What Type of Pump Do I Need? and Hose Maintenance

What Type of Pump Do I Need?

This would have to be the most asked question I have heard over the years and it would be the most difficult one to answer. Ok let’s look at the needs!

The Needs,

 Your pump needs to be reliable, that is it must start for you when required.

 Have the ability to work at and over 100 meters. By doing so you are not governed by distance as to where you can work.

 To be economical to run.

 The motor must run quite at low db’s. Otherwise the noise will drive you mad.

 The motor & Pump needs to be lightweight around 13kg. Anything above this weight and you will struggle when it is required to move to pump over great distances by hand. Remember if it is hard going in, it will be 3 times harder coming out.

 Parts and service must be available for the type of motor you get.

 The most common self-priming motors & pumps used today is the Honda WX10, Honda WX15& the Oleo-Mac SA18.

 The most common non self-priming pump is the Oleo-Mac SC33.

 Last but not least is space the pump will take up in your vehicle.

Bilge pumps are great pumps when you have the need to recycle your water. But perform very poor at distance pumping & the weight of the battery well. Same for the fire fighting units they work great but the weight kills you. The e-bay Chinese motors and pumps well when you get one of these it is a bit like a lottery draw as to how well they work if at all. Remember you get what you pay for.

Hoses!

What’s important to know about a hose, you hook them up when starting work then roll them up when completed! That’s true but there is a bit in between we must look at.

Point 1, what would you do if you dropped a rock on your layflat and holed it? You would take the fitting of the hose cut a length from the layflat around 6 inches long, mark the hole then slide the length of 6 inch layflat you cut off over the damaged layflat to the hole covering the hole with at least 3 inches either side. Note you can fix a hose in this manner no matter how severely damaged it is. {See Photos}.

Point 2, say you have run out all your hose which had fittings attached, but you were still 20 feet short of your work area. But you have other lengths with you and have no fittings for them. This is what you can do, it is a bit tricky at the start but it will work. At the last length of layflat from the pump remove the fitting run out the new bit of layflat which will cover the distance required to reach the work area. Go back to the layflat you removed the fitting from. And slide it into the new bit of layflat you just run out, you may need to slide it in around 3 feet. The fitting you removed from this end you place on the end of the layflat at the work area. Then hook up the hose to your plant for this to work you must have pressure. It is this pressure that will expand the hoses and hold them in place. {See photo}.

Point 3, you can drive two Banjos/ H/Bankers from the one pump, and layflat. You do this via a T or Y joint. Your pump will run into one end of the T or Y and the two bankers hook up to the other points. It really will not matter in what configuration you hook up they will work the same. {See photo}

Last but not least, from time to time it is a good idea to clean {if you are using them} your nut and tails! Get a good pointed pocket-knife and run around the inside of the threads scrapping out all the bits of grit.

Cheers

© JB 06/03/2011

Fitting the patch



Patch fitted



Join the hose



The T or Y splitter.

Even more on pumps.

Consideration of all the mentioned points must be given, and then make your purchases from there. You must also make sure you are getting what is advertised. Request the flow chart for the pump as well this will give the flow rate & head over distance it is very important to get this information.

1.Where will you be using the pump local or travelling?
2.If you are local at what distance will you be pumping?
3.Travelling you could be working at any type of distance?
4.What type of unit will the pump be required to run?

Jetting size, unit size, pumping distance and pump weight are the key factors for your new pump selection in fact I think all of the above are important. If I were going to buy a new pump I would first take into consideration that I travel therefore I will not know my pumping distance. So I would be looking at a 4 stroke {this also eliminates the need to mix fuel}. I would set my pumping limit to 100 meters {at this distance I can carry all my lay flat pump and camping gear}. Around creeks at the most you would be looking at pumping 50 meters I would be surprised if you would needed to pump that far but you never know.
© J.B 14/3/2011

Excellent information there!

Let me mention something for the odd miner who might be a bit new.
Lay flat hose is a wonderful thing - light, easy to use and repairable (as James 101 showed). There is a singular 'weak point' about using the lay flat that needs a bit of 'work around' to overcome.
Lay flat kinks.
We all lay out the hose between the pump and the equipment about the same way, and for the most part it presents no problem, especially in the thinner sizes. Gentle curves work fine, but when the water pressure expands the lay flat out to its final, rigid working shape there is often a kink that developes either at the pump's or the equipment's hook-up point. Any persistent kink will slow down water flow which is just wrong for the equipment.
Buy two, one meter+ lengths of flexible, semi-rigid hose (and fittings) to install between the pump and the lay-flat - and - from the lay-flat to the equipment. Doing that will eliminate those kink points.

Another thing, lay flat hose lengths.
For the sake of convenience, let's say that you buy 2 one hundred meter lengths of lay flat. Rather than carry and try to use one or both of them as-is consider cutting them into certain lengths. The first one cut into 10, 20, 30 and 40 meter lengths. Mark the lengths on each one with a permanent marker. Cut the other hose into two 50 meter lengths. Reach deeply into your pockets and buy fittings for each segment.
When setting up at a site you can custom "mix and match" hose lengths to the nearest 10 meters without having a too long hose with the resulting huge 'S' turns to 'use up without kinking' your too much hose.

If you haven't used lay flat hose very much take the precaution to slowly apply the engine's pump pressure to the lay-flat. Either open up the equipment's water system completely or slowly bring the RPMs up on your engine to slowly apply pressure to the lay-flat. Whatever you do, do not allow a "water hammer" effect to overpressure your lay-flat. I speak from sad experience.

Be careful of those edges of your lay-flat since those flat sides, in transport or storage, can have holes worn into them. James 101's hose repair a very important thing to remember.