Yes it can be done!  It helps to fasten everything on to something solid.

The brass tees are run through the 1×3 white wood board, where the air input check valves are found.  The water supply is from the ‘H’ assembly on the floor

I found the check valves to be essential to keep the water out of the air system, and the air out of the water system.  With all of this plumbing, the multiple lifts can even back flow into its neighbor through the air manifold if the check valves are not present.

It takes very little air flow to move the water plugs up the 3/16″ lift tube, so I’m still dialing back the manifold valves to achieve constant and consistent flow in all four lifts.

If the air flow is to great then the lift will begin to percolate for a while, then it will accumulate greater water in its tube and slow down, eventually stopping.  At this point another of the lifts that had stalled will begin moving and soon begins percolating, then slows and stalls, and the cycle continues.

Just dial back the ones that are percolating a tiny bit, and lets things run for a minute.  When the next one starts percolating dial it back and wait again.  There will be a sweet spot where all four lifts run consistently and reliably.

I’m using the large Slim Line jug from WalMart.  The 3/8″ OD tubing fits snug in the spigot.  If you remove the tube I recommend cutting off the end before inserting it again to ensure a good seal.

I’ve re-invented this method to join 1/4 OD tubing to 1/4 ID tubing…

Sacrifice a small tee or straight connector and cut off the barbs, insert the barb in the small tubing, and join the large tubing to the small.  It should be strong and tight.

A variation on this is to put a piece of 3/8 OD tubing over the small tube to prevent kinks.  I use this at the top of my assembly before joining the discharge tube.

The one on the left has a piece of blue shrink wrap to adapt the small and large tube, but the shrink wrap often comes off in the large tube, so it has to be re-installed or replaced each time I fiddle with that connection.

The hole through the 1×3 board the brass T fitting runs through is sized for a 3/8″ OD tube like this.

At the moment I’ve got about 20 inches of water above the T’s. The board is seven feet high.  After another half hour of fiddling with knobs  I did a flow volume test before it got dark and got numbers between 5ml and 20ml per minute on the various lifts.

I’m going to refine the water supply configuration and try again when it gets warm enough in the morn.

My PetCo 4 outlet pump has started to hum constantly after this round of testing, so a better quality pump may be called for in a production system with this much riding on it.  I need to read up on pumps next.

Share and Enjoy!