Hey backyard Engineers, need help building a shop vac pump!

[trs71]

Hey I need to pump water out of a hydroponic reservoir system, I have to get all the water out so a water pump won't do it, not powerful enough and wont **** it all out, but a shop vac will. PIA and messy to remove top and drop in a pump.

I've got, for hose hook-ups, PVC to the bottom of the tanks, but my back isn't going to like 10 or so trips to empty.

I'm not alone I found out...https://www.rewci.com/shop-vac-pump-vac.html

but I don't want to spend that much on that.

I've only got one idea how, (don't want to influence you how now) but I'm sure there is a Garage Journal way???

 

[Busted_Knuckles]

Hey I need to pump water out of a hydroponic reservoir system.

I've only got one idea how, (don't want to influence you how now) but I'm sure there is a Garage Journal way???

Ok, I will bite, how about figuring out what the ideal make and model for your application is and looking for it second hand on fleabay, auctionzip, etc...

I used to sell used Cenco industrial continuous duty vacuum pumps. I think they sold for about $2k new, and Id let them fly for $75 factory rebuilt, plus shipping. I had several pallet boxes of them.... maybe something like that ?

 

[pancho400cid]

Well... looks like the budget it well below $150... so here goes:

Assuming you already own a shop vac, drop this cheapie fountain pump (link below) into the bucket and route a garden hose out of a hole in the shop vac tank or top. You'd have to seal to the hose so the shop vac would still draw vacuum. If your shop vac has a "blower" port (mine does) that would work. Hopefully you won't have to bother with a check valve on the pump outlet, at least when the pump is running.

If the shop vac ***** water faster than the pump pumps (almost certain to be the case) you'd have to stop sucking up water intermittently and let the pump empty the tank.

https://www.harborfreight.com/158-gph-submersible-fountain-pump-63315.html

 

[bp460]

Ridgid makes a pump that connects directly to their shop vacs.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-...sory-for-RIDGID-Wet-Dry-Vacs-VP2000/100496507

 

[bradpac]

Drill a hole in your shop vac tank and put a hose on it?

 

[Jswain]

Could you add a drain and a valve to the bottom of the reservoir then use an auxiliary tank to drain it into that has a water pump mounted in it? That way you get all of the water out of your main tank and it's not imperative to get every ounce out of the drain tank / route your hose so there's 0 trips back and forth.

 

[trs71]

There is no way to use the exhaust as a venturi low suction kind of pump?

Ridgid makes a pump that connects directly to their shop vacs.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-...sory-for-RIDGID-Wet-Dry-Vacs-VP2000/100496507

Does that work with other shop vac's?

I've got 3 vacs but I was leaning to the rigid "bucket head" one for weight and space requirements, and I suppose the adapter won't fit that one huh?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bucket-...ible-with-5-Gal-Homer-Bucket-BH0100/202017218

 

[Ironcrow]

I had to solve a problem like this for an industrial device. Having bigger fish to fry, I just spec'd in a professional carpet extracting vacuum pump, and moved on. This is exactly what they are designed to do, pull water and entrained air (and dirt) out of a carpet (bottom of tank), **** the whole mess up through a 20 foot hose, and discharge in your front yard:

https://shop.usaclean.com/120V-vacu...MIlKP50pG_6wIVQx-tBh2npgcNEAQYAyABEgKdu_D_BwE

 

[matt_i]

Drill a hole in your shop vac tank and put a hose on it?

This is the easiest & cheapest way imo. Get a ball valve and a bulkhead fitting and attach to the bottom of the shop vac.

The vac will easily **** up the water, then you just gravity-drain the shop va body at intervals.

Long term it might be best to put the bulkhead fitting into your other tank as well and eliminate the middle man

From a project earlier in life I was flat out amazed how fast a siphon will move water. As I recall, a 2 inch PVC siphon will empty a 55 gallon drum in less than 2 minutes.

 

[CoogarXR]

Drilling a hole and running a drain hose (like you would for a dehumidifier) as was mentioned, is probably the cheapest.

But if gravity won't work for you... A while back, I was given a submersible harbor freight fountain pump. I found that I use it for everything! LOL. I throw it on the pool cover to pump off the water, I'll pump the extra water out of the pool when it rains, I even used it to pump the water out of my dishwasher when the drain pump failed. All I had to buy to make it useful was about a foot of rubber tube and a garden hose adapter. That way I could screw a garden hose onto its output.

Anyway, if it were me, I'd just put one of those pumps inside the shop vac. Either put in on a float-switch or a timer to pump out the water (I have no idea how much volume we're talking). It's a fountain pump, so it's meant to run for hours. Anyway, that pump is like $13. It's rated at 158gph, which is a little over 2.6 gallons a minute. So it could empty a 10 gallon shop vac in about 4 minutes. They sell stronger ones too, that's just the cheapest one.

 

[nadogail]

Alternatively, you could use a condensate removal pump from an HVAC unit.

 

[trs71]

It's around 200 gallons at least once a week.

I'm dumping it out a 2ond story window, so I suppose I could put the vacuum on a high shelf, buy a long *** vac hose and plumb a drain out the window, but the windows kind of far away, have to pull water up 8 ft, and that's getting to be a lot of hose I'd have to leave hooked up in a small space, Plus I'd need to shut the valve on and off manually, or there'd be no vacuum, because of the outlet hole, no?

So 40 trips+ to shut valve on off with a 5 gallon bucket

Anyway, if it were me, I'd just put one of those pumps inside the shop vac. Either put in on a float-switch or a timer to pump out the water (I have no idea how much volume we're talking). It's a fountain pump, so it's meant to run for hours. Anyway, that pump is like $13. It's rated at 158gph, which is a little over 2.6 gallons a minute. So it could empty a 10 gallon shop vac in about 4 minutes. They sell stronger ones too, that's just the cheapest one.

That was my idea in the 1st place, (that I didn't want to mention so no preconceived ideas)-but at least 3 issues.

The hose and electrical cord need to exit.

The water has plant material and the like so I would need a filter or at minimum a way to remove pump and clean it, so I can't silicone the plug to the bucket.

I rigged one with duct tape around a 1/2 hose and slit the top for cord, but then the buckethead quit sucking water. I'm thinking it has to be almost air tight.

The bucket head actually collapses ANY bucket made in the last 10 years, so there is that problem. I really didn't want to start plugging holes in my $125 shop vacs, prefer to use the bucket head.

PS Everyone should buy 1 (and a 1980's real bucket). They are awesome!

 

[bas157]

If its at least once a week I think I'd reconsider if possible and get the shop-vac with the pump in it. I've got one and its been a HUGE help when my sump pump dies on me (sump runs very often so I need it to keep the pit empty-ish when changing the pump.
Or look for a used Ridgid vac that you can hook that pump up to.

 

[walrus]

Why not use a real water pump and then vac out what the pump won't get