Help with storage plumbing 2.0

[warno]

I think you're missing my point of the top pipe.

Imagine one, JUST ONE, tank but it's 17 feet long and 14" in diameter. The top pipe is what will make my multiple tasks act as if it was one LONG tank. Which eliminates the need for multiple fittings, the header pipe and everything else associated with having individual tanks.

Yes, I have seen the B&G drawings on their site, yes it shows multiple tanks plumbed together. But those drawings are to demonstrate if you are using store bought expansion tanks and not going to be connecting them to each other to make one long tank. In those drawings yes you would need multiple fittings and a header pipe to connect them all. Because they aren't plumbed end to end with jumper pipes. My drawing will act as if I cut the ends out of each tank and welded them end to end. It's just a much simpler way of doing it.

 

[maple1]

As long as you have each airtol valve in the base of each tank fed by a "common" single header pipe fed and drained at the bottom and do not use the cross connected pipe at the top it will be fine.

The upper pipe you have drawn in is not required or needed as it will cause you nothing but problems.
The addition of the upper pipe will affect the air to water ratio and will create the wrong volume of air to water until the tank becomes water logged. That is why you need an airtrol valve in each tank with no upper tank cross connections as the air has to be held in place.

I am failing to see your problem with the top & bottom manifold pipes.

With both working together they will keep the water levels the same across all 3 tanks & balance out the air pressures in all three tanks. Without both you could eventually see different water levels in each tank. In other words it will maintain air to water ratio across all three tanks.

 

[leon]

No, it will not work the airtrol valve maintains the fluid level and air space just
as it is done and shown by the B+G drawings.

The air cushion created by each of the tanks in the drawing In unison protects
the entire system by holding the air charge in place in each tank.

The airtrol valve in each tank regulates the pressure in the entire system(12PSI) with the air in the
tank and the water volume in the same tank.

With a "top tapping cross connected pair of tanks" the air charge will migrate from one side to the other
creating pressure changes in the tanks.

It would be simpler if you just cut the ends off of the tanks welded them together welded in a ONE INCH bottom tapping
and just purchased the right airtrol valve being the ATFL 1 model for the diameter of the tank as you will be able to simply uncoil the drain tapping hose cut it to the proper length for the diameter of the tank used and have the right length and size tubing to allow you to fill and drain the steel expansion tank to the proper level.

 

[maple1]

It would be simpler if you just cut the ends off of the tanks welded them together welded in a ONE INCH bottom tapping and just purchased the right airtrol valve being the ATFL 1 model for the diameter of the tank as you will be able to simply uncoil the drain tapping hose cut it to the proper length for the diameter of the tank used and have the right length and size tubing to allow you to fill and drain the steel expansion tank to the proper level.

Tieing the tanks together with pipes top & bottom such as the diagram on the last page shows, will have the exact same effect as cutting the ends of the tanks off & welding them together to make one big tank.

Whether one method is easier or simpler than the other is up to the guy doing it - but I would think it would be easier to handle 4 small tanks than one large one & get it/them secured in place. Not to mention the increased amount of cutting & welding if making one big one. But if piping the tanks together, you could do it with O2 barrier pex & separate them or spread them out some, if doing so would help adapt them to the space better (as long as they were all the same height & the piping didn't have dips or humps in it). Using the pex might also make it easier to hook them up, pipefitting is easier with that than steel or copper (for me at least) & you'd just need to weld in some sort of pipe thread fitting top & bottom to thread a pex fitting into. 1/2" should be quite adequate, the flows between tanks would be very slow. O2 pex could also be used to hook expansion to storage. Might want to go a bit bigger there, but my 1/2" pex storage-to-expansion setup seems to be working well.