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Cheap & effective pump?

8

8Complex

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 15, 2003
Messages
272
I don't know if anyone has ever done this or even talked about it (damn the dead search function!), but has anyone ever thought about using a automotive fuel pump as a water pump?

Most automotive pumps are fairly quiet, and only get noisy as they start to go. They are designed to run for hours upon hours upon hours. They are natively +12V, so an easy install. They're normally submerged in the tank (stock ones at least), so as long as your fluid isn't conductive, you can do the same and use the fluid to insulate as well. And best of all, they're plenty cheap when you've replaced the stock one in your vehicle with a higher flowing unit. They have outlets for 5/16" hose (ID), so they're pretty easily adapted to/from. The only catch is that it has to be submerged or an adapter made in order for the pickup to work. Fuel is corrosive enough, so water should be perfectly fine running through there...

I know that my stock fuel pump runs 90lph, and I can get a very cheap stock pump that will run 130lph. Toyota Supra stock pumps flow around 255lph... from reading around, I have found that the Supra pump rates at 40gph at 26psi of pressure, so I can only imagine the flow at low pressures like watercooling systems end up having (what? 1-3psi?).

Perhaps this isn't enough flow? I'm not sure, but I am guessing that it should be just fine with a decent sized resivour and a radiator with several passes to it.
 
They cost a lot more than a water pump does. To get the flow that would be needed you would need to get a good one and that will even add more onto the price. I would say you can get 2 water pumps for what you would pay for 1 fuel pump that would work for the same thing. To buy a good say racing fuel pump your talking $300 + and that is about what you would need to pump the same water a $50 water pump would.
 
So do you need more then a gallon every minute and a half? Thats like a quart every 22.5 seconds.

Regarding the cost, I was more thinking of used then new. New, yes, they go for a good penny... but I can get 130lph pumps for next to nothing, if not actually free.

Hey, it's not like I'm asking about using a stock Eclipse side-mount intercooler as a radiator or anything. :LOL:
 
MaxiJet 1200 295 GPH, 6'7" Head and you can get it for around $20.00 + Shipping. I have one on my system now and in conjunction with a LRWW, B&M oil cooler, window AC unit and with reservior, a total capacity of 2.5 gallons I get typical CPU temps on my 2500+ Barton of 27*to 29* C after playing COD for many hours. (and yes, temps are fairly accurate)
 
The MaxiJet 1200 looks good, but what kind of power does it take? AC or DC?

The LRWW (wow, it's a good thing I'm good with Google ;) ) looks like a nice piece... something like I'd make myself since I've never thought running across a surface is as effective as against it.

A B&M oil cooler is easy enough. I suppose any standard type of cooler available for trans fluids or oils would work, and they're fairly cheap, IIRC.

What are you using the window AC unit for? Or are you running the radiator in the AC unit to cool it?

After seeing that pump, that seems a little more reasonable then everything I've seen up until this point. :)
 
the maxijet is AC powered but that isnt that much of a problem as you can always hook it into one of these:
http://www.criticool.com/Powerplant.html

instead of a standard radiator, you can convert a heatercore (for almost any model vehicle) into a very effective rad for a watercooling system.

71 caprice core with swapped out fittings, a shroud and little paint work:

heatercore.jpg


heatercore out of a '79 bonneville -- not quite as modded as the caprice core above, but it still isn't finished :)

7fittingsinstalled.jpg


of course, there are commercial versions of the heatercores:
http://www.dtekcustoms.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=228

linkage to my heatercore conversion thread (shameless pimpage of my own thread... :p ):
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25182
 
Excellent information! I have done absolutely tons of work with fittings, so that would be absolutely cake for me.

What type of 120mm fans are suggested? I'm hoping to find a set that run very nearly silent as the rest of my system will hopefully be silent as well.
 
 
Originally posted by 8Complex
The MaxiJet 1200 looks good, but what kind of power does it take? AC or DC?

The LRWW (wow, it's a good thing I'm good with Google ;) ) looks like a nice piece... something like I'd make myself since I've never thought running across a surface is as effective as against it.

A B&M oil cooler is easy enough. I suppose any standard type of cooler available for trans fluids or oils would work, and they're fairly cheap, IIRC.

What are you using the window AC unit for? Or are you running the radiator in the AC unit to cool it?

After seeing that pump, that seems a little more reasonable then everything I've seen up until this point. :)
Click to expand...

I have the cooler mounted inside the AC unit right after the coil. The core actually rests against the cooler so in addition to the normal cold airflow, I get some amount of contact thermal conductivity helping to remove heat from the cooler and thus the water. I just drilled holes in the bottom to run the tubing through.
 
From What Ive seen fuel pumps are useless for any type of watercooling. I forget where it was but there was a guy using a whitewater like Wb and using fuel pumps to get the pressure. I think he went through two pumps, trying to figure out a good anticorrosive water mixture, but in the end he came to the conclusion that the gasoline they normally pump has some sort of lubrication additive and would never work right for watercooling.
 
anyway you can get like a Via Aqua 1300 for like what? $20?
 
In tank fuel pumps will NOT work for water.

gasoline is not a electrical conducting fluid, so the pump is not sealed to keep fluid out, as a matter of fact they use the fluid to cool the pump. ( sound familiar ) if submerged in water they will short out.

If they run outside of fluid they burn up, I know I make good money replacing them from people who didn't realize that E does not stand for enough:D

used fuel pumps failure rate is at @ 95 %

a cheap external fuel pump costs above $60.00 for one that will last, intank units start at about $150.00 and go up fast.

the amp draw is also about half what a PSU puts out, so you would have a power problem.

I think going with the cool looking stuff in the preceeding posts would be the better way to go :)

Just a mechanic rambling:D
 
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