upgrades

[mallenk]

Looking to upgrade from an old, old diaphram pump to a vacuum pump. We can currently get about 20 ft. of lift with the pump we have. Are there pumps out there that are designed for higher lifts than others? We are able to land some jobs because the other local pumper does not have as
much lift with his vacuum pump. Due to some terrain issues we need as much lift as possible.
Thanks.

[Aardvark]

I use Masport pumps and they've been good to me. I've never pumped with a diaphragm pump, but with vacuum pumps the trick to high lifts is to gurgle or suck just the right amount of air along with waste. Suck to much air and you loose vacuum, suck to much waste and it gets to heavy, slows things down, and over heats you pump. The higher above sea level you go the weaker you vacuum will be as well. I pump off the top allowing my hose to stay clear on most jobs, unless there is no solids and I have a short 30' hose on. Pumping this way, I average about 20 min to clean a 1000 gal grease trap.

I just added a truck to my business. I put a Robuschi Blower on it. So far I like it. We'll see what the future brings.

[etnpumper]

Vacuum is Vacuum. Rule of thumb is 1 foot of lift for each inch Hg vacuum you can generate. I've used Ardvarks technique to service tanks that were apx 45' below the truck, with the pump on my truck it takes forever, my pump is air cooled intermittant duty so it's prone to overheating. Get a good continious duty pump!!! Using an aux. pump might be an option too. I have several customers that I use a 3" trash pump located at the tank to push the sludge up the hill to the truck. One job requires 200' of hose and the vertical lift is about 90 feet.

Darryl

[Stephen]

When using a trash pump as an intermittent pump, doesn't the pump loose prime once you start getting air in the line, like when your down in the last few inches of sludge or trying to suck up chunks? Agitating the tank real good and constant might help here though.

[etnpumper]

After we pull the level in the tank down so that we don't force solids out into the drainfield by mixing, I use a crust buster to mix the tank. We start the trash pump and run it until it looses prime at the bottom of the tank, we stop pumping then add some water to the tank mix again and then pull it down untill the trash pump looses prime again. With a neglected tank you might repeat this process a couple more times. Your going to leave some liquid behind using a trash pump, but if your careful the liquid you leave behind is mostly water. I'm thankfull that we only have a few customers that require the use of our trash pump because it is a major pain in the butt.

Darryl

[Trent]

I hope you charge extra for the "major pain in the butt" and the extra water.