I pumped the water tank dry!

tagurit

We use the sink a lot and I was definitely tired of not being able to access all the water in the tank. I had seen some good ideas on the board but came up with another that worked for me. Basically, I switched the overflow and pickup lines. I drilled out the threaded barb fitting for the vent/overflow bung to 5/8 inch and glued in a section of 1/2 inch CPVC, cut it to fit the total depth of the tank and then drilled several 1/8 inch holes at the bottom and filed them open to create a scalloped effect. I had to rasp out the top bung for the CPVC to fit. The only parts I had to buy were a plastic 1/2 in PEX 1/2 FIP fitting to switch out the right angle fitting on the intake side of the pump to make the run to the intake easier and a 3/8 inch check valve I put in the intake line, I have had some occasional priming issues in the past. I vaccuumed the tank through the fill neck and the top bung and cranked it up and tilted it to the left and rinsed the tank the best I could, I knew there were some plastic filings in there. I then leveled the T@G, filled the tank about half way, and turned on the tap. As it emptied it sputtered for 2-3 seconds, I turned it off and got down with my flashlight, could see no water in the tank where I would usually see and inch to an inch and a half! Took all day, I had to repair the nipple for the overflow which I snapped off getting the hose off but it works and I am stoked!

WilliamA

Thanks for the photo. Well done on the mod. Since I modded my rank outlet for a pickup it has been one of the best upgrades I don't even remember doing. I did my pickup in the outlet bung and the most difficult part was getting at the bung to open it up to 5/8". I ended up drilling a 1/2" hole in the cabinet face to get a rat tail file into.

It's 1 or two on my "best mods" list. It pumps my tank down to a few ounces of empty.
Here's a photo of my homemade pickup.

WilliamA

tagurit

Thanks, your mod was an inspiration for mine. Going down from the top wasn't much easier, I used a combination of a hole saw and rotary rasp in my DeWalt 12 volt drill. Still getting plastic shavings in the filter!

WilliamA

@tagurit said:
Thanks, your mod was an inspiration for mine. Going down from the top wasn't much easier, I used a combination of a hole saw and rotary rasp in my DeWalt 12 volt drill. Still getting plastic shavings in the filter!

Lol...Yeah, I still get shavings in the filter but just clean it occasionally and no problems. I have thought about taking off the fill hose and snaking a small vacuum hose in but seriously, it's not been a problem. The shavings are big enough that they couldn't clog the filter anyway. Still beats the snot out of the 2 a.m. Walk/stumble/crawl to the water hole with my 5 gal can!
WilliamA

LuckyJ

I did the William mod, but found a pipe that would just fir inside the outlet bung. I went with a nostril canula ( paramedic in me realized that on of the few size should work, and it did.

Realy happy with this. One of the best mod.

Sparrow

can anyone post a after pic for me please

tagurit

moved to WilliamA's new discussion