Bilge pump that sucks through a long, thin tube

mrming

mrming

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I have a need to get a small amount of water out of some inaccessible places.

Ideally I'd like a handheld pump (manual or battery powered) which can suck water up through a long, thin tube and squirt it into a bucket. Imagine a tube about the size of those used in home brewing or wine making.

Does such a thing exist, or if not could it be cobbled together somehow?
 
mrming said:
I have a need to get a small amount of water out of some inaccessible places.

Ideally I'd like a handheld pump (manual or battery powered) which can suck water up through a long, thin tube and squirt it into a bucket. Imagine a tube about the size of those used in home brewing or wine making.

Does such a thing exist, or if not could it be cobbled together somehow?
Click to expand...

The problem with long thin tubes is avoiding collapse ... the length means you need a fair suction to drive the fluid up and the thinness means you don't have much wall thickness to withstand it. What about a sump pump? I have one somewhere, and it has a fairly stiff nylon (?) inlet pipe. Only a metre or so long, but if you could find a supplier you could make a longer one.

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I have one of those. Or at least something that looks identical. The quality is terrible, it worked for about 3 minutes before I decided the Pela was a better idea. When I next tried it, it did nothing.
It's been thrown in the 'projects' box, when I stumble across the right bits of metal for free, it will give me something to do on a lathe.
For less money, you can get a big syringe intended for getting oil out of gearboxes. Machine Mart?
I sometimes use a biggish medical syringe for such things.
Or I use a wet vac. Athough I try to avoid getting anything too smelly or oily into that.
HTH.
 
Go to your local car breakers and buy a windscreen washer pump, with a bit of electrickery, a bit of hose and Bob is your father's brother.
 
A Pela works well - on my boat there is one bilge area under the shower tray that is only accessible with a long tube to extract water, or a long wire and magnet and a lot of patience to extract any tools that roll in there.
 
If it's only a small amount of water, why not just use a sponge? Or if you can't reach the cavity, a floor mop? Then squeeze into a bucket, repeat as necessary until job done. If you use a tube of any kind, there will be a small amount of water left in there, which you will have to sponge up anyway.
 
I drilled a 7mm diam hole in the floor right above the water collection point so that the oil extractor pipe goes dead vertical. If one wanted to one could put a machine screw in the hole to make it look like a fixing but I hardly notice it.
I use the oil pump that has the 5 litre collector so that the water gets collected & can be discharged easily.

For larger quantities but where the large diameter hoses are too big I have a hoselock connector in the shower pump line & can disconnect the shower & easily snap connect a 10 ft length of half inch hose. I use this to hoover up excess water anywhere in the boat such as under the engine or large spillages etc. & places where I have difficulty reaching & where water is not deep enough to switch the electric pump in my shallow bilge
 
Have you access for a straight tube? I have a pump which is a metre or so of straight plastic tube (maybe 10 or 12mm I.D.) with a concertina type pump on the top and an outlet hose. I think mine was by SL but I've seen others similar. I suspect it was designed to set up a syphon but it pumps OK, if not at a massive rate.

Google 'syphon pump' and you'll find a selection from <£3.
 
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I had the same problem on my W25. Those oil extracter pumps shown above block up with any carp that finds its way in. In the end I laid a copper pipe into the bilge (the microbore heating stuff) and converted a conventional manual bilge pump into a giant syringe with a sort hose which pushed over the copper pipe. The reason I wanted a syringe was that it can blow as well as suck and this is great for clearing any blockages in the pipe.
The syringe was stored in a cockpit locker and could be used wherever spillage found its way into awkward places
The syringe went with the boat and on the new one I use an old sports sock on the end of one of those coiled metal flexible grabber things. This works well.
 
I have a MAB - wooden, ribs and frames and t'ings. So I have over 40 years vast experience getting rid of every drop of water at the end of the season. Lessons learnt:

1. I make up a windscreen washer pump in a small little wooden tray with a small but powerful battery - one of those fire alarm batteries. It is effective but not particular fast. Defect in design - first a small pliant plastic tube that is firm enough to point at - ie get to the water - will get a 'set' in storage and sodding well won't get straight at the beginning of use. If the plastic is pliant so soft it doesn't get a 'set', two hands are necessary - one to hold where you are wanting to suck and where to squirt. Second and most defective defect - grud. That's MAB's for you. There will bits of debris and the small plastic diameter tube that fits a windscreen washer pump will quickly block the inlet. Now you could try that little filter thingy that are in the bottom of the car washer bottles at the end of the pipe. My expereince is that will collectively clog. Not the best.

2. Pela. Very wizzo for the first season. Second season - the sodding Pela won't work cos it has a metal thingy in the plastic pipe to give it something or other and cos it sucked up salt water - it rusted! Not the best.

3. Then I found a garden version of the Pela - cheaper but the sodding plastic pipe was delivered in a coil and it won't every uncoil unless held. It has no metal insert like the Pela so it won't rust but it needs to be held. It doesn't also stop sucking like the Pela does which can mean that it will overflow. Now this may or may not be inconvenience as my experience that the overflow will land on my lap. How to keep the sodding floppy pipe straight? Have a suitable length of bamboo (to reach into the bottom of the bilge such has under the cockpit floor) and attach the sodding floppy pipe with plastic zippoes. Perfick. It is much cheaper than the Pela - now the make? It's in the garage, I'll go and have a look.
 
I have found the brass pumps very sensitive as to the liquid they are used for. Having used mine several times for oil, I then used it for diesel, which seemed to destroy the piston seal. I can imagine that using a thin brass body for seawater might limit its life to a major extent. A similar pump made in plastic would be OK but personally I would use a Pela, which has no issues at all with any liquid you wish to put in it. A very versatile bit of kit for oil, fuel, diesel bug, bilge-water, you name it.
 
tillergirl said:
There you are for under £15

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Woodside-Extractor-Syphon-Transfer-Engine/dp/B00JRUG01M
Click to expand...

Right I've ordered this and some extra tube - hopefully it will work out.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. It's a cavity in between the hull and liner - normally accessible through some hatches near the keel but my boat is being stored on a slight slope this year and the water has run off towards the stern. Absolutely no chance of getting anything other than a slim tube down there.
 
I have used an oil sump pump like those illustrated very successfully for oily bilge water trapped under an engine, done it for years and still works. I replaced the bendy inlet hose with some alloy pipe I found in B&Q so I could "point" at the puddle from afar, and even that has lasted although it is a bit corroded now. I should have paid more and bought brass but didn't think it would last as long as it has anyway.
 
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