Off topic = KW Reactor - I know my problem?

[hfmann]

Hey, to use our calc reactor as a KW reactor, I think I figured out why I'm having such a conceptual problem.

If I understand some of the "out of class" discussions, this would work as a KW reactor by pumping circulating water with powerhead INTO the bottom chamber (riser base) and pulling the water into the mixing pump through the 1/2" pvc pipe that extends up into the acrylic tube. Here's where I'm getting stuck...

This makes the black acyrlic base the place where all the unmixed KW powder sits. Since this isn't a cylinder but rather a box with square corners, won't that hinder the mixing process. I thought you really needed a cylinder to provide efficient mixing.

And that's why I was so confused

What's the deal?

Hal

 

[Kabob]

Hal,

I have not seen one in action only have read on them so take this with that in mind. I would think that you would want the pump to pull from the base and the push through the pvc pipe down back into the base. As for settling I would think the base is too small for much to settle. As I understand it some people put there pump on a timer to only stir every so often any way. Hope this helps.

Jason

 

[hfmann]

Hi Jason,

Me too. I've never seen one in action, but I've reviewed a lot of the threads on DIY Nilsen reactors and downloaded plans. The powerhead mixing ones all seem to do their plumbing through a large PVC coupler 1/3 of the way up the tube. They suck in their water to the powerhead from that area and shoot the water back into the bottom of the chamber through a 1/2" pvc pipe that is connected to that same PVC coupler.

I was going to build one of those but was embarassed when fergy told me how unprofessional that was . Fergy trusts I'll learn what I need to in this class to buld a really first class model. But me, I'm impatient and thickheaded (German ancestry). So I'm trying to get this worked out now. Apparently it's not the best of ideas to put holes right in the side of an acrylic tube for plumbing fixtures.

Nonetheless, as I understand it all the plumbing in our calc reactor unit is in the black base (box). Mabye it is absolutely no big deal at all to mix the KW powder in the "box". I could just build the base on my KW reactor out of clear acrylic, so I can see when the powder is totally consumed.

 

[fergy]

You'll know when the powder is all consumed when it's in the mixing cycle, because the column won't be cloudy. You want to pump the water from the bottom toward the top, so that the kalk becomes fluidised during the mixing cycle. You won't really need to worry about it accumulating in the bottom...some will, but not enough to worry about it.

BRIAN
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Indian Creek Designs

 

[vmiller]

If you pumped the water from the bottom to the top, it seems like the pump would be sucking in a large amount of undissolved kalk. Wouldn't this reduce the pump life and bring the undissolved kalk to the top of the reactor (allowing it to get to the tank)?

 

[fergy]

First off, I think we're thinking backwards here. The pump outlet pumps water into the base of the reactor. The intake of the pump is attached to the 1/2" PCV that goes up toward the top of the reator.

Second, the pump won't be pulling in much of it, so it's not a big deal.

BRIAN
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Ford Wiki