Manual Feed Water Pump Opinions

[mtnman]

I’m gathering parts to complete my boat and I need a manual feed water pump. My primary feed water will be through a steam injector.
I have this brass pump that I believe came from a large gasoline marine engine, a cooling water pump. Maybe something military as it was painted OD green. I want to convert it to a manual feed water pump for my boiler. I can build a base to bolt it to and pipe the water from. The base will also give me a pivot point for a pump handle. The pump has two check valves built in, one on each side. This pump has a packing gland with 4 wraps of packing. It has a 1” piston and a 1.5” stroke. At this time the piston is hollow. Do you see any reason this won’t work?

[mcandrew1894]

How big is your boiler? I mean how much water does it hold?

That pump is kinda small....and will seem smaller if your trying to fill the big boiler in a hurry......

Mine I believe is 1.625 bore x 3" stroke.....and I have 2 1/2 gallons of water.

It was sold to me by Bechmann....

Wish he used SS or bronze for the pump ram.....rusts too much.

Dave

[mtnman]

How big is your boiler? I mean how much water does it hold?

That pump is kinda small....and will seem smaller if your trying to fill the big boiler in a hurry......

Mine I believe is 1.625 bore x 3" stroke.....and I have 2 1/2 gallons of water.

It was sold to me by Bechmann....

Wish he used SS or bronze for the pump ram.....rusts too much.

Dave

I'm not sure how much water she holds. Her dimensions are 18"diameter x 20" tall with 61 1"OD tubes. I’m not going to depend on this to fill the boiler, I’ll be using a 12v pump for that job. This is just to keep her topped off if the injector gives me problems.

[farmerden]

Remember the manual pump is for when all else fails! In the mean time the water has dropped out of the sight glass,OK turn on the injector-Hmm the injector won't lift! crap-turn on the 12 volt pump -battery's dead[Oh yeah I was supposed to charge that wasn't I!] Now all the time your boiler is still using water -How much-CAN'T SEE! OK switch to the back-up -THE LITTLE MANUAL PUMP-You pump and pump and pump -still no water showing! Now you're sweating for a couple of reasons 1. pumping a million little strokes is hard work! 2. you are about to experience a boiler explosion with nowhere to run! That's why we want a big hand pump! And by the way somewhere in this emergency you should have shut off the heat source!! Things can get away quick.Don't worry about when things go right-practise for when things go WRONG!! Safety above all else [I might be on your boat ] Den

[mtnman]

Remember the manual pump is for when all else fails! In the mean time the water has dropped out of the sight glass,OK turn on the injector-Hmm the injector won't lift! crap-turn on the 12 volt pump -battery's dead[Oh yeah I was supposed to charge that wasn't I!] Now all the time your boiler is still using water -How much-CAN'T SEE! OK switch to the back-up -THE LITTLE MANUAL PUMP-You pump and pump and pump -still no water showing! Now you're sweating for a couple of reasons 1. pumping a million little strokes is hard work! 2. you are about to experience a boiler explosion with nowhere to run! That's why we want a big hand pump! And by the way somewhere in this emergency you should have shut off the heat source!! Things can get away quick.Don't worry about when things go right-practise for when things go WRONG!! Safety above all else [I might be on your boat ] Den

You are correct I don't want to be fish food Besides the standard safety pop off valve I have planned a manual valve that will also vent the boiler. Another safety feature I am using is in the firebox/ashpit. I'm using a shaker type grate and with this grate you can pull the center shaker out through the ash pit door which will dump the hot coals directly into the ash pan, then you can pull the ash pan and toss it overboard. But I'm becoming convinced that I might need a bigger hand pump. That's what so great about this place, the views and ideas presented.

[DetroiTug]

Mtnman,

Your boiler will hold about 17.8 Gallons total, around 14 Gallons to fire up. (If I did the math correctly)

That pump looks like it would work. You can test it and see.

-Ron