Solvent tank upgrade

[jstroede]

Ok I have been wanting to do this for a long time, but other things have always seemed to get in the way. It has moved more to the forefront since solvent is harder to get and even harder to get rid of. I did this with stuff I had laying around, other than having to buy a couple fittings and a filter. So far it works great with only about a gallon on solvent.

I used a piece of wire mesh over the drain to catch anything big. It feeds down into a remote oil filter setup then into an old Holley blue fuel pump. I made a plate to rivet in where the old pump housing passed through, and got a bulkhead fitting to pass through. Everything is plumbed with 3/8 fuel line and brass fittings. The fitting for the drain was the hardest thing to find as mine was m14x2.0 and I had to wait to get it from China.

It is currently running off of a battery, but I will eventually find a compatible 12v power supply to use.

 

[RonnieMac]

That's a neat setup. I have been thinking of doing a similar job on my Graymills PL36 cleaner.

It looks like you replaced the original pump with the filtered Holley pump. Does the output from the Holley pump go into a rubber hose that becomes the washing pressure?

I was thinking of setting up a filter setup very similar to yours, but not replacing the original pump. I would just pull solvent from the sump tank, feed it through a filter with a secondary pump, then pump the cleaned solvent back into the sump.

Any thoughts?

Ron

 

[jstroede]

That's a neat setup. I have been thinking of doing a similar job on my Graymills PL36 cleaner.

It looks like you replaced the original pump with the filtered Holley pump. Does the output from the Holley pump go into a rubber hose that becomes the washing pressure?

I was thinking of setting up a filter setup very similar to yours, but not replacing the original pump. I would just pull solvent from the sump tank, feed it through a filter with a secondary pump, then pump the cleaned solvent back into the sump.

Any thoughts?

Ron

Yes I replaced the original pump completely. It has been hit and miss as far as functionality for a few years now, leading me to not use it much. One of the main benefits of this is to not need nearly as much solvent.

The output of the Holley pump is plumbed into the bulkhead fitting in that aluminum plate that I made to cover the hole in the side of the tank where the old pump wiring passed through. This pump is probably actually a little too much for what it it doing. I am wondering if I feed it maybe 9-10V that it might actually work a little better.

Are you saying that you want to use 2 pumps? What would be the reason for that? Your existing pump is capable of running through a filter like that no problem. I really deleted mine because it wasn't functioning that well, and wanted to be able to use a lot less solvent. It will run with about 3.5 quarts in the system, but when actually cleaning something I will run 5-6 quarts in it probably. Also, if I know I am not going to be using the system for a while, I will be pumping the solvent back into the can for storage to help minimize smell and loss due to evaporation.

John

 

[jstroede]

I ran it some more this week and I like it more and more as the voltage drops (better at 11.5 volts now). I might break down and buy a voltage converter and run it off of that so I can dial in what I really want. It seems I can get one off of amazon for about $10-$15.

 

[merkyworks]

Could install a twist/needle valve inline on the output hose to restrict/dial in flow to your liking. Instead of messing with voltage.