Sump Plumbing

[Severum]

I'm helping a friend design his sump plumbing. Is there any real issue with reducing the 1.5" plumbing he has coming from his bulkheads to something that doesn't occupy as much space in the stand? I was thinking to convert it down to 1" and work with that.  I don't think there will be an issue with a 1" pipe handling the water capacity.

[johnrt]

Your question depends on the design of the pump.

If you design a pump with an intake that is larger than needed, the pump will be quieter. This is likely to be the design decision in more expensive pumps designed for use in a living area. These pumps will have intake opening that are larger than the output tubes.

Less expensive pumps, or big pumps, where sound levels are not an important design constraint, will have equal sized input and outputs. Centrifugal pumps are not good for sucking up water. They push water. If you choke the input of a centrifugal pump, either by having it attempt to suck water from a lower level, having very long feed pipes with lots of bends, or using too small diameter input pipes, you may cause cavitation at the impeller which will destroy the impeller.

The speed of the destruction depends on the amount of cavitation and materials involved and how tightly the pump was originally designed.

Just thoughts.

[Severum]

Thanks for the response John.

The intake of the return pump would just be sitting open sucking in water in the return section of the sump. The output of the pump, assuming its a Quiet One or something to that effect should already be the same as or smaller than the piping I was thinking of using for the plumbing. I don't think there will be any issues there.

[redbelly]

I would NOT restrict your overflows.