plumbing question
 

i have started to plume my new tank and would like know if a flapper valve worth getting ? some people say not to use them at all

Waste of money imo. They get gummed up too quick and have to be cleaned very often otherwise they fail.

i went with 2 on my tank. both can be cleaned easily, and get done every couple of months. i figure it's part of my insurance.

What is a flapper valve? Never heard of one.

Why wouldn't you leave enough room in the sump to take the back flow? To me that is much better insurance...it's fail safe.

It's a type of check valve. It's supposed to prevent back flow of water during a power outage.

I have one on my return, works great, been in service 10 months. I recall having a reason to add it, which currently escapes me :)

my sump is in the basement, and i have 4 returns in my tank, drilled below the water line like a closed loop, so i had to be able to take alot of water in the sump. i can take about 30 g extra, but 1 1/2" plumbing holds alot, so i figured i would go this route. i do make sure i clean them though.

I have one on my return too.....I bought two when I plumbed the tank.....they are "true union", so I swap them out when I remember to, to clean the dirty one........

I have one on my tank mounted horizontally and i have had it in their without cleaning for 3 years now still works great....same type as fishytime

Hey man, I work in the oil and gas industry, and we use flapper (check) valves. Our apporach when when we evalurate a faciity is that check valves will always fail at some point. Its the same case, that valve will fail..

I built a system that is pump fail & power fail safe and doesnt use a check valve. drop me a note if you want details.