Has anyone used pumps (preferably Hand) to get honey out of drums. I have a 60 gallon drum of honey which i am now trying bottle out. It is a real pain to get 3 or 4 guys to help tip it over so that i can get it through the gate(1 1/2 lock off valve). Yeah, smart me put the valve on the top of the drum(Here's my sign) so i am wondering if such a pump is made for honey and how much it would cost
the valve on top isn't a bad idea if you get one of these racks (http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=6970&productId=200317244&R=200317244)
It doesn't seem like it would be all that hard to make a hand pump for that kind of situation. All you'd really need would be two pieces of hose, a pair of one-way valves of some sort, a fairly large squeeze bulb, and a handful of pipe clamps. In essence you'd be rigging up something like you see on the fuel line on boat motors. It probably wouldn't be the most efficient or sturdy device ever built, but it would be cheap, and good enough for a one-time application like this.
Here in the US you could pick up the parts to whip something like that together at any local hardware store, but I don't know if that's the case in your country or not.
I just use a regualr old hand truck for tipping barrels that are full. Slide it under and slowly rock it back. You can pick one up and the depot for pretty cheap... And its then on wheels for the rest of the time. Which comes in handy as well.
Good luck, what does a barrel weigh full of honey??
F
My drum of honey weighs about 500+lbs. I was to have gotten a cradle built but ended up having to fill the drum before. The hand truck is a good idea so i will try to source a used one at the wharf. Card can you provide a bit moreinfo on making one of those pumps. I am not the most technically minded persons but that information would come in handy
You could give this a try for about $4. Just add an extension on the suction tube so it will reach the bottom of the barrel.
http://www.redhillgeneralstore.com/A46435.htm
would that work with fluids as thick as honey?
Yea, I think that honey is to think to run through that. I don't think that you would get the honey to draw up into that bulb...I really think that you would have a hard time using any kind of bulb pump.
I am just a first year, but there has to be something out there that is cost effective....
F
Now that I think about it, I think Frantz is probably right - honey is probably too thick for a bulb pump to work very well. I'm sorry, but I'd only had one cup of coffee when I wrote that. The pumping (squeezing) part would be fine, but in order for the system to work, the bulb would have to expand to refill and draw more honey from the drum, and it would have to be one hell of a stout bulb to do that. I'd have reservations about the kerosene pump for the same reason. I'm not sure if that accordion-style siphon would be strong enough to draw up the honey.
Can you remove the entire lid of the drum, by any chance - or is the small hole all that will open?
Reason I ask... (and this is going to sound stupid) but I once watched a guy make wine by putting a bunch of grapes in a barrel, then he put a big balloon in there with the grapes, and then he had an air pump that inflated the balloon, mashed the grapes, and forced the juice out. If you could get the lid off of the drum, you might be able to try something like that - but if you don't already have that stuff laying around, getting the materials would probably be prohibitively expensive for a one-time use. In fact, if you could take the entire lid off, you'd probably just hand-dip it out, so forget I even asked that question.
Is this drum itself worth keeping? Why not drill a hole in it about halfway down, and drain the honey out of the top half? Once the drum is half full you should be able to move it around and pour the rest out pretty easily.
Sean, I dont think u will find any hand pump out there that will handl the viscosity of honey. If you want to remove it from the barrel by hand either put a honey gate (15 bucks) on the lid and clamp that lid down with a bolt style ring, or scoop it out with a 1 gallon open top container and pour into smaller 5 gallon pails.
Just my 2 cents anway.
If you've got a sizable boat shop nearby, you can probably score an epoxy hand pump. That stuff is about as thick as honey. Just make sure it hasn't been used. Ya don't want to go poisioning anybody. :-X
This is what i use -cold honey wont pump with those tinker toy pumps and such-my 55 gallon drums average 625lb -thats 10 full buckets -i also use 30 gallon drums to bottle out of -it is a piece of cake with the drum cradle and you can move a full drum around by your self http://www.globalindustrial.com/gcs/product/productsPerPicGroups.web?picGroupKey=374&options.parentCategoryKey=132&index=12&catSearchParams.catego RDY-B
OK now, hold on just a second. I mean... in theory, except for the thickness of the fluid this shouldn't be all that different from siphoning gas, right?
(Not that I've ever done that or anything.) 8-)
If you got some hose with a decent diameter to it, put it in the drum, put the other end in a bucket making sure it's lower than the end in the drum. Put some suction on the hose until the honey got moving, and it should keep running until the levels equalize, right? It would be slow, but as long as the honey stays warm (presumably not a big problem in Jamaica this time of year) it would keep flowing.
That seems too simple to work though.
when we pump honey with a pump that is made to pump honey the honey has to be at least 100 deg -the amount of resistance you are to over come with 80 deg honey -trying to siphon you would have to have a hose at-least 1 1/4 inch diameter -and it would have to be reinforced so it would not collapse from suction needed to over come resistance -better to use gravity -let the honey come through a gate valve and vent the drum -honey weighs 12lb to the gallon -gas is something like 7 :? RDY-B
Quote from: rdy-b on August 27, 2008, 08:25:41 PM
when we pump honey with a pump that is made to pump honey the honey has to be at least 100 deg -the amount of resistance you are to over come with 80 deg honey -trying to siphon you would have to have a hose at-least 1 1/4 inch diameter -and it would have to be reinforced so it would not collapse from suction needed to over come resistance -better to use gravity -let the honey come through a gate valve and vent the drum -honey weighs 12lb to the gallon -gas is something like 7 :? RDY-B
True and set aside the weight difference, the viscosity rapidly changes with temps and that makes a huge impact on how the fluid will flow.
turn the gate so the spout is pointing up then turn the barrel over.
whats that do -burp it :-D RDY-B