Stand pipe for live well ?

[gm280]

Okay I did a pretty intensive search but no luck. So I have to ask, what is the tread size for a stand pipe in a live well? I have a 90 degree drain that has a thread inside and states that it will accept a stand pipe. But no info as to what that thread size could possible be. I even took it to Lowes and tried every combination possible to see what would fit. I tried standard pipe thread, NPT, standard bolt threads, every possible straight and tapered thread they had of every source. I came home without anything. I even searched the net for info. And I read a lot of questions with other folks asking my same question about the thread size but no mention to what thread it actually is. Is this one of those secrets that if they tell me they will have to kill me as well? IDK! :noidea:

 

[bonz_d]

gm, do you know who made the fitting? That might help. My well doesn't use a stand pipe.

 

[sphelps]

Well the only one I have installed was on the girls Ouchita . But it was through hull but it was a threaded male end that came through the hull . It was just standard 3/4" pvc that worked .. Sorry not much help ...

 

[gm280]

bonz_d and sphelps, thanks for the replies. Bonz_d I actually thought about contacting them, but since I order the 90 degree drain fittings they were bought from an Ebay site and were shipped non-packaged in bulk. So that avenue is out. Sphelps, I actually read enough from the continuous searching I did last evening. Some are talking about tapering a PVC pipe and even heating it up and tread it into the drain and it will form the treads. It seem pretty close to a standard 3/4" pipe thread but just a little too large in diameter. Looking at the inside threads in the drain, it looks like they were flatten down a little or not threaded very deep. So I will see what I can come up with in the shop today.

 

[Woodonglass]

Hmmmm. Soo what's comes close to fitting? I'm thinking you could get the threaded coupling that comes close, build it up with Teflon tape and thread it in to fit and goop it up with 4200. May not the optimum but... for a stand pipe I'm thinkin' it'd do the trick. But as you know, I AM just and Old Dumb Okie!!!!

 

[gm280]

Hmmmm. Soo what's comes close to fitting? I'm thinking you could get the threaded coupling that comes close, build it up with Teflon tape and thread it in to fit and goop it up with 4200. May not the optimum but... for a stand pipe I'm thinkin' it'd do the trick. But as you know, I AM just and Old Dumb Okie!!!!

WOG, 1/2" PVC pipe threads is way too small, and 3/4" PVC pipe threads are just too tight to go in more then about a half turn. So I am thinking about turning a piece of 3/4" thick wall PVC pipe down on the lathe and then see if I can thread it in. I will post whatever I get to work properly. I have to have it repeatable and secure before I will say it works... Just the way I am...

 

[Woodonglass]

Are you sure it's not Hose thread? A lot of garden hose is 5/8" thread. Again just and Old Dumb Okie shooting in the dark!!!! :noidea:

 

[bonz_d]

gm, I kind of know your feeling. A few years ago I ran into a situation were on the job I came across some 3/4" PVC pipe and Valve on an industrial sized water softener. The valve had what looked like 3/4 NPT but as you state it was not. 3/4 too big, 1/2 too small. As I recall I replaced the valve. Also this too was very thin walled stuff from a dump valve.

 

[gm280]

Are you sure it's not Hose thread? A lot of garden hose is 5/8" thread. Again just and Old Dumb Okie shooting in the dark!!!! :noidea:

Wow WOG, seems we think alike. Not a good thing from your point of view, but yes, I even tried standard water hose threads and sad to say...no go either. However I am working on it now and will come up with something that works. Even if I have to make my own threads off the lathe. I will get it to work...and properly too!

Yes bonz_d, every time I think I have every available type thread ever made, I come up with a new one that I don't have or know the existence of... But I will solve this dilemma...hopefully... :facepalm:

 

[Scott Danforth]

I just did a google search for livewell standpipes. worstmarine has some with a rubber end that pushes in.

however this website has a few things shown as well http://www.customlivewells.com/Pages/plumbingandoverflow.aspx

 

[gm280]

I just did a google search for livewell standpipes. worstmarine has some with a rubber end that pushes in.

however this website has a few things shown as well http://www.customlivewells.com/Pages/plumbingandoverflow.aspx

Thanks Scott for the info. But my drain doesn't use the push in stand pipe but the new threaded design that they are now offering. Seems folks were having problems with the push in type with the "O" rings were getting loose and falling out, draining their live wells without them noticing it and the fish were dying because of that.

However, I did a little work today to see if I could make something work. Well I did actually. But not exactly like it was designed. I turned a standard PVC pipe threaded section down a little on the lathe with a file. And after just a little turning, it fit and even threaded in. But not to the same threads of the drain threads. But it does thread in and out pretty nicely. The 3/4" pipe threads are actually a little finer then the drain threads. The drain has some really course threads and less per inch too. Here are a few pictures of that effort.

As you can see the 3/4" pipe thread on the left will not fit into the drain section. Too large in diameter.

This is as far as you can get with a standard 3/4" pipe thread adapter. It isn't going in there.

And here is a standard 1/2" pipe thread adapter. Notice how it will not even come close to touching the threads in the drain.

And here is how the turned down 3/4" thread section fits. If I turned the shoulder down just a little, it would fit flush. But I 'm not sure I want to go this way yet. There really are not the same thread compatibility. So I am still searching for the proper diameter and threads per inch pitch...

I also thought of another way to solve this problem and it is a personal way that not everybody could do easily. I can cut (or drill ) out the drain to accept a standard pipe threaded fitting and epoxy it in place. Then any 3/4" pipe thread stand pipe would work perfectly every time. And if you wanted to change the water height in your live well, just change the pipe length... Sound like a much better product then this silly uniquely threaded stuff. But then again they couldn't make money doing that. Maybe I need to market such a design and take the market... :facepalm:

 

[kcassells]

Gm...Go to a local plumb. or box store. Look at the "washing Machine" drain pans. They have a 3/4" male adapter with large washers and they snug up on the 1/8" pan to seal them up. They are also sold separately. You may want to add a stainless washer also to help make a stronger seal.

 

[gm280]

Gm...Go to a local plumb. or box store. Look at the "washing Machine" drain pans. They have a 3/4" male adapter with large washers and they snug up on the 1/8" pan to seal them up. They are also sold separately. You may want to add a stainless washer also to help make a stronger seal.

All right kcassells, you have my attention. I will look for such a setup and try something new here. Thanks you very much. I will post what I come up with... :thumb:

 

[jigngrub]

Thanks Scott for the info. But my drain doesn't use the push in stand pipe but the new threaded design that they are now offering. Seems folks were having problems with the push in type with the "O" rings were getting loose and falling out, draining their live wells without them noticing it and the fish were dying because of that.

Unfortunately, you've been misinformed. There are no "O" rings in the "push in" assembly. The stand pipe for the push in assembly has a flexible vinyl boot that pushes into 1-1/8" diameter thru hull fitting.

This assembly is secure and is OEM on just about every new boat with a livewell that I've seen. I have this assembly in the livewell and baitwell on my Tracker. Just push the standpipe in to fill a well and pull it out to drain, easy.

The push in assembly eliminates the need to screw in and screw out the standpipe, it also eliminates the possibility of the standpipe breaking off at the threaded connection leaving the threaded end of the pipe broken off in the coupling.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Or you can buy the screw in ones that fit for $10

 

[gm280]

Okay folks a little update about his stand pipe issue. I have again searched the net for too much wasted hours now and not one place did they specify the diameter or threads per inch specifications. SO, again I spend well over another hour at Lowes today searching for anything to work. I can tell you I went through every possible threaded item Lowes has, from the PVC parts section to the iron pipe section to the kitchen sink department to the gray pipe section to the CPVC section and even the brass pipe section, and that is a lot of threaded items as well. And not one thing fit those threads in the drain fitting I posted above. I even thought about making some type PVC setup for a different drain. But nothing seems to work out. So I got tired of wasting time and came home. After thinking about this for too long, I had an idea to see if I could make the correct threads I needed inside the drain fitting instead of trying to find what would fit it. So I took an iron pipe I had that was 3/4 and threaded with standard 3/4" NPT (National Pipe Thread) which is actually a tapered thread exactly like standard PVC 3/4" parts. Okay...so I put that threaded pipe in my vice and took a blow torch and heated the threaded end up to a very hot temp. Then I took the drain and threaded it on the metal pipe. It went on very easy due to the heat. I let it cool for a while and WALA, it threaded off nicely and now I have a perfectly threaded 3/4" NPT drain like I was trying to fit for a few days now... I am a very happy camper...I mean boater now... So problem solved and after all that searching and looking, I had the perfect answer right there in my shop all long... Not sure this will help others, but it is the perfect answer to my problem. All my PVC 3/4" parts thread in there like magic without any problems now! And I can cut standard PVC pipe any length to adjust the live well water level. Cost to fix it like this...ZERO! :thumb:

 

[kcassells]

Good move. Also since it is plastik... you usually can make the threads conform without the heat if you turn it slow. Good for you. :happy: I guess my suggestion wasn't quite the solution. :joyous:
On another note not that I'm sure you are doing it. Cause....we covered alot of different things. If you are gluing any white to black pvc you need to get the proper glue and it's available that bonds to both types of materials. Or the seal/joint won't hold up.

 

[bonz_d]

gm, ingenuity at it's best! When all else fails, PUNT! Nice punt.

Another example here. Years ago the company I was working for received chemicals in plastic 55gal. barrels. We could not get any of our pump fittings to go into these barrels, we then found that these barrels had a non-standard fitting and one had to be special ordered. I too was quite expensive. But what ya gonna do?

 

[gm280]

Good move. Also since it is plastik... you usually can make the threads conform without the heat if you turn it slow. Good for you. :happy: I guess my suggestion wasn't quite the solution. :joyous:
On another note not that I'm sure you are doing it. Cause....we covered alot of different things. If you are gluing any white to black pvc you need to get the proper glue and it's available that bonds to both types of materials. Or the seal/joint won't hold up.

Actually kcassells, your suggestion took me back to Lowes looking for your suggested setup. I went to the water heater section and looked over every type pan drain fitting they had and not one looked like what you posted. But I did like your idea really well. If just didn't pan out... :facepalm: okay that was a bad one there...

bonz_d, some times it takes me a little time for things to pop into my mind when I am trying to solve a problem. I bought two of those live well drains initially and figured I'll give it a try and if I screw one up, I still have the other one. But the first one melted the most perfect 3/4" NPT threads in the drain one could even ask for. It was like it was molded that way from the factory. There were zero remaining old threads left after that melting effort. So it looks like it was actually made that way now...perfect! :thumb: