Suggestions for reasonably priced utility pump?

[appleton71]

I'm looking for a reasonably priced utility pump to get saltwater from my mixing station in my basement to my 125 gallon DT on the first floor. It's about a 75 foot run with a flight of stairs...about a 9 foot rise for the stairs and another 5 feet for the DT. I'll be using a potable garden hose and I'd prefer an external pump. Any suggestion?

I've been searching the web but I don't know if the utility pumps I'm finding can handle saltwater or are fish friendly (not contaminating the water).

Thanks!

 

[mcarroll]

That's an unfortunate use case...water is trivial and $free to move upstairs while it's under pressure from the mains and being filtered.

There's absolutely no way you can make water upstairs?

You really only *need* ten gallons of storage to do a basic water change and have some water available for sundries.

You can generally hold twenty gallons pretty easily in the same footprint as ten.

A 10 gallon tank and 20 gallon "Extra High" have the same 10"x20" footprint, for example.

What do you think?

 

[JerSaint]

No idea on an external pump but you could try one of the utility pumps at Harbor Freight.

 

[appleton71]

That's an unfortunate use case...water is trivial and $free to move upstairs while it's under pressure from the mains and being filtered.

There's absolutely no way you can make water upstairs?

You really only *need* ten gallons of storage to do a basic water change and have some water available for sundries.

You can generally hold twenty gallons pretty easily in the same footprint as ten.

A 10 gallon tank and 20 gallon "Extra High" have the same 10"x20" footprint, for example.

What do you think?

If I wasn't renting, I'd convert the closet next to the DT into a water production room. There's not much I can do on the first floor that wouldn't be an eyesore or disapproved by the landlord. If it was only a matter of 10 gallons I wouldn't mind hauling a couple of buckets up from the basement but that's not enough for a decent water change on a 125.

No idea on an external pump but you could try one of the utility pumps at Harbor Freight.

I actually was looking at some of theirs earlier. This one would have enough head height but I don't know if it would corrode or leach contaminants into the water. This one has plenty of lift but it says not for use with potable water.

 

[mcarroll]

Most utility pumps aren't going to have that kind of lift. That's sort of a niche thing. A Reeflo pump is usually what people turn to....hardly practical in this case. The alternatives are more sensible, but about the same cost. $200+ in most cases....

 

[Martyd]

I use this pump from Harbor Freight. It has no problem pumping from the basement to the first floor of my house. I can't speak to the "fish friendliness" of it, but I've never had any issues and it shows no signs of corrosion (I do flush it with fresh water when I'm done doing a water change).

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=utility+pump

 

[mcarroll]

If you run your water changes more frequently, like every day or other-day, then 10 gallons is plenty. Like I said, 20 gallons will fit in the same footprint as ten if you can consider a 10 gallon tank. 20 gallons is a really nice water change on a 125. :) :)

If theres no way, then you might as well consider an automatic water change system that runs from the basement, IMO.

There are lots of options, but check out APT Instruments....an SP200 or SP300 should work...one each way. I'd talk to them about your specific application so they get you hooked up with the right motor and tube size. PSI will matter going that far, up that high. APT were great to talk to when I emailed them.

@Randy Holmes-Farley has an auto-water change system based on the Reefier pump (last I heard :) )...you might get his input as to whether it would cover the height and distance of your situation.

 

[appleton71]

I use this pump from Harbor Freight. It has no problem pumping from the basement to the first floor of my house. I can't speak to the "fish friendliness" of it, but I've never had any issues and it shows no signs of corrosion (I do flush it with fresh water when I'm done doing a water change).

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=utility+pump

Which pump? The link just goes to the utility pumps results page.

If you run your water changes more frequently, like every day or other-day, then 10 gallons is plenty. Like I said, 20 gallons will fit in the same footprint as ten if you can consider a 10 gallon tank. 20 gallons is a really nice water change on a 125. :) :)

If theres no way, then you might as well consider an automatic water change system that runs from the basement, IMO.

There are lots of options, but check out APT Instruments....an SP200 or SP300 should work...one each way. I'd talk to them about your specific application so they get you hooked up with the right motor and tube size. PSI will matter going that far, up that high. APT were great to talk to when I emailed them.

@Randy Holmes-Farley has an auto-water change system based on the Reefier pump (last I heard :) )...you might get his input as to whether it would cover the height and distance of your situation.

I'll be perfectly honest...I'm not willing to commit to daily water changes. An automatic water change system would be awesome, but again, no way to plumb to the DT without running up the stairs, down the hall, through the kitchen and into the living room.

Maybe I should just invest in a shoulder yoke. :D

 

[TaylorPilot]

I would look at a diaphragm pump. Aquatec (company that makes really popular booster pumps for RODI systems), makes delivery pumps that look allot like that. They can push against allot of head, and will do a 20 gallon water change in not too long. This one does 1.7 gpm.

https://www.freshwatersystems.com/p...EaCwE-eg116li4-pJyRHmEkwMv8pd1S1LoaAiOd8P8HAQ

At 20 feet of head it still does 1.58 GPM. They are also built for continuous commercial duty use. Here is the spec sheet for those pumps as well.

https://www.freshwatersystems.com/specifications/ds58xx-7x01-b524.pdf

 

[mcarroll]

I missed that you were stuck using temporary plumbing too...dang! You could make the RODI tubing just as portable as what you're talking about....those pumps I linked will do up to 1 L/min...I think that's 15 gallons per hour....so still seems like a prospect.

I like the shoulder yoke!!! I want one!!!

Thinking half-way in that direction, why not use two (or more) cheap, ordinary pumps and run them in series for higher head?

It does work...and in your circumstance it might be just the ticket. Especially just to get the water change regime rolling. Two or maybe at most three 500 GPH pumps should do it.

I'd get some "wireless remote control power outlets" to control them so they can easily be turned on and off in the right order and from wherever you're working. (Google or amazon, etc, what I put in quotes if you don't know what I mean.)

However, if this tank is going to be long term, then it worth repeating: getting some water made on the same level where the tank is just seems crucial to me. Even just ten or twenty gallons would be worth it IMO. Your soul will thank you. :)

There are different ways to lay out the filter, there can be meters' worth of tubing anywhere you'd need it to divide up the modules, different ways and places to store water. It can even be stored in multiple smaller quantities. All done more or less freely, until the water leaves the RODI filter. After that, it's always going to be a lot of additional work or expense on your part to move it somewhere else every water change.

 

[appleton71]

Thinking half-way in that direction, why not use two (or more) cheap, ordinary pumps and run them in series for higher head?

It does work...and in your circumstance it might be just the ticket. Especially just to get the water change regime rolling. Two or maybe at most three 500 GPH pumps should do it.

I'd get some "wireless remote control power outlets" to control them so they can easily be turned on and off in the right order and from wherever you're working. (Google or amazon, etc, what I put in quotes if you don't know what I mean.)

The thought of multiple pumps had crossed my mind briefly but I wasn't sure it would work so I didn't pursue it. I already have a 12B mag-drive pump which would probably get me to the top of the stairs... I'd just need a booster from there to the DT. I might even be able to rig up some semi-permanent plumbing to the top of the stairs. Then it would just be a matter of connecting a hose to the pump at the top of the stairs for water changes. Thanks for putting the thought back into my head! I'm definitely going to look into this.

 

[appleton71]

Just in case anyone stumbles across this thread in the future attempting what I'm doing, the 12B mag-drive pump I have has enough umph to push through roughly 17 feet of head although it's not a strong flow. I'm upgrading to an 18 mag-drive pump to boost the volume.

I ended up drilling a hole in the bottom of one of the kitchen cabinets from the basement to run my plumbing and greatly reducing the length of the run (shhh...don't tell my landlord!). I went from well over 20 feet of head to around 15 feet. Looking forward to my first water change when my new pump arrives!