Former VWDieselParts.com Forum

Are there any cheap electric pumps I can use for pumping WVO, or am I going to be stuck with an expensive fuel transfer pump? Any feedback will be appreciated.

If I added up the money I've spent on cheap used pumps on Ebay I pobably could've bought a good one. I may just pony up a couple of hundred and get a good pump and be done with the trying to save money route. I have a line on a used 2" pump a guy used as back up bilge pump on his sail boat. So I may look at that first. This is one of these subjects that are like what oil, tires, filters are best, that go on forever.

I don't care about what pumps are best, I just have no idea what pumps will work... Will a water pump move the grease? If so, will it die minutes after using it? I keep reading people's sites talking about buying a "cheap" pump, then never mention what kind it is and every tool site I go to for an oil or a diesel transfer pump are over $100. Kinda frustrating for a noob.

I know nothing about pumps. Except that they move liquid from here to there.

Go to Mcmaster.com besides selling things they also explain what they are selling, differences and what type of product is best for what purpose. I think gear pumps are best for heavy oil or grease but they tend to be more expensive, I like diaphragm pumps myself, but I try not having to deal with grease and stick to lighter oil.

Some people use vacuum and air pressure to move vegetable oil.
I use a 12 volt air compressor to pressurize my tank and push oil through my prefilters.
Have heard of people filling a tank with vacuum, sticking the tube in the oil and sucking it into the storage tank.
Benefits being the pump never touches the oil and never needs cleaned.

Check out northertool.com they have a great transfer pump 12 volt thats 79.00 and it works great self primimng

A good way to do it is use a frig compressor to pump out a rigged tank. Then just throw the hose in the grease pit and it will sucker up. That way your pump doesn't touch the stuff. A good idea. I've worked with pumps for 25 years. If cost wasn't a factor a progessive cavity pump would be the best for this aplication. Cost being the big factor hear. I toyed with the idea of using a water hose drill pump. This is a $10 idem but you need a cordless drill or some other 12 volt motor ( maybe a wiper motor or something). Just some thoughts I have not tryed it.

http://www.toolamerica.net/Shop/Control ... 0/rid/4038

Tool America

$22 Pump
$13 shipping
110Volt Pump

The pump is for water-but I have been using it for grease for a month with no problems.

It will be interesting to see how long the seal will run leak free. Since its a fresh water pump it likely has a buna-n and ceramic mechanical seal. The grease seems to eat rubber fuel lines which is simmilar material. Theirs pumps that are pumping vegg oil right now bottling for grocier stores. So their probably is a veggy compatible seal out their. The question is will it fit in your pump if your seal goes and will it cost more than the pump.

Yeah. Keep us posted.

Petec... I bought that same pump(well... same price, color & design, anyway) through Harbor freight , to do cooling system flushes without having to run engines in the shop. It kinda works, but is not real impressive; wouldn't even take a prime to drain a washing machine tank.

J.R.

If you have a little time and can weld, just grab an oil pump out of a 60 degree chevy V6 engine. You can enlarge the inlet and outlet to 3/4" and hook it up to a cordless drill or electric motor. Or adapt any engine oil pump. They will work fine. Think of the thick oil they pump in the dead cold of winter.

I used an electric fuel transfer pump first, but it had trouble and the hose was a pain to wrangle.
I'm saving up for a semi trash pump, but in the mean time I've been using a cheap hand crank barrel pump ( I think I paid $8 at the locak cheap tool place ) with a clamp to hold it to the side of the dumpster.
I use a seperate pump for the clean oil going into the car.
The hand pump works faster than the electric one did.

With pumps "you will get what you paid for". I have used a portable 12v pump (I will not recommend a specific Brand) which I hook to a truck battery to pump used oil from "sources".
You can find the pumps at various "mail order warehouses" for $125-$150 that will do a pretty good job at 5 to 10 gallons a minute flow. And 10 minutes to empty a 55 gallon drum is actually pretty good. (and of course time flies when your having "fun") But beware that the viscosity of veg oil can get pretty heavy depending on weather temperatures and contamination in the oil supply. Most of these "little" pumps will come stock with a 10 to 15 amp fuse in them and you will probably blow them in short order pumping a heavy viscous fluid on a cold day. But the fuses are regular automotive fuses and are easily replaceable. The real trick is to put in a bigger fuse (25-30 amp will get the job done). No- the pump is not "technically" designed for it. So you can kiss your warrenty goodbye. But in my experience it will keep working pretty reliably for pumping cycles under 20 minutes. And you can pump a lot of oil in 20 minutes.
The pump will of course get "hotter" than normal but probably (you can cross your fingers) will not fail. Also its very important not to pump to much "crap" through the pump if you can help it. Usually your "fuel source" has had a little time to settle and the majority of junk falls to the bottom. When you pump, take care to pump from the top down with the input of your hose just under the surface. Dont stick it down so far you are in the heavy junk because you will overload the poor little pump eventually. Dont get greedy!

I have used two old engine block pumps both from small block V8 ford engines, I like these because the shaft that drives then (the one from the distributer to pump) doesn't fall out as easy as the chevy one's. I use one of these to retrive waste oil from the barrels and one to pump biodiesel from my storage tank. The pump will empty a 55 gallon drum in about ten minutes or less using a cordless drill to run it. One down fall of these is they will leak a tiny bit of oil as you pump, Just situate the pump over your barrel and allow the drip to fall back in. you can tap the pump out to 1/4 in with a tap and fit a pipe adapter or fabricate a 3/4 inch pipe adapter on to it. I got both of mine from a junk yard for 5 us dollars, get the drive shaft while you are there.,one last benefit of these are they are sef priming. Dave