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I got a water pump yesterday to pump water out of my pond and i cant get the darn thing to run. the engine runs fine. i filled up the bell housing full of water and then the hose and when i lay it down in the water it just wont take off and start pumping water. what am i doing wrong? should the engine be on full speed when i put the hose in the water?
I can only assume that you are not correctly priming it with water. Start out with the hose in the water and add water for priming. I've always started them on low speed. Your pump might be somehow different. Position the pump at the side of the pond and make sure it is level. If you have the pond high on the sides of the pond, it can't start lifting. Check to see if the impeller is actually turning by pulling on the rope with the impeller exposed. BTW, run the motor on idle when pumping. I've thrown rods in them by running them on high speed. If all else fails, I generally, after the fact, go back and read the instructions.
Move the pump as close to the water height as practical. Raise the end of pickup hose to the prime fill hole and completely fill with water. Cover the end of the pickup tube with something that won't get sucked in and start the motor while removing the hose cover. Might take a couple of tries. You might also run the outlet back into the pond until it gets going good, you'll get a little siphon help this way.
I have to fill the housing with water on ours here at work then hold my hand over the outlet side causing a back pressure until it picks up the water, Ours has pumps several thousand gallons of rocky muddy water and I think has worn abit. One of the other contractors that we use for watermain repairs has one that he just throws in the hole and fires it up. it picks up and goes in about a minutes time. I always have best luck wide open throttle when starting the flow and leave it there until the pumps exceeds the flow out of the break then I throttle it back so that it doesnt loose suction.
Make sure that you don't have any air leaks at any of your connections. I have found that if the system sucks any air the pump will not prime. Also, have you given it enough time? My 4inch 8hp pump takes 3-4 minutes at full throttle to overcome a 18ft suction head. I don't know what kind of pump DD1 or others have, but my Honda pump is designed to run at full throttle. The throttle mechanism has a governor which prevents too high engine RPM. It works really well and will pump about 400 gal/min.
Lifting water less than 10 feet should be a piece of cake. As Eddie said, check your pickup hose and connection for leaks, and also check any plugs in the pump housing for leaks. Use teflon tape on the plugs if in doubt. Even a tiny leak will prevent self priming. Lifting water greater than 10 feet can be a challenge with a centrifugal pump, and it may require priming. Be careful about running the pump a long time without water pumping. The seals rely on water running through the pump housing to keep them cool. All pumps are designed to run at maximum RPM, but I find that running ~50% throttle is most efficient. Running full throttle uses ~200% more fuel and pumps only ~20% more water.
The ones I have blown up have been Briggs and Stratton. Never again.
My owners manual says to set it at full throttle once it starts. (I have a honda). My starting procedure is to pull the choke out on a cold engine, set the manual throttle at 1/3rd of max, once it starts up and is steady, push the choke in and pull the throttle to max. And like Luskfan says there is a delay as the pump builds up pressure. Also like Luskfan says if you have any air leaks that will be suboptimum. Make sure you use teflon tape on all your connections. Is this a new pump or used? If it is new you should have an owner's manual. Stupid question but you are using the rigid hose for intake and the flexible for out take right? And you aren't clogging your intake end with anything are you? I have my intake which has a screen on the end inside a five gallon bucket to keep it from sucking in too much debris.
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