Coolant pump, pond pump?

[Tinbasherdan]

bear with me, it's probably a stupid idea but...... The suds pump that came with my Kerry is goosed, as in the bearings had welded themselves to te shaft. It was a paperweight. I do however have a spare pond filter pump in the cellar. Is there any reason why I wouldn't be able to get away with using that for a coolant pump?

 

[Pete.]

No reason at all, it's been done many times.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

No reason at all, it's been done many times.

I assumed as much, but I won't pretend to be in anyway knowledgable on these things

 

[wyn]

I use pond pumps on both my lathe and mill.

They have been working ok for a good few years.

 

[doubleboost]

Used one for years no problem at all

 

[Richard.]

My bandsaw home made coolant system was done with a £5 ebay pond pump.
Perfect for the job.
They'll put enough pressure down for a 2 mtr line
They are quite happy with dirty water and foreign bodies.
They ain't fussed if run dry
They are happy enough if you want to regulate the flow with a valve tap.
This was what I used it on and still using it many many cold cuts down the line.
Doesn't look this clean now.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Awesome, looks like the way forward then

 

[Covert]

Awesome, looks like the way forward then

glad you asked this question matey as im looking at some kind of home made setup for my milling machine (once its been restored) ive got a large blue box with lid to use as a tank , question is which pump to buy ?

 

[rikrobson]

I've seen submersible fuel pumps on ebay for around £10. These are designed to have oils/fuels run through them whereas the pond pumps are not. So I was thinking of trying one of those as a suds pump

 

[wyn]

It says the fuel pump is only supposed to be run for 20 mins at a time.

 

[rikrobson]

Yup i know, but it probably wont be running a full tilt all the time and the sugs is going to cool better than diesel plus it probably wont be on that long. The lathe is only for hobby work not production.