Here's the trick. It worked for me lifting 15 feet of water vertically out of my cistern. Instead of the standard strainer on the end of the hose in the water (or an open end like you had) buy a 3 inch foot valve (or whatever size your hose takes) and screw it onto the hose fitting. Fill your intake hose with water before screwing it onto your pump. A little water will escape while you're attaching it to your pump but that's OK. Then fill your pump housing to prime it and install the fill port plug. Start your engine and you have instant water. You say you didn't have a water source to fill your hose? Yes you did. Take a 5 gallon bucket and dip into your water supply in your basement to fill your hose. I realize it was cold there, but next time it warms a little bit, lay your intake hose in the sun. It becomes very pliable. PS. I bought a 2 inch brass foot valve on Amazon for $32.00 for my 2 inch pump. Awesome investment which saved a lot of aggravation like you had the first time I used it.
i bought one yesterday and was kinda worried about a harbor freight engine, but it started on the first pull out if the box and every first pull thereafter!!! great pump!
If you go to commercial hose place and get to 1 1/2 “ hoses you can’t use a T with banjo fittings for a quick connection. We pump out irrigation mainline with them and sometimes we don’t want to take riser fittings off so 2 hoses works good
The hose has to be stiff so it doesn’t collapse, it’s not a normal discharge hose which can be pliable. If that intake hose wasn’t stiff, it would collapse shut.
You need a cold weather suction hose. They usually come in blue and are super flexible. You can also get the green suction hose that has the black spiral on it like the ones you see on a septic pumping truck. They are a lot more flexible than that cheap stuff from Harbor freight tools.
The thred on the pump is national pipe thred. commonly abbreviated as NPT. Same as any black iron pipe. Or iron pipe used in older homes. I got a size reducer that reduced to 2" on the output. And then an adapter to 1/4 turn for fire hoses. . I have to agree the 3" is no where as portable as the 2" or 1" But once set up, will move massive amounts of water. Id definitely recommend it for say emergency water removal from say a boat. Where you want maximum water moved. But you mite want a smaller pump on hand, incase it loses prime. The ability to handle small solids is another big plus for unknown water in emergencys. . Yea the hard line from harbor freight is simply a pain to deal with, its not just that hose.
From this motor pump you can make a mini dredger for removing bottom sediments. For this you need a second high pressure motor pump and a Bagermaster suction nozzle with hydraulic washout
Hey i just bought the same pump from harber fright i had to buy 2 15 ‘ intake hose like you did and kept filling it up with water but its not pumping is there anything i can do i have a basement with like 5’ of water .. what i did i took a paint bucket and kept running down to prime it but nothing happened… any ideas for me ?
Here's the trick. It worked for me lifting 15 feet of water vertically out of my cistern. Instead of the standard strainer on the end of the hose in the water (or an open end like you had) buy a 3 inch foot valve (or whatever size your hose takes) and screw it onto the hose fitting. Fill your intake hose with water before screwing it onto your pump. A little water will escape while you're attaching it to your pump but that's OK. Then fill your pump housing to prime it and install the fill port plug. Start your engine and you have instant water. You say you didn't have a water source to fill your hose? Yes you did. Take a 5 gallon bucket and dip into your water supply in your basement to fill your hose. I realize it was cold there, but next time it warms a little bit, lay your intake hose in the sun. It becomes very pliable.
PS. I bought a 2 inch brass foot valve on Amazon for $32.00 for my 2 inch pump. Awesome investment which saved a lot of aggravation like you had the first time I used it.
thanks for the info I will be getting one of them
i bought one yesterday and was kinda worried about a harbor freight engine, but it started on the first pull out if the box and every first pull thereafter!!! great pump!
mine is still running strong
If you go to commercial hose place and get to
1 1/2 “ hoses you can’t use a T with banjo fittings for a quick connection. We pump out irrigation mainline with them and sometimes we don’t want to take riser fittings off so 2 hoses works good
Thanks, I will look into that!
Foot valve is what you need. Prefill the suction hose and you’re good to go.
The hose has to be stiff so it doesn’t collapse, it’s not a normal discharge hose which can be pliable. If that intake hose wasn’t stiff, it would collapse shut.
You need a cold weather suction hose. They usually come in blue and are super flexible. You can also get the green suction hose that has the black spiral on it like the ones you see on a septic pumping truck. They are a lot more flexible than that cheap stuff from Harbor freight tools.
thanks for the info I'll have to get a few
The thred on the pump is national pipe thred. commonly abbreviated as NPT.
Same as any black iron pipe. Or iron pipe used in older homes.
I got a size reducer that reduced to 2" on the output. And then an adapter to 1/4 turn for fire hoses.
.
I have to agree the 3" is no where as portable as the 2" or 1"
But once set up, will move massive amounts of water. Id definitely recommend it for say emergency water removal from say a boat. Where you want maximum water moved. But you mite want a smaller pump on hand, incase it loses prime.
The ability to handle small solids is another big plus for unknown water in emergencys.
.
Yea the hard line from harbor freight is simply a pain to deal with, its not just that hose.
From this motor pump you can make a mini dredger for removing bottom sediments. For this you need a second high pressure motor pump and a Bagermaster suction nozzle with hydraulic washout
vevor has this 3" pump for 1/3 cheaper.
I got mine for $208 on amazon sale.
Vevor > harbor freight
What I do is fill the suction hose with water and start engine then drop suction hose in the water to prime the hose and the pump.
yea that's the way to do it unfortunately I had no water source since property was winterized
Hey i just bought the same pump from harber fright i had to buy 2 15 ‘ intake hose like you did and kept filling it up with water but its not pumping is there anything i can do i have a basement with like 5’ of water .. what i did i took a paint bucket and kept running down to prime it but nothing happened… any ideas for me ?
How’d u tighten that hose on
check valve bro