Testing out the 1/10 hp shallow well pump for $35

 OK I just had a successful test of the "unbalanced vane" rubber impeller drill pump - using a hand drill. The vertical suction lift is minimal - only about five to six feet. I got the lift but when I lowered it a few more feet I got nothing!! hilarious. Then the drill motor overheated and shut down.

These low HP pumps are the same principle only have a bit better suction lift hopefully simply because the design works more on velocity than on torque. The "unbalanced vane" pump is more of a torque design - it can work at slow RPM since it is an asymmetric rotor shaft thereby increasing the suction at low RPM. 

So the hand cordless Bauer drill is actually 2/10ths hp while the above pump is only 1/10th hp. So at the face of it there is not very exciting prospects.

But someone did claim they were pulling or lifting up from a 20 foot well hole...

 This works way better than my drill pump.... Draws. Water up at least 23 feet and sends water no less than 130 feet with an added 10 foot rise and does it well.

That's promising! Oh wait - I think that's for the 1/2 hp pump. They didn't specify in their review and Vevor mixed them together. There are literally 14 more "brands" of this 1/10 hp pump on Amazon - so obviously a couple factories are cranking them out of China....I'm gonna read all the reviews of all the brands of this 1/10 hp pump sold on Jeff Bezos site.... not just the "Vevor" brand.

 The directions say to prime with water, but the manuel also says to first pour 1/2 Tablespoon mineral or vegetable oil in it first, then the water, so make sure you have that on hand too.

But the Big Box stores are selling these under brand names that double up the price - just for slapping on a brand label that people are familiar with.... (I won't name names)....

So better to order directly from  China and sure enough the price was even cheaper than Jeff Bezos' website - so I decided to try this experiment.

 Some people are turned off by the prospects of the manufacturer including repair parts but it is assumed the brushes will burn out with carbon build up and that the rubber impeller will burn down or wear out.... So this is the SAME pump being sold at a local DIY big box store for $90. So this is over 50% markdown. 

 So I also ordered a high quality rubber hose and the same foot valve that is the ONLY foot valve that fits in my well pipe - and a garden hose adapter to the foot valve. So I don't have to worry about dealing with clamps or crimps at all! That is a big plus in trying out this well pump.

 So the idea here is that even though it is less HP it has higher RPMs than the drill - and hence better suction lift power. The motor is advertised as "high speed" and "high torque" - well I'd rather have the speed in this case because it creates the Venturi effect - the "jet assembly" that is used on shallow well pumps of low horse power....

Actually Jeff Bezos is selling this same pump for just five dollars more than Aliexpress but I would rather get it from China directly since the Amazon workers are being tortured with some forced unpaid cell phone pick up line to leave their job. 

  Only issue I had was the vibration from the motor caused hoses to loosen and leak a bit on several occasions.

 My only issue with it is the plug for the primer hole. I am not sure who designed this thing but it most certainly doesn't work as designed. The pressure created by the pump blows the plug straight up and out and anyone standing nearby gets a shower (in some not so pleasant water).

 I returned to find that the primer cap had blown apart, shooting water straight up into the insulation in the crawlspace of my house.

 So, I ended up going to Ace hardware and bought a screw in, brass replacement plug (from the plumbing department) and wrapped it with teflon tape. Again, so far, so good. But, if the manufacturer would do something different it would sure work better.

 it is advertised ( I provided two pictures, but you can see the advertised uses on the websites) for outdoor use showing and stating good for rain barrels, ponds, pools etc. however, the manual and the label on the actual pump state it is for indoor use only. I

 I followed directions, went to the store to buy veg oil (which I don't use and am now stuck with). Each time I ran it, it lasted between 5-10 min and the unit became VERY hot and shut down.

  Ran this pump 3 times no problems for 1 hr. 4th time pump ran for 27 mins and shutdown. During troubleshooting, plastic pieces fell out of pump housing. The entire impeller broke apart. Never ran dry, all filters cleaned, never ran over 1 hour per use.

 Yeah so my drill motor overheated in about 10 minutes on the uneven vane pump - so I would not run this 1/10 hp pump for more than 10 minutes for sure.

  it is roughly the same as if you were to allow gravity to drain a tank of water. The pump does its job, it was buyer's error for purchasing such a slow pump.... I had a faster flow with gravity instead of the pump.

 Yes the same as the drill unbalanced vane pump that was $15.... but the question is - can it have better suction lift? Can it get past the five foot limit of the drill pump? I think it can due to higher RPM motor...

 This pump malfunctions after 5 min. of use; it runs hot and shuts off.

 I think if the pump is cooled off and primed with some water and oil it should run 10 minutes.

  Opened the pump chamber and found that the impeller had swelled and bound in the chamber. Put in the spare impeller. Same failure after a couple more hours.

  It does require that you feed water into it before starting to pump so that we are not sucking in a bunch of air.

 You gotta wonder how much power is lost by the conversion to AC from and to the 12 v DC motor....

 

cool photo of the inside of the pump!!

  draws a whopping 5.5 amps

 that's the 12 volt version though....

yeah it will be about 100 watts due to the energy loss by converting to 120 volts from 12 volts...

 Other "brands" of this pump...

 I tried to get the advertised 25 feet of lift out of it but the water (garden hose) only got to 15 feet and never came out the other end of the hose.

 oops!! Doesn't sound good.

100’ of hose and uphill about 10’ and it has pumped at near full hose water pressure.

 yeah so it will push water but sucking water?....

Yeah it definitely sucks better than the drill pump. hahaha. That's for sure!! I'm watching vids on Bezos' site. Someone is literally using it for their lawn sprinkler at 50 feet!! awesome.

 Its barely enough to run a single sprinkler head.

 This thing is loud, and it will get VERY loud if it sucks air

 The water come out weak at beginning, then it’s strong after about 10 seconds

  I’ve had the pump on the 5 minutes and it’s overheated and shuts off.

 OK there are very similar "12 volt on demand pumps" that are 4 amps .... transfer pumps...

  HOWEVER, it is extremely important that absolutely no air enters the intake side. This pump is not self priming and the second any small amount of air enters the pump will race and burn out quickly.

 wow good to know!!

 I'm reinforcing the new hose to be sure it won't pinch and I'll be keeping a close eye on it. I'm very impressed by how well this little pump works.

 ok... so we know it will collapse a normal garden hose...

 . It worked quickly and was easy to set up. I did follow the instructions to put some oil and water into the inlet. It was fairly noisy, and did heat up quickly. Knowing this, I need to plan how long I will use it, before I let it cool down. I suffer through the weekly noise of my neighbors' leaf blowers, so I didn't feel too guilty about the pump's noise.

 Gets quite hot after a few minutes of use but hasn’t failed.

 Drawing water from a 10ft depth was not a problem. All I did was prime it and the little pump did the rest. Very pleased…

 Wow - exciting!!!

  I replaced the impeller, cleaned the flow area and greased the motor shaft. Now, the pump is moving water again. I upgraded my rating to four stars, not 5, because I believe the impeller should work longer than 4 months.

  10 foot rise and it handled it very well.

 Wow someone has a vid of it pumping a 15 foot vertical suction!! 

 so I took the cover off to expose the pump rotor and I used the extra gasket in the box plus the gasket that was already on the cover (double gasket), to give the rotor a little more free room and it works great with little noise. The gasket just needs to be thicker or use two. The cover puts the rotor in a bind.

 The pump frame does have little holes where you can screw it down to a surface, so now I’m doing that.

 Otherwise the pump "walks" causing the hose to come out....

  The only negative is that is should have an indicator of in and out for the water. Once you use it you will figure it out. Also it gets hot fast, so I use if for no more than 15-20 minutes.

 e string from my bilge that disabled the pump. This lead to me needing to remove the plate on the pump housing to clean it out. The screws are really soft and I was only able to remove two of them. The other two stripped and I will have to use my angle grinder to turn them into flathead screws so they can be removed. I was able to bend the plate and remove the debri and replace the pieces. After which the pump still works, but now with a minor leak-- not a big deal. Just be careful with these screws. They are super cheap pot-metal. [END UPDATE]

 it pulled water straight up out of my dug well about six feet within 5 seconds and then pushed out enough water that I could use a sprayer head at the end of the hose.

 se one piece of info said pour 1/2 TBSP of vegetable oil in the intake

 it had a 12’ vertical push up to a pool. Approximately 3000 gallons in 6 hours. A 14’ intake above ground pool.

 Also, remove the rubber gasket from the end of the hose that is going in the water, the pump sucked it up and i can't find that ring anywhere now.

  I'm trying to pump the water only up to 8 ft, and yet it's not able to pump up that high. The water makes it up to about 6 feet and stalls.

  It ran dry for 5 seconds to pull a siphon from a bucket (one foot head pressure). Worked ,then 30 minutes later it stopped, would have started smoking if unattended.

 DO NOT make the mistake I made. DO NOT ADJUST THE FLOW PRESSURE SCREW BEFORE SET UP AND FIRST TRIAL!!!

 The self-priming feature at 9.8 feet is a game-changer, and I love that it can run dry without damage—super reliable for my needs.

 The rep believed the issue was related to an air leak somewhere in the flow since the original pump should have had enough suction. At any rate, this pump had no problem pulling water from the water barrel at below it and pushing it through the sprinkler. I probably have 200 feet of hose in the attached picture because that is what I had used to test the original pump. The 5GPM pump met or exceeded the pressure that I get from the house spigot.

 

  Still wouldn't move water, and looking in I could see the impeller turning super slowly. Removing the cover plate, it spun fast. My conclusion: the original gasket (top left in the photo) was too thin, and the cover plate was squeezing the impeller so hard it couldn't spin freely. I tried silicone grease on the front and back plates, but that didn't help. Finally I cut two gaskets from an automotive gasket sheet, and used the two together to give more clearance. It worked -- started up at full speed and began moving water after a small prime poured down the outlet hose. Also it's quieter than it used to be, which I suspect is either because the motor isn't working as hard, or the impeller friction is reduced, or both.

 my residence is in a rural area, approximately 150 ft. in distance and 70 ft. in elevation from a small creek. Water for our household is provided by a well, so I don't feel comfortable using it for watering or irrigation for fear of running it dry. I was able to position the pump close enough to the creek (4 feet) to eliminate the need for a check valve in the inlet hose. I attached 200 ft. of hose to the outlet of the pump and unrolled it to the top of my property, filled the primer compartment, turned it on (definitely recommend getting the on/off switch) a

  I removed the impeller and with an emery stone lowered it to reduce friction against the rear wall and the cover with seal, this reduces water pressure but allows the engine to start without much effort, originally it could pump water from the small tank in 25 seconds, now it takes 35, it is no problem.
If you want this pump to last you can do the same, otherwise it won't work long.

 the rubber impeller is tight to the pump jacket, which can cause excessive friction for an engine that is not really powerful. 

  The impeller hardnes up and drags n the housing. I guess that’s why they give you a spare impeller. I(f you plan on using it for a long time, I suggest you take the cover off the pump housing and keep the impeller in a cool dry place. Secondly, the pump housing corrodes very easily and drags the impeller so it doesn’t pump. Again, after use open up the pump and to lubricate it and clean it and let it dry out or it won’t last very long.

 this pump does say it needs to be primed with vegetable oil, then filled with water before turning it on, but it's not difficult to do and only takes a small amount.

It pulls from the barrel about 15 feet and up about 6 feet without a problem.

 the pump was received with improper lubricant applied to the impeller. They just had a blob stuck on one of the rubber blades, and it basically fell off - but on the OUTPUT side, so this lube would have never been distributed inside the business area of the pump. I applied the silicone grease properly to the pump internals prior to starting it, so that was easy and worked fine. But I shouldn't have to do that.

 By that I mean you need to fill the intake hose with water before turning on the pump with either a measuring cup or faucet. The instructions say to put cooking oil in the intake, which I did, but then realized in order to prime the pump, water needed to be in the entire hose that was connected to the intake. Kept good suction, water flowed out nicely into the shower and not a lot of noise.

 o it is probably about a 10 foot lift. I used over a gallon of water priming and priming it. I got it to start pumping once, and very quickly shut if off to add a length of hose, and it would not prime again. I finally gave up and boxed it up and returned it. Company did refund my money promptly. I went and purchased a Wayne pump for $80 more, hooked it into the same hose and it began pumping almost immediately.

 The pump I got couldn't lift rainwater 5 feet.
The motor smoked and then died, without one drop of water being pumped. According to other reviews, I suspect about 10% of these pumps are dud

 

 It's literally the SAME pump as the "unbalanced vane" pump?!! Wow. ....

  it will only lift to 10'.