Date:         Fri, 30 Jun 1995 13:06:56 -0600 (MDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Stuart Hutton <hutton@poly.oscs.montana.edu>
Subject:      (sink) water pump ... I built one

Normally, a water pump which will produce a high pressure can cost upwards
of $70 or even higher.  I found these prices to be unacceptable and also
found my present water pump to be unacceptable (it was leaking brown gook
into the water system and not working).  Therefore, I resolved to find
a better and a cheaper solution, which I believe I have.

I went to Wall Mart and bought a drill pump head for about $5 and tested
it with my drill.  It produced a nice high pressure stream of water as
desired.  Next, I want to yard sales with the to-be Dr. Ying and always
told the people that I was looking for a DC motor.  Amazingly enough,
one person went back in his garage and pulled out 4 dc motors. I bought
2 for $5 each.  The motors look like they came off of electric fan motors,
and could probably be obtained from the junk yard.  The motor that I used
was about the size of a can of pop.

Anyway, I cut a piece of rubber tubing and placed it over the motor shaft
and placed the other end over the drill pump head shaft.  I clamped both
with hose clamps (with the weights at 180 degrees from each other).  I used
normal garden hose connections to connect to my water tank and the pump
head.

I hold the pump to the wood in the bottom of my cabinet right behind the 
fridge by using 2 corner braces and wood screws.  The pump motor is 
actually suspended above the floor in order to reduce noise.  This was
possible with my motor since it had 2 long screws through its body.

The wiring which I used to connect the pump with was the original wiring
which powered my other water pump.  It is a bit smaller in gauge and does
heat up a bit when I run my pump for long times, however it has not 
been so hot to smoke yet, so I always keep in mind not to run the pump for
long periods.

This simple pump, together with the hose connections, cost under $20.  We
are quite happy with the results and can now enjoy a high pressure stream
at our sink.  In addition, I have connected a Y connection and a garden
hose so that we can have a sprayer or, take note Martha, a hot shower
by heating the water on the the stove and then recirculating it in the large 
water tank.  With a single pump such as this, it is possible to park
beside a stream, lower a hose and fill your water tanks quickly.  

Perhaps the nicest thing about this system is this:  The part which is 
probably going to fail first will be the pump head.  With Wall Marts
popping up like rabbits, it is a pretty good bet that you can almost
always replace the head for about $5.  That was, in fact, the reason I
chose Wall Mart as the source of the pump head.  I wanted to be able
to always replace it without much money.

The system is not without problems, however.  I do occasionally get some
water dripping ... but overall, it works pretty good.
Stuart Hutton