Bell siphon construction - part 1

There are lots of resources on the web on how and why a bell siphon works.  You can research at you leisure.  This will be how this systems bell siphon is constructed.  You can use the information here to replicated what I have done if you are building a copy of my system.


So these are the major components of the system.  On the right is the actual bell.  Middle is the stand pipe that goes in the grow bed.  The drain pipe is on the left.


This is stand pipe installed in the grow bed.  It has a Male threaded to slip pvc adapter on the bottom.  We us an one intended for electrical conduit because the threads are not tapered.  On a regular white pvc adapter the threads are slightly tapered to make a tighter fit.  It has a piece of 1/2" pvc pipe attached to it with a 1/2" slip connector on top.  This makes for a bigger opening creating more vacuum to start the siphon.  The bell sits next to it.  The bell is made from 1 1/4" pvc tube with a cap.  On the bottom are 4 slits 3/8" wide x 1/2" tall.  Those allow water into the bell.  On the top is a hole with a piece of air tube attached to it that runs down to the top of the slits on the bottom.  This breaks the siphon when the water has been sucked out of the grow bed.


Here is the drain pipe setup.  On top is another electrical conduit thread to slip adapter.  In between this adapter and the bottom of the grow bed is a #15 o-ring.  There is a long 1/2" down pipe and then two 90 degree elbows.  This will create a back pressure and start the siphon.  Will go into how this works in part 3 on troubleshooting.

So there it is.  In part 2 I will give you actual CAD drawings a dimensions to work from.