Low cost water pumps for cooling- In Australia

[nimrod77]

Anyone in Aust got a suggestion for a low cost (read sub $30) water pump for running my condensor??
Cheers,
Nimrod

[Ethan]

Automotive windscreen squirter pump.

[Arnie_sla]

Try Kmart for pond pump

[linearone]

home depot has a beckett 385 gph 5/8" outlet with regulator pond pump for $39 us. I bought it last night.

[DBM]

Dont know about Ausieland but I bought mine at a boating supply store. I'ts a bilge pump for use on larger boats. Sometimes after these pumps have been on a boat for several years the boat yards replace them because they are old and may fail at the wrong time. They will sometimes give these to you.

[Longhairedcountryboy]

Im using a little giant pump from a tile wet saw. I don't know the specs right off hand. It was about $30 at the local hardware store / tool repair shop. I haven't pumped it through a coil yet, but it works fine for my jacketed condenser.

[paradoxx]

http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/category2_1.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Give that a try. I keep fish and played with a few of them,

Just keep the 'head hight' under control,

[stillkickin]

I got an aquarium pump from eBay (A shop in queensland I think) for around the $30 mark, which works just fine in my reflux jacket condenser (Keeps the condenser room temperature or so throughout the whole process)

[muckanic]

home depot has a beckett 385 gph 5/8" outlet with regulator pond pump for $39 us. I bought it last night.

And that flow-rate is only about 40 times higher than any average distiller needs. As has already been mentioned, head-height is the crucial measure. Think of it like this: you could in principle have a water reservoir at the top, with that water dropping by gravity through a condenser, then through its own heat exchanger, and thence into a bottom reservoir. The pump has to move water from the base of the bottom reservoir to the top of the top reservoir. The required head height is therefore top reservoir height + heat exchanger height + bottom reservoir height, which is a minimum of 2m and more like 3m to be comfortable.

People can and do cut corners by just having a single (bottom) reservoir and no heat exchanger, but then you need a whopping big reservoir, and may have to resort to using ice-blocks for cooling when the ambient temperature is high.

Anyone got any comments on the merits of submersible vs non-submersible pumps? It seems to me that the submersibles more often do what we want, ie, provide a modest flow-rate but a decent head-height.

[paradoxx]

I think you will find that most pumps are very simular in design, Most even take the same impeller..
The sub pump i have can be run internally or externally (but only for a short time)

the big orgasm running it internally is the water is taking the heat out of it.. They are quiet and a little leak isnt going too cause drama's!!

Ive got a 2400lph boy thats been pumping a tad over 6ft head for about 6 months, Never been turned off! and its still trooping. I'm going too retire it too a still coolant pump and get a 6000lph pump for the fishtank!.