topofthehil said:
I had a second thought about using the pipe, but I think I will still use it.
I read someplace that there is less surface area of pipe compared to a rectangle.
so, there is less of an area for the heat to dissipate.
This is sort of true, but it probably doesn't matter all that much, especially since you are putting FAR more fluid capacity than many splitters have. I doubt that as long as you have decent air circulation around the tank you would see a significant difference in cooling... Just as a comparison, I did some number crunching, a 16" circle has a perimeter of about 50", and an area of 201sqin. A square with the same area would need 14.7" sides, giving a perimiter of 56" - 6" x your 36" length is 216 sq" - Thus your pipe tank will have about 1,800sqin of surface area, vs 2,016sqin for a square tank, or about a 10% difference - but I've heard circular tanks make better convection surfaces, so it's probably a wash...
and, a 36" length of 16" sch 40 pipe weighs about 180 lbs.
so far, I have about 900 lbs of steel going into this splitter, with more to add... I.E. a log lift.
That is a lot of weight, but I guess that's what they make tractors for... A sheet metal tank might save you some weight, but I don't know if it would be worth it.
I think I'll plug the end of the drain valve, so if it does get bumped open, it won't leak through.
Sounds like an excellent idea, even better than my idea of safety wiring the valve...
I thought using a suction side strainer was "the law"? so, I bought one.
No it isn't required, at least according to some of the stuff that I've read. In essence ANY kind of suction side filtering has the potential to cause more problems than it prevents... You shouldn't be allowing the kind of crud into the tank that would make you NEED a filter there in the first place... If you do, it is very likely that your strainer would get stopped up and kill the pump by starvation anyway, and even when not plugged it will serve as a constant flow restriction on the pump intake, which greatly increases the risk of pump damaging cavitation. A strainer that is coarse enough to not cause a flow restriction problem isn't going to be fine enough to do very much good in stopping pump damaging size crud. In addition, if you have properly located the suction line a little off the bottom of the tank, any harmful bits will tend to end up at the bottom of the tank where they won't be a problem anyway. Bottom line, if you have good construction and operating practices a strainer won't help much, and can cause problems. If you have a situation where a strainer might have been useful, it probably won't really help all that much.
I would however say that you DO need a very hefty return side filter that should hopefully be able to handle 100% of the system flow without needing to bypass, at least when the valve is in neutral. Return side filtering is low pressure, and doesn't put any extra strain on the system, so it's a good deal all the way around.
if I have the pump below the strainer, would this be ok?
It would help, but not that much - I'd still not use it. Note that optimally the pump should be lower than the oil level in the tank under any condition, and the lower the pump is in relation to the tank the better - you want to get as much "NPSH" (Net Positive Suction Head) as possible... Also don't scrimp on the suction line, make it at least as big as the intake port on the pump.
also, I have a SS wire mesh (1/8" dia wire with about 3/8" gaps) that I could weld in the tank next to the return.
again, I read somewhere that this helps collect and remove air bubbles so they don't return to the system.
this may also act as a baffle.
is this needed, or a waste of time to add.
thanks for the help.
It probably wouldn't do much as a baffle, as it doesn't offer much flow resistance. A baffle would normally be a flat plate that fills most of the tank area in order to prevent sloshing when doing sudden speed / direction changes. If I were trying to design a baffle for a pipe tank, what I would probably do is look at making a couple squares out of sheet metal sized so the corners just touched the inside of the pipe, and welding them in at the corners at 1' intervals, so that the oil could flow through the gaps at the sides and bottom - possibly punching a few additional 1" holes in them below the expected oil line...
As to stopping bubbles, I don't know... I know that in hydronic air separators, they sometimes use a mesh to help coalesce "micro-bubbles" and collect them, but I believe the mesh is a lot finer - however it probably wouldn't do any harm...
I don't see it as "needed" but it probably wouldn't hurt so long as it didn't pose a flow restriction.
Gooserider
