Do you think it will work?

Todd in NC · Feb 24, 2016

I was wondering if you could take a water pump from a small block Chevrolet engine and pump water from one location (creek, pond, tank) to another. I was thinking of powering it from the PTO on my tractor. I know I would need to speed up the pump with belts and pulleys or gears. That is not a problem. I know this is not an actual " pump " per say, but a coolant circulater to prevent overheating. Let me know what you think. Thanks in advance, Todd.

dr sportster · Feb 24, 2016

I would think there are much better pumps for that . I have a Chevy water pump on my 56 Chrysler Industrial Hemi but the water doesn't have far to go.

dpendzic · Feb 24, 2016

i tried that with a boiler circulation pump but it didn't produce much flow
i have a cheap sump pump $50--that really works well---filled my tractor tires with it too!

Blackhole49 · Feb 24, 2016

To my way of thinking, you would be spending an awful lot of effort and horse power for a very low volume pump. If wour bound and determined to use a tractor, I would look for an old trash pump with a worn out engine.

paul · Feb 24, 2016

Would be kinda hard to seal up the block side to anything wouldn't it?

Then, you need suction to pull water out of a pond. Don't know that they provide much suction. They are more of a water stirrer than a water pump, they are just immersed in the water in an engine. In trying to move water from a pond to someplace else, you might beed a bit different setup and different vanes and sealing and all?

Seems there would be a whole lot easier and better types of water pumps to start with.

Paul

Determined · Feb 24, 2016

(quoted from post at 15:25:14 02/24/16) I was wondering if you could take a water pump from a small block Chevrolet engine and pump water from one location (creek, pond, tank) to another. I was thinking of powering it from the PTO on my tractor. I know I would need to speed up the pump with belts and pulleys or gears. That is not a problem. I know this is not an actual " pump " per say, but a coolant circulater to prevent overheating. Let me know what you think. Thanks in advance, Todd.

If I recall the performance aftermarket water pumps for a small block chevy were rated at 25- 30 gpm at 1500 rpm. (1500-1800 gph)
A stock one should be even less.
An automotive water pump intentionally has slip built into it because if the coolant moves too fast it does not allow adequate time for it to cool as it passes through the radiator.
Probably not worth the effort unless you just wanted to say you did it.
If you are after something cheap and inefficient there are lots of old slip on to the pto shaft pumps from pull type sprayers to be had for next to nothing.
In a bind I used one to fill a 1000 gal water tank.
When on sale for around $100 you can usually find a 2 inch pump complete with China engine ready to go.
They are rated close to 10 000 gph
I have bought several of them over the years and they run circles around the pto sprayer pumps.
Doesn't take long till you are accurately able to guess how low the tank or trough is then put in 1/4-1/2 cup of gas, fire it up, walk away and it will shut down real close to what you are after.

GeneMO · Feb 24, 2016

You would have better luck with a roller or centrifigal sprayer pump. A roller pump gives more pressure, but a centrifigal pump puts out more volume. Too bad you aren't closeby, I have several laying around.

Any long time farmer is gonna have some in his junk pile or in the barn. Back in the 60's and 70's everybody did their own spraying, but have since parked those rigs.

Gene

old · Feb 24, 2016

You would be better off spending $10 on a simple drill pump and hooking that to the PTO you would at least be able to do some real pumping with that where as the water pump off and engine would not move much is any water any place

retired farmer · Feb 24, 2016

It is hard on a tractor engine to run it on a pump. Years ago I got a roller type PTO sprayer pump and hooked it to a Briggs engine and pumped water out of a creek four hundred feet to water my sheep. Could have pumped it a lot farther.

MT RON · Feb 24, 2016

I'd give it a try,might just work fine.

Janicholson · Feb 24, 2016

very low pressure no suction no check valve must be submerged to work, circulation not pressure. Nope won't do well at all. If there is trash in the intake piston and valve pumps fail. Diaphram pumps work well with silty water and trash. Jim

gab · Feb 24, 2016

Don't see how, windshield wiper on a ducks butt would move more water than that.

4play · Feb 25, 2016

Automotive water pumps are centrifugal pumps and they can move a few thousand gallons per hour depending on RPM. They are not positive displacement pumps, they can move large volumes of water but they wont really push or pull fluid very well.

MarkB_MI · Feb 25, 2016

An automotive water pump operates at fairly low head pressure; it only has to overcome the resistance of the radiator to water flow. It also doesn't need to prime itself, since it's already submerged. I think you'll be disappointed with your results.

Better to use a trash pump. If you want to rig something up to run off your PTO, you can buy just the pump for a hundred bucks:
<a href="http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_water-pumps+semi-trash-trash-replacement-pump-heads">http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_water-pumps+semi-trash-trash-replacement-pump-heads</a>

Or a simpler solution is to buy a complete engine-driven pump, Northern Tool sells one for less than $500:
<a href="http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_water-pumps+engine-driven-pumps+engine-driven-semi-trash-pumps">http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_water-pumps+engine-driven-pumps+engine-driven-semi-trash-pumps</a>

Do you think it will work?

Todd in NC

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dr sportster

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dpendzic

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Blackhole49

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paul

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Determined

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GeneMO

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old

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retired farmer

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MT RON

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