yeah, it's just an upside down U. as far as starting the siphon, there are several ways you could do it. you could set the thing up, then open the spigot, and suck on it to get the siphon going, but sometimes this is less than pleasant(PVC glue tastes funny). what i would do is fill the U with water, and then close the spigot. hold your thumb over the open end, and , as quickly as possible drop the open end into the full barrel. i would then open the spigot and run water into a bucket for a few minutes to remove the little bit of air that probably got in there. now you should be good to go, unless your joints leak.