What is the best way to make up a quick and dirty portable pump?

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

My son gave me an oldish ride-on just a few weeks ago. I took it out yesterday for the first time. I was driving it back into the shed and went to switch off the engine but no ignition key: it had fallen out somewhere! (I managed to chuck it out of gear before there was too much drama)

Reading other posts though I am dead keen to check with the local rubish tip/ recycle depot to see if they have any wet/dry vacuum cleaners. They would be ideal because you cannot suck a bilge completely dry with a pump of any sort.

Even with a wet and dry vacuum you still need to finish it off with your trusty sponge and bucket.
You seem quite lucky over there being able to pick through and remove items from waste facilities. It's not allowed in Ireland for the reason that persons on the lower end of the earinngs (benefits?) scale would attempt to make a living out of it

 

[Moodysailor]

PELA vacuum pump for me for most liquids & oils, does my annual oil changes, sucks out bilges & lockers. No impeller or diaphragm to break down from oils/diesel, and fully portable as doesn't need power.
Downside is it's bigger than a pump to store, but as you would need a pump+waste container anyway, it's probably about the same.

For topping up batteries & petrol, I use petrol line syphon bulbs (a seperate one for each). They are cheap, compact & reliable.

 

[pyrojames]

The combination of quick and dirty, petrol, and electric lead me not to respond to the this OP. I've done several acident investigations resulting from quick and dirty pumping of petrol mixtures. Static in one case, a hot surface in another.

Perhaps the simplest safe way to pump small volumes of petrol is a hand pump used oil extractor.

Likewise. I had a mechanic blow himself up using a portable electric pump to pump out the petrol that escaped from the tank, after he dismantled the engine and hadn't capped the fuel feed.

 

[Norman_E]

Some years ago I bought a pump like this 12V 130PSI 6L/Min High Pressure Diaphragm Self Priming Water Pump Caravan Wash | eBay and mounted it on a piece of plywood with some screwed on blocks so that it fitted over a bucket with the output tube though a hole in the plywood to keep it directed into the bucket and a metre of input tube so that water could be sucked out of any compartment including getting water from melted ice blocks out of the fridge. It proved reliable and very useful . I only used it for water.

 

[William_H]

Even with a wet and dry vacuum you still need to finish it off with your trusty sponge and bucket.
You seem quite lucky over there being able to pick through and remove items from waste facilities. It's not allowed in Ireland for the reason that persons on the lower end of the earinngs (benefits?) scale would attempt to make a living out of it

Actually a wet and dry does very well. You do not need to actually get the hose into the water as the draught of air across the water and the low air pressure encourage evaporation of the water. Perhaps better start with sponge and bucket then finish with wet and dry vac. ol'will

 

[coopec]

Even with a wet and dry vacuum you still need to finish it off with your trusty sponge and bucket.
You seem quite lucky over there being able to pick through and remove items from waste facilities. It's not allowed in Ireland for the reason that persons on the lower end of the earinngs (benefits?) scale would attempt to make a living out of it

I've got myself a wet and dry vacuum cleaner for $15. It works beyond my wildest dreams sucking a 2L ice-cream container of water dry in about 2 seconds.

I had a choice of three - a large one (which I told him I didn't want) and a VAX and Ozito. I took the OZito because it had a hose already attached.

PS If anyone wanted to set up a workshop really cheaply you could as he has all sorts of electrical tools and hand tool. On top of that he has an assortment of household electrical goods including TV monitors, CD players, TVs....

 

[coopec]

The OZito wet dry vacuum is only $65 anyway at Bunnings Hardware Chain