Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Step 4Fun With Chemicals
Grab your lab gloves, a clamp, primer, cement, two fittings and their connecting piece of pipe. Then head to a well ventilated space, because the primer and cement aren't precisely aromatherapy. At least not the good kind.
For those of you who haven't built things from PVC in the past, it isn't terribly difficult. The primer serves to clean off the PVC a little bit and gets it ready to really bond with the cement. The cement keeps everything together.
Most PVC chemical bottles have caps with little brushes attached to them. Take the cap off the primer, and carefully coat the outside face of the pipe, with a band about 2" wide beginning at the end. Take care not to drip the primer on anything that you don't want permanently purple. Once the pipe is coated, do the same for the inside of the fitting that you're planning on cementing up. Close up the primer bottle.
Open up the cement bottle, which should also have a little brush in it. With this brush, go over the areas that you painted with the primer. Don't rush, but you do want to get the pipes together before the cement dries up. You've got time though, so focus on getting a nice coating of cement on both pieces.
Once you've got cement where you want it (and hopefully only a little where you don't) fit the pipe into the fitting. It should slide in without too much resistance. When working on my pump, I felt that it was best to clamp up each piece after I had assembled it, that way the pipe couldn't slip back at all. It may not be necessary, but I figure it helps.
Most of the pieces go together in a fairly self-explanatory way, but there are a few things to note: on the spring check valve there is an arrow, and you will want this to point toward the main tee that will have the 4" pipe (air chamber) on it. This allows water to pass through toward the main tee, which you want. With the brass swing check valve, the arrow should point down toward the tee, and the main line of pipe.
On to the next step for order of assembly!
For those of you who haven't built things from PVC in the past, it isn't terribly difficult. The primer serves to clean off the PVC a little bit and gets it ready to really bond with the cement. The cement keeps everything together.
Most PVC chemical bottles have caps with little brushes attached to them. Take the cap off the primer, and carefully coat the outside face of the pipe, with a band about 2" wide beginning at the end. Take care not to drip the primer on anything that you don't want permanently purple. Once the pipe is coated, do the same for the inside of the fitting that you're planning on cementing up. Close up the primer bottle.
Open up the cement bottle, which should also have a little brush in it. With this brush, go over the areas that you painted with the primer. Don't rush, but you do want to get the pipes together before the cement dries up. You've got time though, so focus on getting a nice coating of cement on both pieces.
Once you've got cement where you want it (and hopefully only a little where you don't) fit the pipe into the fitting. It should slide in without too much resistance. When working on my pump, I felt that it was best to clamp up each piece after I had assembled it, that way the pipe couldn't slip back at all. It may not be necessary, but I figure it helps.
Most of the pieces go together in a fairly self-explanatory way, but there are a few things to note: on the spring check valve there is an arrow, and you will want this to point toward the main tee that will have the 4" pipe (air chamber) on it. This allows water to pass through toward the main tee, which you want. With the brass swing check valve, the arrow should point down toward the tee, and the main line of pipe.
On to the next step for order of assembly!
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
 |
Add Comment
|
