External Durso without internal elbow

[tmerritt]

I am going to be working on redoing the plumbing on my used tank. It currently has a dual external Durso standpipe setup, but without the 90 elbow inside the internal overflow box (no room for an elbow). It seems like without an internal elbow to block air from getting in then there’s no point in a tee joint to attempt to control airflow as there will always be a large amount of airflow coming from the overflow box. I attached a rough drawing of the setup. The overflow box is inside the tank and the PVC plumbing is external.

With all of the above said, is there any point of having a tee and not just having a 90 elbow on the outside? I would be able to use a street elbow and be able to move the tank closer to the wall in the future is the reason I’m considering making this change.

TIA!

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Got a photo? Sounds like pvc was just connected directly to the bulkhead externally instead of the external box that holds the drains.

 

[tmerritt]

Got a photo? Sounds like pvc was just connected directly to the bulkhead externally instead of the external box that holds the drains.

That is correct. (Have a small leak that I have been waiting to fix until I re-plumb).

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Did you always run it like that, or did you use a external overflow box and decide to mod it?

Id just find some replacement external overflow(s) and they you can plumb your drains to whatever works.

 

[tmerritt]

Did you always run it like that, or did you use a external overflow box and decide to mod it?

Id just find some replacement external overflow(s) and they you can plumb your drains to whatever works.

Yeah, that’s just how it was when I bought it.
I plan on eventually switching over to some other proper overflow (was planning on the shadow overflow) and then either converting the existing holes into a UV loop or as my returns. In the interim I was just going to do a quick and cheap re-plumb. Was looking at the existing plumbing critically and could not see how the tee in the current configuration for s necessary.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Gotcha. Id just use a 90 fitting as you said and be done. You cant dial it in like a true durso anywho. That's more akin to a gravity (herbie drain), id get a gate valve and use that to dial it in for the noise aspect. I prefer the herbie due to the simplicity, imho. Upside you can always reuse the gate valves when you truly repipe.

 

[tmerritt]

Roger that. I would have concern about a gate valve and not having an emergency drain though. If I put the gate valve on the one side then I’d have the same noise on the other. I do like the idea of being able to use that gate valve in the future though.

I think I’ll go with the 90 elbow from the overflow and then use a tee when the plumbing gets to the sump to allow air to exit without causing gurgling.