After years of using a 3-tier, I came to the realization that it would be just as good to have my HLT at a lower level and use a bucket to transfer hot water to the MT. Now I'm using an unconventional 2-tier with the boiler up high. This is so I can gravity drain into the conical. I manually transfer water from the HLT to MT and wort from the MT to BK. I like not having pumps. Sometimes I weigh the water/wort to get an accurate reading on my quantities, and thus utilization/efficiency. 16.5gal batches.