| So how does the Vortex system work?
Settling solid debris is deposited from suspension under
conditions of slowing water speed.
The vortex does this efficiently
and concentrates such debris for easy disposal.
Careful design and high quality
workmanship ensure optimum solid settlement using vortex
tanks.
Pond water is collected at the
points, which collect most debris, most effectively bottom
drains.
It is then fed into the vortex,
ideally by gravity to avoid breaking up the fragile
droppings.
Vortexes should never be pump
fed, which only creates turbulence thus destroying the
physical working principles of the vortex.
The water enters at the
critically determined angle, known as a “tangent” and
induces a circular flow pattern in the tank.
Solid waste, which is denser
than water, tends to move towards the wall of the vortex
tank by centrifugal force. At this interface between the
water and wall of the tank, friction or drag causes a thin
layer of water to move much slower than the main body of
water.
This is called “the boundary
layer” and can be several millimetres thick, depending on
the speed of water flow and temperature.
The solids are forced
centrifugally into this layer of slower moving water and
appear to fall into pressure drop zones, creating a spiral
action down to the bottom of the tank, sometimes known as
the “cone”.
Once concentrated in the “cone”,
accumulated debris can be flushed to waste via a valve at
the bottom of the tank.
Remember, that with conventional
filters, this noxious sludge is again filtered and broken
down, not flushed away!
This water, containing mainly
chemical pollutants, then transfer onto the next stage of
treatment, passing poorer water quality around the system a
second time. After a number of “passes” around the system,
eventually poor water quality starts to take on a new
meaning.
Any turbulence, current or
restriction created in any rotational flow immediately
lowers the efficiency of the “boundary layer” and the
“frictional activity” at the vortex wall.
This restriction also applies to
some very poor vortex designs which take a horizontal pipe
across the centre of the vortex tank for central water
exits. Leave those designs for the fools that do not
understand or appreciate the true physics of the working
vortex!
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