by Tony
Just getting started with slightly different pump design
4:03 am in Getting Started, posts with pitcures! by Tony
-
- Free standing 3 2-liter bottles
-
- Air pump w/3/8″ tee
Ran across your site a while back and thought I would give it a try. Spring is almost here and I am iching to do some gardening. I made a free standing system since I have nothing to hang it from. I had most of the parts laying around like the pump from the kids old fish tank. They only things I bought so far has been the 3/8″ tubing and a 3/8″ tee. I wanted to share the pump design since it worked pretty good. The long 3/8″ tube goes in the top end of the tee. A short piece goes in the bottom end with half cut off so water will get in when on the bottom of the tank. A small piece of 3/8″ tube goes in the middle tee and then the 1/4″ tube from the air pump fits snug inside it.
I sprouted some seeds and put them in it, but they died. I think they died since the leaves were too small and stayed wet all the time and I do not have any hydroponic solutions yet as well. I enjoy the experimentation and will try again.
Thanks for sharing your pump design
You are quite welcome. Have you tried it yet and does it work well for you? I played with their pump design a little bit and it seemed a little odd… Assebling the tee is very easy and only costs a couple of bucks from Home Depot. I was thining of taking some measurements (flow rates and distances) and posting them.
Thanks for sharing your design. It looks quite good and I think I might try it actually.
If you try it, I would be interested in how it turns out. If you had not seen it, I also took some measurements. http://our.windowfarms.org/2010/04/11/alternate-air-pump-performance-data/
This is a really nice design. Where did you get the Tee and can you tell us what it is normally used for?
Got it from Home Depot plumbing department. The 3/8″ quick connect tee is made by Watts. Tubing plugs right in and out with water tight seal.
http://our.windowfarms.org/files/2010/04/3-8Tee.jpg
@britta I’ve seen those Tees at home depot, they always seem to be near the spools of hose. I don’t think they really have any normal use, just vinyl hose tees… what is the normal use for vinyl hose? I use it a lot, but not for anything I would call normal.
@ajinil (Tony) That is a nice simple design, i like it!
I do have one safety concern about the set up. One advantage to the basket ball inflation needles is that the orifice the air comes out is so small that the surface tension of the water makes it less likely to go backwards in the system if the pump is off (intentionally, pump fails, or power outage). Not to say the air needle setups are not at risk, just that you are more so. So; Please Always keep your pump above the surface of the water tank, that is to say put it on top of your water tank, never on the floor. Also use check valves (but realize they can fail). It would be good to have a lot of extra air hose (all above the water level) in the system that could act as a buffer if any water was to back up.
But it looks great. Have you decided what your going to grow?
Grow? How about grew? The original post is a month old. I think you know what I grew….
Oh yeah, that’s you, my bad.
@ Britta: That kind of tee’s can also be used in aquariums. I know of people with massive (300L +) that use them for filter and aeration with home build filters and alike.
@ Tony: I knew of that one. It’s how I found the design
Nice work!