Q About Head Pressure

euphoria

euphoria

Active Member
This may be sort of a stupid question to some of you, so pardon me :D
Well I have a tough time understanding head pressure. If my pump is 3 feet under my tank, and the hose from the pump to the tank is let's say 6 feet long, (due to the pump being on the opposit end of the tank), am I losing pump force due to it being 3 feet below the tank, or am I losing force due to the hose being 6 feet long?
What I'm trying to figure out whether or not my tank being placed far from the tank (horizontal distance) affects the force, or if it's only the vertical distance that slows it down.
 
robchuck

robchuck

Active Member
A horizontal run of plumbing accounts for much less head pressure than a vertical run. For example, one foot of vertical run puts one foot of head pressure on the pump, where it would take somewhere near four feet of horizontal run to put one foot of head pressure on the pump.
 
squidd

squidd

Active Member
If you post... pump you are using (or thinking about)
The "vertical" height from pump outlet to tank top...
The "actual" horizontal length (from pump placement to "edge" of tank...)
Return line ID...
And number of elbows (90s) to get from pump to tank...
And number or "type" of outlets..("T", single outlet,spraybar,etc..)
We can give you a very close "expectation" of what kind of flow you'll get...
 
euphoria

euphoria

Active Member
I don't have all that info now, but I can try my best.
The pump is connected to my chiller, so it takes the wet/dry water, pumps it through the chiller and through the UV and goes to my tank.
The hose rises about 2 feet to hook up to my chiller w/ a 90, then drops 2 feet back to the floor and travels about 6 feet to go to the OTHER side of the stand, then it rises about 4 feet to get from floor to the top of the tank.
There's one of those 90 and another 90 bends that allow the hose to enter into the tank.
OUTLET - It's not the spraybars or the T type outlets. It's one of those that are like an inch or so long and about 1/8 inch thick slit. Kinda like a nozzle.
 
streetdoc

streetdoc

Member
If I remember correctly....
1ft head pressure for every:
1ft of verticle height.
10ft of linear (horizontal)
and 1for every 90* fitting
 
marvida

marvida

Member
Line diameter enters in too. Once upon a time I used to have to study firehose hydraulics, and length, elevation, fittings & hose diameter all interacted.
 
squidd

squidd

Active Member
What I'm trying to figure out whether or not my tank being placed far from the tank (horizontal distance) affects the force, or if it's only the vertical distance that slows it down.
If you are running decent size piping (1" or larger) from the pump to tank your "head loss" and "friction loss" numbers are going to be "minimal" compared to what you are loseing in restrictions with the chiller and UV both of which probably have small diameter "coils" inside for slowing the water down in order to "treat/cool" it..
Unfortunately there are no restriction loss "rating" numbers on that type of equipment that can be "pluged in" to standard head loss calculators...
 
euphoria

euphoria

Active Member
Well whatever the losses may be, the chiller is doing a good job of maintaining water temp. I'll stick to what works :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top