You can also make your own accumulator tank out of some 6-inch diameter Schedule 40 PVC pipe (the white, hard wall stuff). This design can be custom sized and put somewhere it will fit yet be out of the way. First, find some place near a water line that you can mount about a 6-inch diameter pipe vertically, like on a bulkhead or a deck support. The longer the better, but you can get away with as little as a foot or 18 inches Get an approprate length of 6-inch diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe, two six-inch pipe caps, a PVC hose barb fitting, and a PVC hose barb tee. The single barb fitting and the tee fitting should be the appropriate diameter for your water lines.
Drill an appropriate sized hole to mount the hose barb fitting in one cap (if you can get a cap with threaded hole in it, so much the better; get a threaded hose barb fitting that will screw into the threaded cap). Glue the hose barb fitting in the hole, or if using the threaded cap and barb, glue the threads and screw into the cap. Glue the caps on to the end of the pipe, That's your tank. Mount the pipe/tank vertically wherever you decided to put it, with the cap with the fitting facing down. Install the tee into your pressure line (if you have copper line, cut a piece out and install the tee using short pieces of rubber hose, double-clamped over the copper pipe). Run a piece of rubber hose from the tee to the hose barb in the tank, and you're done. A 6-inch diameter pipe holds a gallon of water for every 8 inches (actually about 8.16 inches), so a four-foot pipe holds about 5.8 gallons. Plenty for an accumulator tank. Cheaper than buying a tank (pipe, caps, tee, barb, primer and glue should leave some change from a $20 bill), the plastic will never rust, and you can mount a 6-inch diameter pipe to a bulkhead or deck support somewhere out of the way and not have to find space on the sole to mount a commercial accumulator tank. The better commercial accumulator tanks have a rubber bladder so that the water never contacts the air inside the tank; my design and the cheaper commercial tanks don't. Over a long period of time, non- bladder accumulators will lose pressure as the pressurized air is absorbed by the water. The cure is to occasionally pull the hose connection from the tank and drain it; then you're good to go again. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/UnifliteWorld?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
