What kind of hand pump to buy?

Ragu_5

These things are awesome, and well worth the money.

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Rob Blair

Hand pumps

I bought an electric pump from Graingers for filling snowmelt systems and it works fine, but what kind of small hand pump can you buy, and where can you get it, to just put that little extra in to bring the pressure up?

Thanks,

Rob

Brad White_9

Silver King Force Pump

Contact Charles Ruckno at Silver King. He can tell you where to get one. In fact, he is the one who builds them.

Silverking [silverking@silverkingmfg.com]

They run about $135-140 so it is an investment. I love mine, comes in very handy for a lot of things and can be re-built.

Brad

Rob Blair

Brad,

Thanks for the advice. I noticed on Charles' site that he sells alot of additives, etc. I have only installed a few systems and have only used water or glycol. Do you recommend additives in a hot water system?

Thanks,

Rob "Still learning" Blair

Brad White_9

Additives

I have used additives and the jury is still out. Silver King makes boiler solder and "safe" boiler liquid. The latter I have used with success (meaning it solved a hidden leak without creating unforseen problems).

Nothing against the product line, but using boiler liquids seems to be the equivalent of "I Gave Up". Yes, at times I have....

For "additives" beyond that, I use Rhomar products to clean, passivate and finally to treat/preserve my piping and pH balance. I start with TSP (which does wonders for pH adjustment toward alkaline), flush, then Rhomar HydroSolve. Flush like crazy then Rhomar 922 to finish.

I suppose an olive or cocktail onion might make a nice touch.

Mind you, I am not a contractor but an engineer and homeowner and past landlord with a healthy amount of respect for the trades. So, FWIW, that is my take.

hr

Handle with care

The Silver King is indeed a nice pump, suction or pressure.

The tube is soft brass be careful not to toss it in with tools or other "stuff" in the truck bed. The tube dings easily and becomes a drag to use. Literally As you can see I had to add a stop on my handle to avoid the ding I installed!

I slid a piece of pipe insulation over mine, after it was too late. Makes it easier to hold if you pump hot fluids in and out also.

Order some extra o rings, they tend to need replacement if it sits unused for long periods.

I also added a ball valve at the discharge to shut 'er down quick when you reach the desired pressure, else the check ball gets the hick- cups.

hot rod

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Jeff Lawrence_25

RE Michel

has them. Their stock number is 1M256. My local branch doesn't stock them, but the central warehouse has them.

Paul Rohrs_4

Interesting

How long would it take to pump a 5-gallon pail of 100% propylene-glcol?

I assume that it pumps when drawn and pumps when pushed?

Regards,

PR

Brad White

It can push and pull, Paul

The way I use it, it draws up the brass tube and out the hose-end. You can reverse this I think.

I can pump a one-gallon container of Rhomar in about 15-20 strokes, just guessing. I never timed it.

Something like PG? I would double the time and eat Wheaties first.

bob_50

They can

also pump against quite a bit of pressure. I don't know how much but no problem pumping against normal system pressures. I had a job with a pluged 11/2" line. It was pluged with iron oxide, the black kind. The portion that was plugged was inaccesable. I hooked up a gage and the pump and told the boss to watch the gage. The pump was on the pull stroke. I pulled as hard as I could. The boss said the gage was peged at 500psi just as I ripped the guts out of the pump. It fixed the problem.