Water Pump for Cooling Tank

[Don Furr]

My original pump bit the dust in the cooling tank and I've bought three different pumps trying to make it right but either the pumps won't draw enough water or they are too loud
Does anyone know the type pump and p/n of one that pumps enough water and doesn't sound like a leaf blower?

[John Eickhof]

don, i have always used replacement submersible swamp cooler pumps, they are inexpensive and sit in the bottom of the bucket so they are silent they run at approx 1 to 1.5 gpm so they are perfect for a typical projector and arc lamp. get em at ace hardware...have fun, john

[Steve Guttag]

Little Giant has their "NK" line that have been used through the years:

https://www.littlegiant.com/products/specialty-pumps/small-submersible-pumps/oil-filled/nk-1-series/

I'm sure they are available on line and the old-standby Grainger.

Personally, I hate the water tank system for cooling gates...they get progressively worse as the show goes on as the tank and pump stew in their own juices. MIT had a better system (as did Ashcraft, back in the day) of putting a car heater radiator (heat exchanger) on top with a cooling fan attached to blow room air across.

Screen Shot 2023-11-19 at 6.17.25 AM.png

But, better yet was to use a heat exchanger (same concept as above but smaller in all directions, better at cooling and uses less water/coolant). Thermotek had one, the HK50 that was used on the early DCinema machines...with just a quart of coolant, it would WAY out perform a 10-gallon tank (kept the gate cooler and could keep up with a 4KW lamp without any issue. The key is, again, a heat exchanger with a fan to force the air across. And then a relatively small reservoir and pump.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Yep! We built cooling tanks with radiators at Claco. The tank water generally never got much warmer than the ambient temperature of the booth. We didn't use a submersible pump though. The pump mounted on the metal lid. Pretty suire they came from Graingers.

[Steve Guttag]

The Ballantyne/Strong pump was a Teel and it would sit on the top of the tank. A key benefit there is sediment/junk could settle to the bottom while it drew off the top. Again, a heat exchanger is key and one need not have a large tank/reservoir as the heat exchanger is doing the work and not hoping that the sheer mass of the water sitting in room temp would slow down the heating.

[John Eickhof]

i would suspend the in tank pumps so the intake was 4" or so off the bottom, and them yearly drain, flush and refill them, in drive ins i filtered the antifreeze / water 50/50 through cheesecloth to get rid of dirt, bugs and other debris...simple maintenance kept em working well and kept any scunge buildup away.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

The Ballantyne/Strong pump was a Teel and it would sit on the top of the tank. A key benefit there is sediment/junk could settle to the bottom while it drew off the top. Again, a heat exchanger is key and one need not have a large tank/reservoir as the heat exchanger is doing the work and not hoping that the sheer mass of the water sitting in room temp would slow down the heating.

The pump in the photo is the one we, and presumably Strong used... They sure have gotten pricy... Screenshot_20231120-145945-122.png

[Don Furr]

Thanks for the link Mark. I've got a pump coming this afternoon that should work just fine.

[Ryan Gallagher]

This thread came right as I was finishing our cooling loops rebuild. I went with new submersible pumps (and new everything else), deep cleaned our prior pumps to keep as backups.

Should I add more anti-freeze in indoor climate controlled? By nature of what was purchased we ended up at 5:1 distilled:antifreeze? I know manual said 4:1 on the Century JJs, and folks have said 1:1 in this thread (I assume in booths that freeze?)

Also worth asking. Does anyone add any biocide to their tank? Make the fluid growth free for even longer? I've read 2 years without and up to 5 years with.

Suspending the pump slightly by it's hose/cable is a good tip, will consider modifying. Though drawing from the bottom makes the most sense due to convection dictating that is where the cooler fluid will be.

We grabbed these pumps this time:

https://www.grainger.com/product/1P939

I also upgraded to some valved quick connect fittings at the lid, so we can service the tanks more easily (and take the lids along with us when needed).

https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23885&catid=926&clickid=popcorn

(Note there are valved and straight-thru versions of each). By accident I ended up with valved on the projector side, and straight-thru on panel mount lid ones. Whoops, gotta shut off the pump before pulling the outflow or we'll have a geyser on our hands!!

If I ever rebuild again, will consider a non-submersible pump, radiator feels like overkill unless outdoors (our booth is freezing)... unless the goal was to do away with the large reservoir entirely?

I also considered these flow indicators, but at the time I was shopping the prices did not seem to justify them
https://www.zoro.com/sp-scienceware-...el-h19937-0002

My priors were using tap water only and is the reason the whole system had to be gutted and started anew due to rapid onset of growth after every water replacement, not to mention what was probably some significant buildup within the cooling plate.

[Ryan Gallagher]

For deep cleaning the cooling plates i separately ran some 10min Radiator Cleaner product through then, and followed it with a long run of 4:1 distilled water to white vinegar.

I wouldn't do this with any pumps you care about, I picked up a cheapy off amazon for these cleaning flushes.