A Water Pump Not For An Aquarium

shokan · Oct 13, 2010

I am looking for a small slow-flow water pump to move 100-150F degree water through 20-30 feet of 1/8 inch opening clear plastic tubing at a slow rate, say 4 gallons an hour. This isn't for an aquarium, but I thought this forum would be the best place to ask. I need it to be quiet and for it to run off a 120 wall socket. There will be some sort of small reservoir of water, heated to the temp I need. The tubing will rise to a height of no more than 4 feet. There will be no right angle bends in the tubing.

Could you suggest a type of pump for this project and maybe a brand or two?

Thanks.

the biffster · Oct 13, 2010

shokan said:
I am looking for a small slow-flow water pump to move 100-150F degree water through 20-30 feet of 1/8 inch opening clear plastic tubing at a slow rate, say 4 gallons an hour. This isn't for an aquarium, but I thought this forum would be the best place to ask. I need it to be quiet and for it to run off a 120 wall socket. There will be some sort of small reservoir of water, heated to the temp I need. The tubing will rise to a height of no more than 4 feet. There will be no right angle bends in the tubing.

Could you suggest a type of pump for this project and maybe a brand or two?

Thanks.

central heating pump springs to mind

shokan · Oct 13, 2010

Just to be clear, here's a quick sketch. The clear flexible tubing such as you find in rolls at the hardware store is only 1/8" diameter inside measurement; it's 20 feet long. The water will be warm, maybe 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than body temp. It seems like a central heating pump is maybe overkill. Is there an aquarium pump that will move this amount of water around the circuit at a rate of about 4 gals an hour, which is really just above a trickle.

OldMan47 · Oct 17, 2010

I can understand your need but even a very small aquarium pump moves more water than you want to move. You might try looking for a metering pump of some kind. They are intended to be used to add chemicals to industrial processes and are used for small flow rates like you are talking about.

shokan · Oct 17, 2010

OldMan47 said:
I can understand your need but even a very small aquarium pump moves more water than you want to move. You might try looking for a metering pump of some kind. They are intended to be used to add chemicals to industrial processes and are used for small flow rates like you are talking about.
[/quote
I didn't know an aquarium water pump could push more than I need. My need as stated was a minimum and I'd gladly have more. What aquarium pump would be good, then?

nitro7 · Oct 17, 2010

shokan said:
Just to be clear, here's a quick sketch. The clear flexible tubing such as you find in rolls at the hardware store is only 1/8" diameter inside measurement; it's 20 feet long. The water will be warm, maybe 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than body temp. It seems like a central heating pump is maybe overkill. Is there an aquarium pump that will move this amount of water around the circuit at a rate of about 4 gals an hour, which is really just above a trickle.

can i just ask if this is some type of central heating for you fish tanks or a fish room.any pump will do because you can have a tap on the return plus you will need a ball cock in your sump to top up the water when it evaporates.i used this type of system to heat my out door white mice cages,but i used a paraffin heater to heat the water

shokan · Oct 17, 2010

nitro7 said:
shokan said:

Just to be clear, here's a quick sketch. The clear flexible tubing such as you find in rolls at the hardware store is only 1/8" diameter inside measurement; it's 20 feet long. The water will be warm, maybe 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than body temp. It seems like a central heating pump is maybe overkill. Is there an aquarium pump that will move this amount of water around the circuit at a rate of about 4 gals an hour, which is really just above a trickle.

Click to expand...

can i just ask if this is some type of central heating for you fish tanks or a fish room.any pump will do because you can have a tap on the return plus you will need a ball cock in your sump to top up the water when it evaporates.i used this type of system to heat my out door white mice cages,but i used a paraffin heater to heat the water

Nothing to do with heating. It's a display sculpture that has to have this colored water flowing through the clear tubes. It won't be used for long. Another thing, if it matters: the reservoir in the sketch will most likely be a small fish tank with a heater in it. As I say, the more flow, the better, with a min of about 4 gals an hour but would love lots more. The tubing as stated will be 1/8" clear flexible plastic tubing. Don't know what else to add. The pump needs to be quiet.

OldMan47 · Oct 19, 2010

Some of the smallest aquarium pumps, like a power head designed for a 10 gallon tank, will pump 40 GPH or more. You might try seeing what you can find on ebay or some similar place. If you just want to move water, ignore any filter statements and look for a power head. It runs submerged in the sump with a path coming from the pump discharge. A disadvantage of an aquarium pump is that it often develops very little discharge pressure, which you would need to move high flow rates through a 1/8 inch tube. The frictional pressure losses in a system with such thin tubing will be large.

shokan · Oct 19, 2010

OldMan47 said:
Some of the smallest aquarium pumps, like a power head designed for a 10 gallon tank, will pump 40 GPH or more. You might try seeing what you can find on ebay or some similar place. If you just want to move water, ignore any filter statements and look for a power head. It runs submerged in the sump with a path coming from the pump discharge. A disadvantage of an aquarium pump is that it often develops very little discharge pressure, which you would need to move high flow rates through a 1/8 inch tube. The frictional pressure losses in a system with such thin tubing will be large.

Thanks. I don't understand what you mean by discharge pressure for an aquarium pump. Maybe the best thing for me would be to get a brand and model to look at, if that's possible.

Here's a chart for Danner Supreme line water pumps. Someone suggested Model 2. These pumps have 1/2" pipe fittings, so I don't know how I'd configure that down to 1/8" plastic tubing.

http

/screencast.com/t/yn5SySmNeZ

OldMan47 · Oct 26, 2010

Discharge pressure and total developed head are very similar concepts. Any pump will pump more water if there is no restriction to the flow. If there is any restriction to that flow, the pump must be capable of overcoming that restriction. Pump manufacturers rate their pumps in terms of discharge pressure or sometimes in terms of head height. Each 1 psi of discharge pressure can be thought of as being similar to 2 1/2 feet of head. The link you gave had the pump capacity shown in terms of feet of head pressure. As pressures increased, the flow was reduced. That is why the graph drops off from left to right the way it was plotted. Any typical aquarium pump has very low head pressure ratings since aquarium systems usually have almost no pressure drop between the ultimate discharge point and the pump inlet. Aquarium pumps are optimized for high flows with low pressures. Other applications of pumps require that much higher pressures be overcome but are not demanding of much flow. Pumps designed for use in those applications will give a high discharge pressure but may not have very high flow rates. Each pump is a compromise between flow and pressure for a given power input. I work in an industry where pumps are quite common and I see pumps quite capable of moving 500,000 gallons per minute with low pressures and other pumps capable of developing only 5000 gallons per minute but at much higher pressures. Both pumps are designed for their particular application but they are not interchangeable. The high flow low head pumps cannot be used where the low flow, yes I think of 5000 gpm as low flow by comparison, pumps are needed. Each design for a pump is unique and is best suited to its design configuration.
You want a pump that has a high number for discharge head, sometimes called TDH or lift. You do not have a need for high flows. If you keep that in mind, you should be able to find a pump that will work for you. It is unlikely that you will find the pump you need in the aquarium hobby since our focus is about high flow rates but with very little pressure losses in our systems.

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