Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Pressure Problem?

After all the rain, Zephyr Pond has gone from 6 to 8 feet deep to 20+ feet deep. When I started my areation system my hose blew apart at 2 different connections. Not a good deal. I was wondering if it was due to the increased pressure of being 20 feet deep. It worked fine when I ran it last week.

Absolutely. It takes 2x more pressure at 20ft as 10ft.

Heybud,

My notes say that you get 1 psi increase for every 27" of water depth. Did your system have a pressure relief valve, before the blown hose?

Cary, Ted or Sue, please correct me if this is wrong.

A pressure relief valve may or may not have prevented the "blown hose", depending on if the relief valve was adjustable and how high it was set.

The amount of pressure your system will create is dependent on what type of compressor you have.

If you are using a rotary vane pump to run your aerator, a 20+ ft depth is slightly too much pressure (10+ psi) for this pump to properly operate on a daily basis.

The aeration system is a model Air 1 XL from Vertex. I guess if 20ft is too deep I will have to move it to shallower water.

I would leave it as deep as practical. I am sure you will lose some water, then you can move it to the deepest part again. It sounds as if the connections just need to be remade. What is the max. psi that the compressor will deliver 1 psi at? Is it a gast 0523? No doubt the deeper water will be harder on the compressor. I would leave it deep and run it at night for now. How long is the feed hose? PM one of the Vertex dealers, they will have a quick solution.

Vertex Air 1XL should run at a max of 35 psi. They are piston compressors.
Have installed many dozens and never heard of a hose that blew up like that.
I would suggest:
- Pipe connections needed attention
- any restriction on the hose itself?
- coupled with a pressure relief valve was not adjusted to 35 psi max, could have resulted in a blown hose.

Theoretically a Vertex Air1XL should be able to function well over 40 feet of depth.

(checked this morning and Sue is right, its not 20 psi but 35 psi, I corrected it)

Hi Heybud -
I am so glad to hear you've gotten some rain! I wish we would!!
I have never had that happen before - The system can actually run continuously at 35 PSI. So 20 feet deep is no problem at all. Did it come apart at the connections? Maybe it is a glue issue...
Let me know what you need and I will get it to asap.

This question does not follow heybud's original post but it does deal with pressure.

I'm currently running a 2.4 cfm @ 10 psi Gast rotary vane compressor supplying two 9" disc diffusers in my BG pond. One diffuser is set at approximately 8', the other rests at 10-11'. Last year, the pressure gauge, on the compressor, registered 5 psi. Turn on/shut off time is 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.. The other day, I decided to kick on the compressor and noticed the pressure gauge now reads 3.5 psi.

Any thoughts on what would cause a decrease in pressure?

Hmmm. 4 thoughts: 1) leak in an air line or fitting, 2) tear or bigger opening(s) in a diffuser, 3) one of the diffusers moved to shallower water, 4) drop in compressor output (lower voltage, aging, ???).

Is your guage vented if liquid filled ?If your discs will stand the full CFM see what the readings are with just the one at 8' and then the one at 10' and see if you get a drop in pressure when going from the deeper one to the shallow one, If not the guage is not accurate, also turn the system off and vent the lines or wait until the pressure drops on its own to see if the needle "floats" back to zero, then start the system and close both valves enough to take the system to 10 psi and then back to zero. This will tell you if the guage is operating in the psi range the pump is capable of.If guage operates OK look again at Theo's #1-4 If tubing runs are short and at least .5 ID then 5 psi may of been a tad high.

Forgot one > dirty air filter will lower pressure also