Feedback on Sump CAD design

[Martingale]

Crash box with 3 drain bulkheads
Two 7" Filter socks
Bubble Trap with an adjustable middle baffle (6" - 10" water height)
Bubble trap is under-over-under style
Two return bulkheads
Two length-wise braces for holding lids and reducing bowing

I have the space between the baffles set to 2"
The space from the bottom of the sump the to the bottom of any baffle/interior-wall is 2"

The return pump area is 8", but it can actually only fit a 5.5" wide pump into this area

The filter sock holder has ~13" of space between the bottom of the holder and the sump, so fits 12" socks

Filter sock area has a 2" overflow wall for when the socks are clogged

Bottom of drain plate and the filter sock plate is ~5", for cleaning crashbox

All interior walls are 2" below the top of the sump

Skimmer area is around 17" x 20"

Would be for a 180 gallon system

 

[Troylee]

First picture looks fine… second is throwing me off.. your baffles will span the entire width of the sump correct?

 

[BZOFIQ]

First picture looks fine… second is throwing me off.. your baffles will span the entire width of the sump correct?

Second pic is front view.

 

[Troylee]

Second pic is front view.

Got it! I thought it was The top down view.

 

[Troylee]

With that being said I’d make euro brace a single piece it’s much stronger than dropping it down and piecing it together..

 

[rhitee93]

How are you planning to make the adjustments to the center baffle? It might be hard to reach the thumbscrews if you're planning on doing it the "traditional" way.

Looks good to me otherwise with due deference to Troylee's comments. (I think he works with acrylic for a living)

 

[Martingale]

With that being said I’d make euro brace a single piece it’s much stronger than dropping it down and piecing it together..

Not a bad idea. I was thinking offsetting it like that would work the same but allow me to lay a lid flush over each section. It's probably a better idea to do a full eurobrace and then add a lip, though.

 

[BZOFIQ]

 

[Martingale]

How are you planning to make the adjustments to the center baffle? It might be hard to reach the thumbscrews if you're planning on doing it the "traditional" way.

Looks good to me otherwise with due deference to Troylee's comments. (I think he works with acrylic for a living)

So I had an adjustable baffle sump currently and it only has 1" of space between the two baffles. The current setup has 2" of space inbetween the first and second baffle, and then another 2" of space between the second and third. I figure for 1/4" acrylic that should be enough space for a bolt and wingnut? The space between the first baffle and the third baffle is 4.25"

 

[rhitee93]

Sounds like you know what your getting into then.

1/4" thick would be ok for just directly threading into the acrylic IMO. It's not like you have to adjust the baffle that often, or get the screws that tight. Both sumps I have are directly threaded.

 

[Martingale]

There would be another piece infront of that to adjust the water level. I think it should control the water level, at least?

Wow, thanks for all of the feedback!

 

[Martingale]

Sounds like you know what your getting into then.

1/4" thick would be ok for just directly threading into the acrylic IMO. It's not like you have to adjust the baffle that often, or get the screws that tight. Both sumps I have are directly threaded.

Do you use nylon bolts for that, or stainless/titanium? My current sump has nylon bolts with wingnuts, but I guess I was concerned it would wear the threads away pretty quickly.

 

[rhitee93]

The two I have are purchased, but both use a nylon thumb-screw that is threaded directly into the acrylic baffle.

Plastic threads are fragile, but as long as Charles Atlas isn't making the adjustments you'll be fine. It's not like you have to change it very often.

However, if you've stripped more than one oil pan drain plug hole, you might consider using nuts

 

[BZOFIQ]

There would be another piece infront of that to adjust the water level. I think it should control the water level, at least?

Wow, thanks for all of the feedback!

Thats fine with the sliding piece. The orange piece only needs to be about an inch off the bottom and about 1-1/4" higher than the surface of the socks plate.

Not sure you need to have that tall gray piece there at all, shorten it so its easier to reach into return pump section.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Here is my sock section with the lip just over an 1-1/4"

If the socks get full it starts overflowing which never happens because I get a text message when they are full.

 

[Martingale]

Thats fine with the sliding piece. The orange piece only needs to be about an inch off the bottom and about 1-1/4" higher than the surface of the socks plate.

Not sure you need to have that tall gray piece there at all, shorten it so its easier to reach into return pump section.

Here's a better labeled front view with a few dimensions. The overall sump height is currently 18" and all of the interior walls/baffles stop at 16" of height.

I'll probably lower the orange piece by the sock filter by an 1" or so and then the baffles themselves by 2" or so. That's a good point about the return area and the baffle height.

I was thinking the grey piece makes the baffles an actual "bubble trap" by having water go under-over-under. I noticed with just two baffles that bubbles get past if you don't use foam or something. I was trying to work around that but still be adjustable.

I only left around 1/2" of material outside of the sock holders, I hope that sufficient for 7" socks. I only had 4" sock sumps to reference.

I also left around 1/2" of space beyond the actual bulkhead flange for any of the bulkhead plates. The bulkheads would be 1" on the drain and 3/4" on the return.

 

[JonoH]

Looks good, maybe make the filter sock top section removable, just in case you want to ever swap it out for a fleece roller instead?

I personally would just work out a set height for the baffle, rather than having it adjustable, its easy enough to prop up the skimmer with eggcrate if it needed to sit higher, and gives you one less thing to have to play around with to get right (i used to bump mine all the time and inavertantly adjust the water height!)

Maybe add in an entry/fitting for where you want the ATO hose to run in?

 

[Martingale]

Here is my final overly-specific design, I just used it as an excuse to learn CAD