Question: Will a PTO (sprayer) pump lift water?

Is a PTO pump just a transfer pump, or does it have the capacity to lift water up? ...like as in lifting water out of a basemant when the power is off and the sump pump is not going!!!

I think what you are asking is about a self priming pump. That you would have to test. Hook a hose to the inlet side of you pump and getting the pump as high as possible to simulate drawing warter from your basement try it. If it works yer good to go......if not your pump is primed by water/checmicals being fed through the inlet hose from the tank that sits higher than the pump.


Rick

Every pump will "lift" water. Its the feet head that you need to look at. As in sump pumps they say on them how many feet head they will pump and at what psi. But as in a PTO pump that would not have such info with it I would guess it would lift it 8 feet but probably not much flow.

I'm not sure. I do know my sprayer tank feeds out the bottom which is a little lower than where my pto pump attaches to the tactor. Sometimes I have to undo the hose on the outlit side of pump to get it pumping or to prime the pump. I don't think my pump on my sprayer would pump water out of a basement.

It should but you might need to fill the hose and prime the pump and then hold your hand over the end of the suction line when you shut it off and lower the hose to the basement.

Mine did. Several years ago when we had a spell of very dry weather, I put the sprayer pump on the Farmall H and dropped the hose into an old dug well. Didn't even have to prime it. It pumped water out to the garden, where it was distributed through three wave sprinklers. Saved the garden!

I made an adapter that drove the pump off the belt pulley, allowing the tractor to run at much lower rpm than when driving from the pto. We used that setup about two days for most of a month.

Yes........although it MAY have to be primed and there are other considerations.....like the static head. Is this a gear pump, a roller pump, a centrifual pump, a piston pump or something else?

The maximum vertical lift at sea level with a pump in perfect condition is 33.9 feet. A more realistic lift is 20 - 22 vertical feet. A standard centrifugal pump will not prime itself. A gear pump in good condition will prime itself. But, a gear pump is more easily damaged by debris in the liquid than a centrifugal pump.

Some centrifugal trash pumps are self-priming also. In order for a centrifugal, or self-priming pump to attain its initial prime the casing must first be manually primed or filled with liquid. Afterwards, unless it is run dry or drained, a sufficient amount of liquid should remain in the pump to ensure quick priming the next time it is needed. Another type of self priming trash pump is a diaphragm pump.

A centrifugal pump will pump at a higher volume then a gear pump so it is often primed by a gear pump and then the gear pump is shut off and the centrifugal pump takes over. Another way to prime a centrifugal pump is to pour liquid into the pump chamber (casing) while the pump is turning. If the pump is in good condition the pump will pick up a prime and continue to pump. If it doesn't pick up a prime, look for air leaking into the suction hose, or worn pump rings.

If I was going to do what you plan to do, I would use a gear pump with a mesh screen at the end of the suction hose. This solves the need for priming the pump upon startup. Another possibility is a self-priming centrifugal trash pump, but this pump needs to be in very good condition and will need to be primed the first time it is used.

If you want to know more about pumps, google: pump handbook 071503.pmd

HTH

In my experience with pto roller type sprayer pumps, a new one out-of-box will build a good suction, lifting water several feet, priming itself . As it wears it becomes less capable of producing suction to the point of it no longer priming itself AND producing less flow and pressure.

Thanks all you guys!!!!I bought a pto pump at an auction, cheap. My idea is to mount it some how on my old Cub Cadet, put a pulley on the pump shaft, and use the mower deck pulleu on the pto of the tractor. I can engineer this.
What caused all of the is that here in the midwest about a month ago we had a bad windstorm, and was with out power for three days. I have 2 sumps in my basemant...think about dipping water into buckets, garbage cans, stc... I thought, I have a lawn tractor sitting out there that ought to run a pump. I wish I could rig it up to run a generator.
Anyway, thanks for all of the input.
Or is there some other type of pump that would work for my engineering project here??

Run an automotive alternator off the tractor, (GM 10 SI) and use a 12 volt bilge pump?