Do 90-degree elbows on the drain slow down the flow?

[bleedingthought]

I'm redoing my plumbing and so far all I've ever used for my drain, as far as elbows go, was 45 degree ones. I'm changing things up a bit and I HAVE to use 90s now and I was wondering if it would make a difference. :?

Anyone?

 

[Len]

Yes, it will reduce flow. I'd keep an eye out after the re-plumb to make sure it can handle your overflow. If it's already running close to its capacity, you may have to redesign your plumbing to avoid 90 degree elbows.

 

[Anonymous]

Do you have to use rigid pipes for the drain?
Where possible I prefer to use flexible tubing. Its quieter and requires no sharp turns... but that isn't always an option.

 

[bleedingthought]

My return is flexible but my drain needs to be rigid since I need it to stay up in order to cross over part of my sump and also to feed the fuge. Plus, I've already bought a million pieces of PVC.

I added 2 baffles to my sump and I'm now basically running your standard fuge/return/skimmer sections sump (from left to right) and both my bulkheads (for my drain and my return) are on the left also. So I've gotta bring my drain straight through the union first and then turn it. But I've gotta bring it all the way to the right side of the sump (about 20 inches) to the skimmer section and a 45 pointing down would hit the baffles now. Does that make sense? :?

Well, will two consecutive 45's reduce the flow just as much as a 90 will?

Any other ideas? :?:

 

[SnowManSnow]

why do you have a union on your drain line? whats the bottom of it attached to?

BTW>> make sure you OVERSIZE your unions.. the middle of those things get pretty small.

I think I ended up running a 1.5 schedule 80 (grey one) from my return pump which is a mag 9.5.. out of the pump is 3/4 to 1.5 fitting.. then some pipe.. then the union then more pipe that runs to my 1.5 return bulkhead. I actually ran 3/4 inch from the inside up though so i can have 2 returns in the tank.

B.

 

[bleedingthought]

The union on the drain is so I can disconnect it and change it later if necessary. And knowing me, that'll happen sooner than later. Especially since my plumbing dips into the sump, so no way to unscrew threaded fittings and obviously no way to undo glued slip fittings.

 

[Anonymous]

What size is your return pump and what size is the drain line? The short answer is yes it will slow down the flow, but if the pipe is large enough it will not matter.