Drill Pumps?
 

Hi all,
Did a search on the forums but didnt see anyone ever mentioning this...
I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried using a drill pump for their system such as this:
http://www.simerpump.com/utility_cm10.html

They claim 360 gallons/hr and 10ft of vertical lift compared to the eheim 1250 at 317 g/hr and like what 6-7 ft of vertical lift?


The real reason I was thinking this pump would be interesting is it costs around $10 -- and if you have spare fan motor around like something from a window a/c unit that has shafts on both sides you could either run two of them, ie one for cpu loop and one for gpu loop or you could run the pump on one side and a fan for your rad on the other side.

Any thoughts? Another bonus is that motors like that are often variable speed so you could probably adjust the flow rate, unfortunately none of the drill pumps seem to say what rpm their published flow rate is at. Also, some of them seem to be self priming, like the Craftsman model which is cheaper - ~$5 but claims less gallons/hr.

I found an older one in a box the other day...going to hook it up and give it a shot (I have one of those double shafted motors from a phase change project), I'll post results if they're any good!

The problem with drill pumps is they are not rated for continuous duty.

re: Drill Pumps
 

Hmm didn't think about that because when I think of continuous duty I'm more inclined to think about the motor - and in this case the motor I'd be using is rated for continuous duty.

What do you think would happen, whatever kind of impeller it uses would wear away?

The issue would be how long it will last. If it was made for emergencies or quick little things then its life may be only a 1000hours or so. You'd have to find a pretty beefy motor in order to power it. Drill motors are quite powerful plus they have a good gear reduction.

While I have no interest in use of such a pump as my main cooling loop pump, it could make a dandy item just for refilling a system or flushing it out in less time.

Open your drain where ever it is, then hook one of these little darlings up to your refill line. Could flush as system pretty quick that way.

I woudlnt even consider it. The pump does 6 gpm, with what drill? Also, no drill will handle this, they arent rated for long periods of runtime.

drill pumps are direct displacement pumps. they have very high internal friction, thus will not last very long . it also requires a lot of torque to opperate them.