Gasoline powered water pump for 500 gal portable tank.

[countrybumpkin]

Northern tool , has some with electric start.

 

[joeu235]

Do you already have a generator? How about an electric pump powered from a generator?

 

[John Fitzgerald]

The HF pumps are basically Honda clones, just not quite as efficient as the Honda pumps. They usually start with the first pull in my experience, and very easy to pull. The one inch HF pump would fit your needs. The two inch is overkill.

 

[California]

Here's my solution for watering new orchard trees. It would work for transporting water as well, but would need a high pressure pump in series if you need a jet for firefighting etc.

12 volt sump pump is rated 2,000 gph, that's 33 gallons per minute. It fills my (estimated) 15 gallon reservoirs around the new trees in seconds. Pressure is sufficient to throw water from the 1.25" output tube a couple of feet.

Pump, $30 on Ebay:
NEW 12V 2 GPH Electric Bilge Pump Marine For Boat Yacht Submersible 29mm Hose

The pump is suspended inside a 300 gallon IBC Tote. That's an anti-siphon valve (lawn sprinkler plumbing) higher than the tank water level. It lets in air and breaks the siphon effect when the pump is shut off. With this, water drains from the hose quickly so the empty watering wand is much lighter, easy to lift and carry pointing upward, and also it won't siphon when you don't want that, while driving to the next tree. The hoses are pool sweep stuff.

Here's the rig in use.

And here's a high pressure 12 v pump (HF) I experimented with (that's 12 volt wiring) you could put in series when you want to shoot a jet of water.

 

[Dadnatron]

That's pretty interesting California.

I ended up buying the 2" HF pump. I haven't unboxed it yet, but I decided that it would be more useful to have around, and if it is too tough for my wife to start, I might think about just adding a 12v sump like you have in place. I like that idea for watering trees. And eventually, we will have waterers in the paddocks so larger volumes for troughs won't be an issue. She is strong enough to start it, I am sure. She is no shrinking violet. But I thought if an electric start was available, like on my HF generator, then I'd rather have it and avoid any difficulty that wasn't necessary. I've had more than one patient who has herniated a disk while pulling on a cantankerous pull start. I hate not avoiding issues when I have a reasonable option.

 

[handirifle]

California,
I hope you're OK and in the clear from those fires. We dodged a big bullet this summer, when one passed through here. Hopefully you did as well.

 

[California]

California,
I hope you're OK and in the clear from those fires. We dodged a big bullet this summer, when one passed through here. Hopefully you did as well.

Thanks! No problems personally but @ less than ten miles downwind from the big Santa Rosa fire, it's been raining charcoaled cold embers and weightless newspaper fragments since Monday. I woke up Monday to sky as dark as an eclipse. I had thought the time was pre-sunrise but it was 7:30am.

Tuesday evening I took a lug of apples and some old work clothes to a church nearby where I found a an auditorium full of families who had evacuated apparently with just the clothes on their backs. Almost no luggage, almost no cars in the church parking lot. These people, probably seasonal harvest and winery workers and likely some undocumented, surely depended on the cars they had lost to be able to work. Now entire families have nothing. A very sobering sight.

 

[crazyal]

I would be careful with a gas powered pump. They don't like to be ran dry and if you don't pay attention It'll suck your tank dry quicker than you think. I have a HF 97cc 1.5" pump. Sometimes they have it other times they don't. I think it's 3.5hp compared to the 3hp they have most of the time. I use it to fill a 275 gallon ibc with river water. With the water about 12 feet lower than the tote I would say it will fill it in 6 or 7 minutes. I think all of the small gas Honda clones start easy. Just make sure that any valve between the tank and the pump is open (again the seal will burn up quickly without water).

 

[California]

For anyone still interested in my 12 volt sump pump solution:

I found an old photo showing how I shoehorned the earlier pump head-first through the small IBC Tote opening.

The greater capacity pump from Ebay (rated 33 gallons/minute) that I referenced above is physically larger. I had to run flex hose right from the upward elbow to snake the pump in similar to this photo, and also devised a different setup to suspend the pump so it wouldn't fall over or rotate. The larger pump is rated 8 amps, so my existing 15 amp fuse and 12 gauge wiring didn't need to be upgraded. The fuse is essential! Don't ask ....

This setup works great.

 

[Gunny]

That's a great idea California!

They offer 12v bilge pumps with as much as 4000 gph ratings and 2 inch discharge hoses. Even with a 30% loss for a pushing head height of 4 feet, the big ones can still pump out around 2800 gph and they aren't affected if they run dry for short periods. I don't think you'd have a whole lot of pressure without necking the discharge down, which would probably decrease the output.