Ever get the feeling that something was just not meant to be?
Oh woe is me.
This skimmer has given me nothing but trouble from day one. On day one I attempted to take the lid off and an entire riser chamber came off. The guy I bought it from had already patched up some leaks in a couple of the seams. I reglued the riser.
When this thing kicked in, it overflowed and flooded the house.
After that disaster it started to leak at the seams again so I shut it down and did a massive patch job on it. When I hooked it back up and fired up the pump, it started squirting water everywhere. One of the barbed connectors had split.
I was thinking how lucky I was that it broke while the thing was shut off. It could have easily broken while I was at work. I got another barbed union. Made sure I didn't put this one on too tight and fired it up again. In the back of my head I'm thinking "I have two more of those barbed unions on this thing that I tightened up pretty good the first time around - but heck, lighting doesn't strike twice - does it?"
I woke up at 1:30 AM this morning to go to the bathroom. I stepped out of the bathroom onto a a soaking wet floor. Yes, another barbed union decided to split while I just happened to be awake and home. It still put out enough water to soak three rooms AGAIN !!.
I shut the thing off and haven't even looked at it this evening. I think the only way to set this thing up is to make it an in sump version with completely different types of connections.
Of course I also got home late from work tonight because my car needed $700 worth of work done to it on my way home (tires, alignment, rear bearings).
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150 gal Custom. Born 5/7/07. 2-29 gal sumps. 30 gal frag tank. 20 gal refugium. PFO Solaris Lighting.
I really hate to say this, and I should have looked at your previous photos more carefully and warned you, but you tried to connect flexible PVC pipe to a hose barb.
I'm sorry to say that it just doesn't connect that way. Hose barbs are used to connect PVC tubing, not flexible PVC pipe. PVC tubing which is usually clear, but may come in colors, and may be reinforced, will connect to a hose barb, because the inside surface is smooth and will grip to the hose barb. PVC tubing is the stuff that comes with your typical aquarium canister filters.
When using PVC tubing material, the hose clamps are made just tight enough to hold the tubing in place. In other words you snug them up good, and tighten about 1 more turn.
Connecting flexible PVC pipe is a completely different story. Flexible PVC pipe is put together the same way regular rigid PVC pipe is. In other words you use glue, and standard PVC fittings. Flexible PVC pipe will never make a good connection to a hose barb because internally the pipe is a spiral. This means that it will never seal to a hose barb, no matter how tight you make the clamp.
When glueing flexible PVC pipe, you should use a primer, and it is "highly desirable" to use pipe cement specially made for flexible PVC pipe. See this link as an example (off site) - Savko Plastic Pipe & Fittings (Note the Flexible Cement for PVC; Medium-bodied clear cement for use on flexible PVC pipe and rigid fittings. Up to 3" diameter.)
If such cement is unavailable and it's an emergency repair, you can use regular PVC cement, but make sure you really glop up the pipe and fitting before assembly.
I'm sorry this happened to you. About all you can do is write it off to one of life's experiences. In any case, I'm sure you'll never make that mistake again. Karma to you for so many problems. (Well, I have to spread some more karma around, before I can hit you again, but I'll remember to )
I'm sure you are right with what is said above but the problem I had wasn't with the barb and the flex tubing. It wasn't leaking there and actually "appeared" to be a good seal. In fact, I couldn't get the barbed fitting out of the hose. I had to cut the hose.
What did happen was that I used teflon paste then teflon tape and then teflon paste on the male end of things (pump output for one example) and then screwed the schedule 80 barb fitting onto the pump using a wrench (way more than hand tight and a little bit). With the paste and tape making the male part larger I think it was just too much pressure from within and the female end of the barbed fitting ended up splitting open.
I won't be using these barbed fittings when I replumb the thing in its final resting place next week.
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150 gal Custom. Born 5/7/07. 2-29 gal sumps. 30 gal frag tank. 20 gal refugium. PFO Solaris Lighting.
LOL - I've actually still got a problem with that as well. The darn rubber seal for the pump keeps giving out. It's leaking water again when the pump is turned off.
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150 gal Custom. Born 5/7/07. 2-29 gal sumps. 30 gal frag tank. 20 gal refugium. PFO Solaris Lighting.
Looks like your wife might just get some new flooring after all. I'll send you a couple pairs of swim fins so you can get around your house more easily...
Looks like your wife might just get some new flooring after all. I'll send you a couple pairs of swim fins so you can get around your house more easily...
Better send them Express Mail. Came home tonight to a power outage so of course the Deltec skimmer has been leaking. This also reminded me that I don't have an immediate short term back up system implemented yet for the aquariums. I headed for the store just to pick up some battery operated aerators but only got a block away and the wife called and said the power was back on. I was probably off for a good hour and a half.
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150 gal Custom. Born 5/7/07. 2-29 gal sumps. 30 gal frag tank. 20 gal refugium. PFO Solaris Lighting.
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