Somebody please help me figure out this PM Bullet-1 skimmer!

[Aquattro]

Tony, just a note, but if you go look at precision marine's site, it shows the Bullet 1 comes with a 1-1/4 gate valve. That's probably what you should get for it.

[Delphinus]

Hmm, it must have changed. The last time I looked was when I bought the skimmer back in September, and at that time the PM-1 was the only skimmer that the gate valve came as an "option" (for the rest, it comes "standard"). The real irony here, I was in Houston at the time, and guess where Precision Marine is? I should have paid them a visit (I'm sure they're real appreciative of drop-ins :P ) and bugged them for a gate valve. Oh well..

Judging by the looks of how much gate valves cost, I guess that would explain why the skimmer was a good deal. Bummer!! I guess once again you only get what you pay for (unless you're Dez, or Jonny, who both seem to have an uncanny knack of sniffing out free stuff... )

[Canadian Man]

:P

[Aquattro]

Tony, I buy my gate valves for about $15 each. And that price is available to anyone asking for a "deal" across the counter. What do they cost there??

[Troy F]

Brad, where are you getting your gate valves? Maybe you better get Tony one. I'm pretty sure that they'll be at least twice that from the place I'm thinking of.

I paid somewhere around $60 for my true union ball valves and I'm guessing a Spears 1.25" gate valve will cost around $40.

[SuperFudge]

Hi Tony,

Those Ball valves are poor for that application,because they narrow down quite a bit in diameter inside the valve and because they are very hard to adjust and tweak....always too much or not enouph right?
Gate valves are the best option,but a good spears ball valve will turn easily too.

But I doubt that is your problem however, i believe it is building siphon gradually during its exit from the skimmer output...this has happened to me before and with the same results you speak of.

My remedy for this was to "T" the output line instead of the first 90 you have on there,place a good 6-7 inches of pipe vertically on the upside of it and on the other side enouph to stay above the water level of your sump.

Dont glue the top pipe yet,so it can be adjusted in hieght to compensate for adjustments you make with the ballvalve later.

This tends to be abit noisier but worked great for me.


Hope this corrects it for you,

[Delphinus]

Thanks for the idea, cool!

Ok, um, so I think I understand this .... the water will exit out the bottom of the T (will still need a valve of some kind for fine tuning), and the top part will just be static (so to speak) -- it won't have an exit (or is it open) -- water will just go up there and stop ??

You wouldn't have any pictures would you?

[Doug]

Definately better with a gate valve Tony. My 1 1/2 in. valve is perfect to use.

However, I must say the becketts are the most finicky skimmers I have used. They remind me of another venturi skimmer I had years ago. Look at them the wrong way and the foam drops. Sometimes mine drops and never returns to the same level. I have to adjust the valve again.

They may skim well, but Debs post about sums up my feelings.

[SuperFudge]

Tony,

Yes, the "T" is placed vertically and with pvc ends on top (remains uncapped) and bottom with the valve.
It will also tell you if that was your problem, by covering the top with your hand....you will see the water level actually go down if siphon is being created.(we hope it is after doing all this )

I dont believe that this would be the best advise if your replacing the ballvalve with a larger diam gate valve,and placing this gate valve directly onto the first portion of ther skimmer (minimal plumbing before it).

Your best solution would be to actually run the skimmer output directly at or above your sump average waterline, or directly in your sump at the same water level,running just the gate valve on it.

Good luck,