Hand Powered Transfer Pump?

[motowbrowne]

Alright, I'm looking for something specific here, and I would have thought it would be pretty simple to find, but apparently I was wrong. Maybe there is a simpler solution. We have a 400 gallon holding tank in the new shack we built this year and need to get the sap up to a feed tank that we don't have quite yet, but I think it should be right around 100 gallons. I want to find a rotary style hand crank pump that can do the job. Basically what I want is like the pumps you see in the back of diesel trucks sometimes; often they are electric, but sometimes hand-cranked. I don't want a lever style, because it would be nice to rig it up to a 18v cordless drill someday (no power to run the pump anywhere near us). Anyone got any ideas? I figure I can't just use a new diesel pump because it's hardly food grade, but what else is there? How do you guys without power transfer to the feed tank? If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks,
Ryan

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

http://www.harborfreight.com/heavy-duty-drill-powered-pump-98384.html

i have this pump. it is amazing.

[markct]

get a guzzler brand hand diaphram pump, they are whats used on the filter presses and run about 70 bucks and they have a white food grade version that would work great, but not rotary but check them out

[markct]

just had another thought, what about a 12 volt rv water pump, or a bilge pump, or backup sump pump thats 12v

[motowbrowne]

Both of those first ideas look great. I also thought about the 12v pump idea and just carry a battery out every day or two. I wouldn't mind not being able to hook it up to the drill if I didn't have to stand around all day pumping, and at 15GPM, the diapham pump looks pretty good. Neither one of those pumps say "food grade" explicitly, is that a problem?

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

I wouldnt say so. The cold sap should not do anything to the plastic. the only thing that worries me is when you pump hot things through plastic.

[stoweski]

I'm going with an Earthquake 2 cycle water pump. 35 gal/min! Drain cap in the bottom to let out the sap so it doesn't freeze inside. $149 online. Not a bad deal.

I used to run an electric pump from HF. Problem is it's cast iron. Even though I drained it and flushed it out (and opened it up in the summer to keep it dry) it still rusted like crazy. I believe it was $39. It worked well but the rust was getting to me.

[markct]

the guzzler pump thats white is fda approved for food and potable water contact, so same as food grade

[SeanD]

http://www.harborfreight.com/heavy-duty-drill-powered-pump-98384.html

i have this pump. it is amazing.

I've read some negative reviews and posts about drill pumps. How do you use yours? Do you have to prime it first?

Sean

[Cranberry Hill Farm]

I checked these out on-line. Do you think they are strong enough to push (or pull) sap through an in-line filter?

[Clarkfield Farms]

Check out "Gusher" hand pumps, I think they're made by Whale, Northern Tool carries one for about $120 ("Titan") online and about $8 s/h, I think they're on eBay as well. There's another Gusher model, "Urchin," goes for $29 + $10 s/h, the NT one claims 1600 + gph and the Urchin claims 1320 gph. I'm curious if these would be satisfactory?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GUSHER-URCHIN-HAND-BOAT-BILGE-PUMP-HAND-WATER-PUMP-/270647352201?pt=BI_Pumps&hash=item3f03d6db89
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Whale-Gusher-Titan-Hand-Diaphragm-Pump-ND4418-/280817413643?pt=BI_Pumps&hash=item416205ae0b