Electric Water Pumps

[ASV]

Portable Transfer Pump — 12 Volt, 3/8in., Model# 12VDCW | 12 Volt Pumps | Northern Tool + Equipment


think this will work?

[Christ]

Current draw is overly high... and it would probably flow way too much water, way too fast.

Flowing too fast will not allow the water to pick up the heat properly, and will not allow it to cool properly in the radiator. Thus, hotspots and overheating become imminent.

EDIT - disregard the high-flow remark, forgot to xlate GPH into GPM.

Current draw is still too high though.

[Intrigued]

Originally Posted by ASV

Portable Transfer Pump — 12 Volt, 3/8in., Model# 12VDCW | 12 Volt Pumps | Northern Tool + Equipment

think this will work?

Huh. 300 GPH = 5 gallons/minute. Look at what flows are expected for v-8 chevy hotrods: Electric Water Pumps: Stewart Components, Inc. 38 to 55 gallons/minute seems out of range for most cars. 5 gpm is an extra-good heater core flow.

I looked at the reviews of that particular pump, and wouldn't recommend it. From just what experience I have had with pool pumps, impeller duty cycle is the secret. The motors can go full-time, but most of the impellers are trash... of course, the only pool pumps I ever messed with were el-cheapos...

[guudasitgets]

I like the windshield wiper motor running a tooth belt, the same race suplier has tooth belt pullys for the race car, (we don't use v-belts or serpentine) all I need is a 12 volt ice-cube relay and the temp sensor for the fan wired to the pump. From what the guys told me they use a bigger expansion tank, most populars ones are from Moon.

[Coyote X]

The system I had planned for my metro and never really got farther than see what kind of power output I got out of a wiper motor taken off a junk car. I was just going to use the wiper motor with a belt and sprockets driving the water pump. Using one of those adjustable radiator thermostats that has the probe on the long copper tube so I could run it through the water neck and into the block a good ways. With no thermostat and just using the probe set at something like 150 degrees seemed like it would work good enough.

But thinking about it it would be pretty easy to do a pwm output from an arduino or just a standard microcontroller for those comfortable with them to read the temperature and vary the speed from very slow to full speed. A standard temperature sensor could be wired in series with a resistor and fed 5V so the analog input on the controller could use it to determine the pwm output. Probably take like 5 minutes to write a program to do it. Instead of a mosfet and assorted wiring mess use a IPS6021 (pdf link) so it is a 1 wire affair to control a 12V motor with logic level. The other neat thing would be to use 2 outputs and also control the fan speed based on how much power is needed so it takes less power to operate most of the time as well. The IPS6021 has a diagnostic pin output so if there was a problem with either the water pump motor or fan it could alert you with an indicator on the dashboard.

[Coyote X]

To add to my last post If you wanted to get fancy add a 1500W heater to the heater hose and have the microcontroller monitor for when it is plugged in and have it slowly circulate the water while the block heater is working.

If you really wanted to go nuts it could also have a 3rd output to turn on the heater blower while the block heater is plugged in

[guudasitgets]

The race car pump controller I believe is like a DC drive. For $276.00 it outa be. I think if I just use 2 ice cube relays one for high speed and one for low with a resistor I should be good to go. Problem I see is that on trying to copy the REAL controllers operation, I think it throttles down to an idle so some water is being moved at all times. Sombody made a very valid point when they brought up hot spots, most likely source would be from around the exhaust ports. Like I said ealier the guys that had them on race cars suggested a larger or add on expansion tank. I think I'll take the path of the wiper motor idea. Next week I'll put the engine heater in there and see what kind of room i have to mount a motor. Heck just for grins I could just try a plain old toggle switch just to see what I need.

[Intrigued]

Keep us updated on how all that works. Like #5 on the movie Short Circuit, we need input! :-)

[Intrigued]

Originally Posted by Intrigued

v-8 chevy hotrod pumps: Electric Water Pumps: Stewart Components, Inc. 38 to 55 gallons/minute seems out of range for most cars...

Moroso 63585 - Moroso Billet Aluminum OEM Mount Electric Water Pumps - summitracing.com

I did some more checking: this pump boasts a flow rate of 30-37 gpm, and says it is "up to 21% more" higher flow rate than competitors. I didn't trust my memory on OEM flow rates, but it would seem that 25 gpm would be great for a flow rate for most street v-8s, so 20 ought to be good for a smaller engine.

Since an OEM setup can handle that with the thermostat closed, just see what speed you need to turn the pump to make the needed flow. Using controllers/relays for multiple speeds may very well just be unneeded complications, considering the amp rates that are being discussed. (Guud, your situation is a little different, there... ) A 10 amp constant pull on a battery, even with an unbelted alternator, won't drag down a battery too quickly. Just thinking out loud of personal possibilities on my car, with a couple of deep-cycle batteries, I would think I could make it the 57 miles to the University and back with no problem.

This Summit pump boasts a 7 amp rate. Does anybody know how many amps a wiper motor pulls? Never having done a load test on one, just from the size of the wires I bet they pull more than 7...

[Christ]

I believe my Civic has a 15A fuse on the wiper circuit, and it doesn't have an intermittent wiper feature, if that makes a diff., only low/high.

EDIT - I know this doesn't mean it uses 15A, it just means it's protected up to 15A.. but there's got to be a reason it's 15A and not 10A, right?