This Video is from the Youtube channel: “HowToHydroponics”.
Here we look at how we can lift water with air. May not be that popular in a lot of hydroponic applications but could prove to be useful in certain systems.
A couple of good videos by Skip Kemp on Air Lift systems.
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Nice Job Mathew, keep it going !
That bucket your using looks like it used to contain motor oil. That whole 15w40 thing printed on the side kind of tipped me off. Wondering if you noticed or even cared?
How about food grade buckets from the beer brewing shop?
@WisconsinEric you bet, I’ve mentioned it in a previous video. Food grade is the way to go and like you said beer brewing shops or restaurants would be more than willing to part with old 5 gallon buckets.
I have never seen this style before. I am definitely interested in the outcome! If you havent seen my dwc update you should check out how my plants are doing when you get the chance.
Those pumps are cool. My hydro shop sells whole drip systems like that. Cheaper doing it as you show. There was a lady on line making pulser pumps somehow with just plastic things she welded together with a soldering iton and used my air pump.
~60% of the standpipe must be in the water. That doesn’t leave enough head spacethe to make it very practical. To get higher lift requires a compressor with a high psi. That defeats the low cost, low tech model.a.
Is this similar in cost to using an actual water pump? Or is it actually cheaper?
This is what I’ve been looking for. You are awesome.
Have you tried a header tank to stop the pulsing. only needs to be big enough to hold the water long enough for a second supply of water from the pump…
Great demonstration – excellent video!
Wow. If only other people would simplify the process as well as you
did! So I built a system using an 18 gallon tote. I used 1/2″ PVC and a
1/4″ air line. I was only able to lift about maybe 6 inches. My pump
is 4 watts, 4 PSI, 2000 cc/min, which according to this website:
http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/volume/cc.html is 2L/min or 0.5283
gal/min, so 120L/hr or about 30 gal/hr. I’m wondering if my pump is strong enough? What are the specs on yours? Any ideas on why I get different results, other than I’m using a tote? Thank you
Has anyone used a 3/8″ pipe? In another application I have used 1″-5/8″-1/2″-3/8″-1/4″. 1″-5/8 does not work. 1/2″ works poorly. 3/8″ creates an air lock in the line that does not allow water to bypass air bubble. This give me best hight and efficiency easily maintains 50/50 water air mix without an air stone. 1/4″ created to much back pressure.I made a stream powered water pump that uses 1″ pipe to capture water and air mix at about a 50/50 at input. It creates 21 to 23 psi at exit. Because of exit pressure compression 75/25 water/air by volume. By running it through a water/air splitter I am able to lift about half the water to 50 ft. and the rest a water/air 50/50 mix to over 70 ft. By using 3/8″ ID line the water is unable to pass the air bubbles and as mix rises it expands. Water/air mix enters at 50/50 and leaves around 25/75 water/air after 70ft. lift. The weight of the water in the pump is around 31 pound. That is equal to a column of water 63.75 ft. As setup is configured it can lift water over 80 ft.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4omE2UpNOSE
Good gawd!! Thank you!!.. Seriously thank you!!.. You are the ONLY video about this specific system which is step by step instructions.. Its insane how ignorant people are when making videos.. They show the entire vid of the bucket with random talking.. I appreciate intelligence. Thanks.
One important thing I noticed is that the smaller air pumps can be found for $0.50 – $2.00 at thrift stores. They sometimes group them with “brick” power supplies because they look a bit similar(the older black box looking pumps). Another important point for growing off grid, or just efficiently, is that smaller air pumps only use about 3 watts and are pretty reliable compared to small & cheap chinese water pumps! These air lift pumps can pump much more water and to much greater heights if more air volume is used(obviously), also with proper ratios of pipe sizes. People use air lift to get water from shallow and deep wells, it just depends how much water is needed and at what pressure. They seem really great when you consider there will be no moving parts down to any depth of well! The “common” well pump & pressure tank system is actually really inefficient when compared to say a 50-200 gallon ground level cistern with a “booster pump” to get any pressure you want in your house.
your video is very helpfull,, thank you
very helpful and informative. thanks
This is what I needed thank you!!
The water lifter is at the heart of my DWC set-up. I take a 3 1/2 gallon bucket and drill a hole for a pvc pipe. The lifter is inside this pvc pipe – easily removed for cleaning. Then drill about 150 1/8th inch holes in the bottom of the 3 1/2 gal bucket and nestle it inside a 5 gallon bucket, voila’. The five gallon bucket has two bulkhead fittings, one in one out. With flexible tubing the bucket is connected to a reservoir that has a small fountain pump. With this set-up I get top watering AND ebb & flow! – with the use of a timer. Been using it for over 10 years and it has not failed me. The 3 1/2 gal bucket has a layer of ceramic beads, 2″ worth, and then filled with perlite. The plant, I find, will totally fill the top bucket with roots and only then start going through the holes and into the pure liquid in the lower bucket. Barbed T fitting and a 1/4″ soft copper tube – formed into a circle – with about 14 holes in it distributes the solution over the entire surface. (must drill out T fitting for the copper tube to fit inside). The only downside is that one stray particle of perlite will clog the system but is easily cleanable. This is getting rather long. I have left out many salient points. I will only continue if interest is shown. Thanks.
Nicely done. I really like the info about different tubing sizes as I wasn’t aware/hadn’t considered the limitations of the tubing size. Thanks for the information.