Honda WX pump question

[Woodsrover]

I use a Honda WX10 pump to push maple sap ~350 linear feet and a rise in elevation of probably 35 feet up to my sugarshack. I use 1" black poly water pipe for the line.

It takes about 45 minutes to pump 550 gallons up to the shack, or about 12 gals/minute actual pump time.

Thinking about getting a WX15 pump to speed things up.

The WX10 is rated at 32 gals/minute.
The WX15 is rated at 74 gals/minute.

If I step up to the WX15 but use the same 1" poly will I get any faster results or do I need to get 1.5" pipe to make it worth while?
If I go to 1.5" line should I expect an actual 24 gals/minute pump time?

[30AcreWoods]

Rover,

Just offering a thought here: I would approach this problem from the other way around. With all of the other information you've provided above, research the pump curves (sometimes called "efficiency" curves) and match a pump to your need. There are a ton of videos on youtube and such that explain how to read the curves. There are also discussions about the head distance you are trying to raise the liquid, and the impacts of diameter and length of pipe.

[BAP]

You consider putting a shallow well water pump on the end at your sugar house if you have electric to speed things up. If you are pushing with the gas pump and pulling with the electric pump, it should speed up the transfer because the electric pump will keep the head pressure down on the gas pump. How much, I don’t know but shallow well pumps are cheaper to buy than a new WX15 and new 1.5” pipe.

[maple flats]

Keep the WX 10 but use a 1.5" pump line, the larger line will move the sap a lot faster.

[wmick]

Keep the WX 10 but use a 1.5" pump line, the larger line will move the sap a lot faster.

agreed - The friction losses in a 1.5" pipe are about 11% of a 1" pipe... Will make a huge difference.

[mountainvan]

I pump sap up hill to my truck with a 2" pacer pump and three 1" lines hooked to manifolds that I made. Quick couples on all the ends makes for easy assembly at the pump and truck. I can drive 1/2 mile to and from the tanks and fill the 300 gal tank in 15 minutes.

[wnybassman]

Keep the WX 10 but use a 1.5" pump line, the larger line will move the sap a lot faster.

I use a WX10 to pump through 330 feet of pipe with an elevation of roughly 75 feet. I went with 3/4" pipe for one reason, I wanted to limit what came back to the tank when I finished. Even with the 3/4" pipe, 9.5 gallons comes back.

[VT_K9]

We have a WH15 pumper to pump sap through 750' of 1 1/2" poly with a rise of about 65'. We move 23-25 gallons per minute. There is about 75 gallons of sap left in the line when the tank is empty. We either drain it back to the tank or into a cube to bring up to the sugarhouse.

When pumping alone, when we had a 230 gallon tank at the sugarhouse, we started the pump and let it settle in to running. Then we ran the pump for 9 minutes and 30 seconds. This would just about fill the tank to the brim, maybe an inch to spare.

We used the Honda pump select feature on their website and found it to be reasonable accurate. We tried several variations of pump, suction, and output line size. Check it out.

Mike

[springhillsmaple]

In my experience, you will be much better off spending the money on larger pipe instead of a larger pump. I need to do this myself, but we pump through 3000 feet of 1" pipe and upgrading that much pipe is pretty costly.

[maple flats]

Using a WX15 years ago I ran 900+' from the tank to the haul tank at the road with a total drop in elevation of 15'. The year I put it in I ran out of 1.5" pipe before I got to the road, so I coupled about 400' of 1" pipe in the middle. That year it took me 45 minutes to pump 280 gal of sap. By year 2 I had changed the section of 1" to 1.5" and it then took me 16 minutes to pump 280 gal, and that year I also hauled a second tank in a trailer which when full to the tip top also held 280 gal. It then took 31 minutes to pump 560 gal, start to finish, same pump. Even with gravity helping it made that much difference. Those 280 gal numbers are what I guess an 275 IBC tote when filled to the very top, only a guess. By the way, my couplings were all insert SS fittings, which leave no lip to even slightly affect the flow.