Circulator as dewatering pump?

J.C.A._3

During long times of no use...the "lubricating water" will dry out and evaporate. This will surely set up a rust situation for the cartridge.

Unless your going to use it daily (or at least weekly) I feel you'll find a "seized pump impeller" quite a bit more often than not. Of course...it will entail pulling the housing from the cartridge and giving it a spin and a quick bath...but it will move quite a bit of water until the air gets to it.

Let us know how you make out! It could save us all a bit.Lord knows I've got a 1/2 dozen mis-colored circulators sitting in my truck! Chris.

Ken C.

What do you think about this idea?

Hey all,

I'm looking to buy a transfer or de-watering pump that will be used 90 percent of the time to drain water heaters, and the other 10 percent to drain forced hot water heating systems.

I don't want the little "pony pumps" made by Little Giant and others because they are slow, and noisy (they remind me of a whining mosquito).

A step up is a larger transfer pump with a 1/2 hp motor, but these are only rated up to 120-degree water. They are also pricey at around $180.

A plumbing/heating supply counterman made a suggestion that sounds interesting: Why not use a small circulator (i.e. Taco 007) for this application? It would be easy to wire a plug-in cord whip to the circ, install IPS x hose adapters on the circulator flanges, and be good to go, no matter how hot the water.

The cost of a circulator, even with the parts to convert it to a transfer pump, would be much cheaper, plus it would be very quiet and handle very hot water - two big pluses. My only question is how fast would it drain a 40-gallon water heater?

Has anyone else ever converted a 007 to a dewatering pump? Certainly sounds like a clever idea.

-Ken

Joe Mattiello

You need to be careful about materials of construction, which should be all none ferrous, because of the residual water sitting in the cartridge. Additionally, the pump should be self priming. Taco pumps are not self priming.

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

I don't think


a circulator will work because it only circulates water, it doesn't pump it. Bob Gagnon

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mtfallsmikey

Have you ever used

A Wayne Porta-Pump? I don't know if they are still made or not. CI body, brass impeller, pretty fast. I still have 2 of them, one which is pushing 20 years old. Of course the limiting factor especially when draining domestic HWH's down is how much crud is in the bottom that will clog the drain valve, but it will not hurt this pump at all! After I use my Porta-Pump, I spray some WD or Kroil inside, prevents seizing.

mtfallsmikey

Here is the Wayne PC-4

http://www.waynepumps.com/prodlist.asp?pcode=PC4