve out of the water until you wanted to take the pump offline. Then to take the pump offline you could remove the short pipe and replace with another clean pipe section attached to the valve (or cap). Swap in the valve or capped pipe, then you could remove the pump for cleaning, clean the pump, re-install it, and then remove the valve or capped pipe.

 

[dannyp02908]

what exactly are you trying to accomplish? I live in Providence and could take a look if you wanted a set of eyes on it but i am unsure what you are trying to do. If you are trying to put a shutoff between the sump and an external pump to remove the pump for maintenance, a ball valve it what you want.

 

[dannyp02908]

or like john said, lol.

 

[drunkintimmy]

OK well I have a pro flex model 3 sump with a fuge in my second chamber and skimmer in the third ... which is no good its making a ton of bubbles so I'm going to a sump upgrade. I'd like to have a bigger sump also if possible but I only have so much room so I'm trying to figure out if its possible to fit what I want. It seems like the only way to fit the 30 inch sump is to have a shutoff of some sort in the sump and removable seems like a good idea

 

[JohnK]

What kind of return pump?

 

[drunkintimmy]

Reeflo blow hole

 

[drunkintimmy]

Is about 8 inches from one end to the other

 

[JohnK]

Which size? If it's the smaller one you might be OK running a 90deg elbow off of the sump, then run the pump sideways leaving enough room for a true union ball valve.