Scary Water Pump

[Allen Windhorn]

Liberia?

It's "an" official language in India. There are more English-speaking people in India than in the U.S. and Canada combined (I hear).

Allen

[John Laird]

Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, The Philippines, South Africa, Singapore, The Gambia. "An", not "The", I suspect in some cases.

[N. Thornton]

..... Too late! .....

The experiment has been done. The vac cleaner (unmodified) was plugged into the mains (240v), and the pipe stuck in the water tank. This is not a wet n dry vac!

It pumped the entire contents of the 1000 gallon tank out sucesfully. The water went up the inlet pipe, thru the impellor, directly thru the motor running on 240v mains, and out the back end. And it did the lot.

And it still works now. No series limiting resistance, no reduced voltage, nothing.

And now I'm gonna confess something :) It had already been done before I started this thread. I wouldn't have claimed it could be done otherwise :) I didnt do it, its a barking idea, someone else did it, and the vac still works fine afterwards.

You were so convinced it wouldn't work. You were convinced, even tho you hadn't done the experiment and could find no convincing theoretical reason that would stop it. You were also convinced it was dangerous: it is if you just plug it in, tho with proper earth bonding to case, water outlet and inlet, it can be made safe. It just operates as an electrode heater, which is standard industrial kit.

This all tells me something about people, emotions, assumptions, logic, and showmanship.

Regards, NT

PS dont try this at home, ever.

[Mark Zenier]

aspirator

Ok, stick the knife in and twist....

Mark Zenier [e-mail] Washington State resident

[Michael]

Bullshit, I'm gonna try it at home. How clean was the water? How good was your power source? No way it didn't blow a standard 15A fuse, was it done at a farm running from a weak diesel generator 2km away hooked up with bell wire?

[geoff]

In message , Michael writes

Me too, I never said it wouldn't work, couldn't be done etc ... If it can satisfy a perv, surely it can suck a pond dry

Anyone got an old tube vacuum cleaner they don't want?

[MarkM]

Add in a float valve cutoff to stop water going in the motor when the level goes too high, and you've got a Vax/Aquavac type wet & dry vacuum, so yes, this does work.

[anthony wooldridge]

I know it wouldn't work here, and I live on a farm too! My RCD's are checked regularly and wouldn't allow such abuse. Current from either live or neutral must return to each other and not earth. Even with good earth bonding, the earth has significant resistance (more so this dry year), and dangerous voltages can be established between the earth point and where the operator is standing. Did he put a finger in the water to check? (PS do not try this at home!) Any industrial system would be double insulated from real earth. When was his wiring last checked?

Regards Anthony

[Keith R. Williams]

I caught the previous poster's mispeled words, but didn't make the connection to yours. Besides...

I was there once. I'm happy to say it was about 30 years ago and I haven't had the need to go back. I *certainly* don't have the want.

[Keith R. Williams]

In case you hadn't noticed, English is not the official language of the US either. Unfortunately.

[N. Thornton]

not a clever idea. Do it wrong and it could kill you. It really _is_ a stupid thing to do. Most vacs are 2 core, in which case the water will spew out live. eevn on a 3 core machine it may come out live, depending on construction details.

1000 gallons of rainwater off the roof.

240v mains, straight off the grid

correct, since we dont use 15A fuses anywhere in such circuits

no, 240v at the vac.

funny you should ask that :)

Who knows. No RCD anyway.

Don't try this at home, seriously.

Regards, NT

[geoff]

) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 21:59:40

In message , Mark Zenier writes

Knife? This is a DIY group - SDS drill shirly

[Jeff]

Ace, hands down!