What’s the longest length of hose that anybody is used on there sludge sucker with any reliability?
I looked and looked and all I can find is it comes with 25 feet of hose but I’m just wondering if anybody has successfully pumped 50,75 or 100 feet with it?
I was thinking about picking one up and running a long hose out to my trailer to an older tote so so when I’m cleaning greasy kitchens I could suck the puddles up and just pump it into the tote tank.
Possibly I could also upcharge to clean out their grease trap in the kitchen.
I don’t think it’s really designed for that distance, mine just has a 6’ stiff vac hose on it. Works by venturi effect so putting any sort of backpressure on it would reduce or eliminate the way it works.
But let the other guys with more experience chime in.
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I use a 50 foot backwash pool hose… no issues at all!
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@dcbrock I saw this and wasn’t quite sure how far it would go
Not sure if it’ll travel more than 25’ reliably and then also go up into the top of a tote. But you could always stage an empty barrel halfway between the truck and whatever you’re emptying, and then go from the barrel into the ibc. Those things will empty a 50-gallon barrel in about 20 seconds. You could even put multiple barrels if you’re parked too far away
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My Hydrotek Vacuum doesn’t really suck anymore, even after changing the motor. I need to reclaim water on some jobs and thinking of using this with a second pressure washer. I can set up berms around the area to contain the water but does it suck down to about 1/4 or 1/2"? 25’ is far enough to go into the totes I have.
We use trash pumps and submersible pumps for emptying pools, just for another option. Those trash pumps will drain just about anything and will push it pretty far. The suction hoses are heavy and clunky. Don’t think sparkling water pool, think filled with leaves, dead bugs, and maybe a dead critter or two pool water. We do have to clear the suction hoses from time to time. A pool has thousands of gallons of water in it. Trash pumps aren’t cheap, but my buddies has been running for about 3-4 years and I borrow it from time to time to pump water from creeks or lakes to wash with. It has drained many pools, and pool water is filled with chems.
Submersible pumps (either 12v or 110) work ok, but you have to clear them constantly if there are a lot of leaves and debris. They will push pretty far too. I wouldn’t buy the lowest rated hp ones, they will fail. They get down to about 1/2 inch or so. You can get them with smaller or larger discharge lines based on your needs. I use them for low lying concrete to drain the pools that form, and for basement stairwells when the drains don’t work. A shop vac can pick up the remainder. These are a little more disposable, and I pick them up when on sale. Not that they die quick, I never take only one to a job (lesson learned).
Thank you for the thorough explanation! Do you think a trash pump will get down to a half inch also? Looking for something different than the vacuum.
Yes, well, close to a half, never measured it. The trash pumps are big and heavy, his is on wheels. The discharge hose is 2" I think, and the suction is probably 2.5-3", most likely 3".
I would test out a submersible just to see if it works for you. They are relatively cheap. A trash pump is probably about 3k maybe more, depending on hoses.
Edit: Apparently they make some smaller trash pumps. I’d probably only buy one with the reliable honda engine. it would cut down on costs, the hoses would probably cost less and maybe be lighter.
Normally what happens is we leave 2-3 submersibles with the homeowner and tell them to let them run all night. When we arrive they turned them off for whatever reason or never turned the switch on. So we stick the trash pump in there and shoot that water wherever. Not going to sit around all day because someone was inconvenienced by a little noise. The submersibles aren’t loud at all, but the discharge may make some noise. Oh, it is always the nastiest pools where they do it. pulling out dark green pool toys from the algea and they want to save them??
I’d imagine you could build your own trash pump to your specs, not much different than a PW.
Sludge sucker will work fine for what you want to do. It will suck the fluid it down to about a 1/4 - 3/8" of an inch probably.
Go buy a cheap HF pump hose, think mine is about a 3-4" and just clamp on to the end of the stiff 20-25’ of hose that comes with sucker. Think mine is 50’. and folds or wraps up to nothing. Don’t put it coming right off SS or it will rip it apart. But much easier to handle or direct where you want . The stiff Tiger flex hose that comes with it, if you don’t get an extension will be whipping around like a snake. Even a concrete block won’t hold it sometimes, so get a longer extension
Pic of it on old trailer - blue hose
Thanks Racer. The HF pump hose you’re referring to, is the blue flat (collapsed) one that is coiled inside the hose the sludge sucker comes with? And when you say clamp it to the Tiger hose are you just using a hose barb or do you have adapters at the end of each hose to connect them together as one unit? Just to make sure I understand this correctly, You connect the Tiger hose to the blue hose and then It’s strong enough to send the water a total of 75 feet out? I have a 5 foot extension wand that I can attach to it, But I also am ordering this weight they sell at Panhandle, Specifically for the sludge sucker. Panhandle PPW Sludge Sucker Hose Weight - Panhandle Power Wash Supply | 850-835-4052
I’ll look into it thanks for the info. I have 600’ of 2" vacuum hose, I think that would probably work well. I might see about finding a much smaller trash pump and then if I need to put an adapter to make it work from whatever size it is to the 2" it should probably work pretty well without needing to buy more hose for it.
The blue hose is much bigger than the hose that comes with it… I just stuck it on over the reinforced hose that came with and used a couple of hose clamps. The bigger hose, like a nozzle, reduces the pressure dramatically. I’d get the hose extension instead of the weight. By time you put gun on sludge sucker, you’ve actually only got about 20’ of usable flex and it’s stiff, and putting out a ton of volume at pretty decent pressure, so say you stick it down into a tote that you’re pumping into you have to have someone stand there and hold it to keep from blowing out. It’s a lot of flow. I have to transfer water a lot when I’m doing farm fences from extra totes into tanks on rigs. Plus 20’ of usable often not nearly long enough to get whatever you’re pumping out of the area you need to drain. That blue hose will roll up into a roll not any bigger than a small plate. You’ll see when you buy it. Think they may just have in red now. Pretty sure mine is 25’ of 3"
Ok cool I will order a 25’ x 3" wide hose to attach it. I used these hoses in the past to transfer from the Hydrotek vacuum but I got holes in them pretty easily. I’ll search around to see if I can find one that looks like yours.
