Mep 002a Auxiliary Pump Lift?

Just picked up a MEP002a - lots of hours but it runs well. I needed to replace a fuel line and found all the information I needed here on the forum. Thanks to all the contributors!

I'd like to plumb this to my 330 gallon home heating oil tank. I'm aware of the auxiliary pump, but not sure whether its got enough power to do the job. Since the tank is in the basement, the hose will need to travel 8' vertically and be about 35' horizontally. Will the auxiliary pump provide sufficient lift?

I checked the Facet site and it indicates the 480517E is rated for 24" of "Lift Min Dry". That doesn't sound very promising, but on the other hand, it says "Min" lift. I'm not sure how to interpret the rating - is the "max" lift much higher?

Has anyone tried running the auxiliary pump to a tank in the basement?

Thanks

I believe the lift is 6 feet. You may find that a 35 foot run combined with 8 feet of lift is a bit much. You could add a pump near the tank to combine with the aux. pump.

It's easy enough to run a test. Since the aux pump just pumps to the built-in tank when the float switch opens the aux pump's solenoid valve, you can run the test without even running the engine. Take the fuel level in the built-in tank down enough to make the float switch call for fuel, and see if the level in the tank rises when you run the aux pump. If you run tubing higher than the generator before it gets to the tank, you can test for a safety margin and/or account for a future low fuel level in the 330 gallon tank.

If it doesn't work, or if it seems marginal, edgephoto's idea of another pump at the 330 gallon tank is a good one. You can get a 24V pump and wire it in parallel with the aux pump on the generator. I suppose you could actually move the aux pump to the 330 gallon tank instead of using a 2nd pump, since lack of pressure isn't a concern for an 8' lift.

Edgephoto and Triple Jim....Good thinking.
Jerry

Thanks guys - I'll try these suggestions.

Keep us posted please, I'm interested in what you come up with.

(Also, thanks Jerry.)

Storeman, I like your idea of using an air hose with quick disconnect as the auxiliary fuel line. Where did you find the parts to fit the bung to the air hose coupler? My set didn't come with a bung adapter, so I'm starting from scratch.

Thanks,
Kevin

Air hose quick connects are usually 1/4 pipe thread. The bung adapter has the same thread, I believe.

If you do not want to spring for the bung adapter just buy a 2" MPT bushing and adapt accordingly. Home Depot or any of those type of stores will have what you need. You will need to make a pickup tube.

I plan to do something similar with my oil tank. I will connect at the bottom of the tank by Teeing off the filter at the oil tank. I will probably just rig a valve and cheap pump to fill jerry cans in an emergency. I currently have 30 gallons of petrol in jerry cans stored for my generator. I am planning to use the MEP-002a for long outages instead. I will switch the jerry cans to diesel plus I have a 5 gal diesel can for a total of 35 gallons in addition to the 6 gallons or so in the generator. At rated fuel consumption (.5 gph) with full load I will have over 80 hours of run time. My heating oil tank will be back up beyond what is normally stored. I figure I will fill my cans from the heating tank. I will just dump them back into the heating oil tank after sitting for a long time. I would rig a hose from the tank to the generator but my generator will be about 100 feet from the tank. I have thought maybe of a pump and hose for temporary connection to the generator but I am worried about a leak or theft of fuel.

We had an extended outage last October. I put 80 hours on my generator. The issue was finding fuel. So after things returned to normal I bought jerry cans and keep the 30 gallons of fuel on hand. I just do not like having the much petrol in my garage. I ran the generator from morning when we woke until bed time, about 14 hrs. I burned 6 gallons of petrol with a 7500w generator.

Some other ideas have have tossed around. Put a pickup truck bed fuel tank next to my garage and keeping that full of heating oil. I can get a 30-50 gallon model from TSC or Northern. Not sure I need it and then I have to use that fuel every 4-5 years. I have also thought about a 30 gallon or even a 16 gallon drum.

Thanks for the info Edgephoto. Long outages are on my mind too. If the direct connection gets too complicated, I might opt for something similar to your solution. I was kicking around the Jerry can idea, but decided I'd need to swap them out too frequently in the case of a long outage. The pickup truck bed fuel tank is more appealing. TSC sells a 50 gallon model that looks like it would fit the bill. If the fuel gets too old, I figure I could always pump it back into the oil tank with an inexpensive drum pump.

kjayma said:

Thanks for the info Edgephoto. Long outages are on my mind too. If the direct connection gets too complicated, I might opt for something similar to your solution. I was kicking around the Jerry can idea, but decided I'd need to swap them out too frequently in the case of a long outage. The pickup truck bed fuel tank is more appealing. TSC sells a 50 gallon model that looks like it would fit the bill. If the fuel gets too old, I figure I could always pump it back into the oil tank with an inexpensive drum pump.

Click to expand...

I was thinking of a 30-50 gallon tank that I could put near the generator. For now I am going to stick with the jerry cans. I plan to come up with a way to get oil out of my heating oil tank so if fuel stations are not operating I can refuel the generator from that.

kjayma said:

Just picked up a MEP002a - lots of hours but it runs well. I needed to replace a fuel line and found all the information I needed here on the forum. Thanks to all the contributors!

I'd like to plumb this to my 330 gallon home heating oil tank. I'm aware of the auxiliary pump, but not sure whether its got enough power to do the job. Since the tank is in the basement, the hose will need to travel 8' vertically and be about 35' horizontally. Will the auxiliary pump provide sufficient lift?

I checked the Facet site and it indicates the 480517E is rated for 24" of "Lift Min Dry". That doesn't sound very promising, but on the other hand, it says "Min" lift. I'm not sure how to interpret the rating - is the "max" lift much higher?

Has anyone tried running the auxiliary pump to a tank in the basement?

Thanks

Click to expand...

I think your system would work best if an extra pump was added to the tank in the basement. That way it would push fuel and make priming much better. I would tap a wire off of the existing aux pump and run it down to the new pump along with a return ground wire so that the extra pump goes on and off with the main aux pump. If you are using heating oil consider temps below 20 degrees where the fuel may gel when it gets outside in cold temps. A fuel anti gel addative may be needed unless the gen is kept warm.

ETN550 said:

I think your system would work best if an extra pump was added to the tank in the basement. That way it would push fuel and make priming much better. I would tap a wire off of the existing aux pump and run it down to the new pump along with a return ground wire so that the extra pump goes on and off with the main aux pump. If you are using heating oil consider temps below 20 degrees where the fuel may gel when it gets outside in cold temps. A fuel anti gel addative may be needed unless the gen is kept warm.

Click to expand...

I think you're probably right. I'm going to see what the auxiliary pump can handle just for kicks, but I think I'm going to need a pump on the oil tank too. Are there any dangers in running a second pump in series with the auxiliary pump? I read a post that indicated positive shut off valves could be a problem. I guess that would be something to watch out for on the drum pump.

As I posted above, you might try simply relocating the auxiliary pump to your oil tank, as long as you don't need it in the original place for other purposes. It should easily handle the job from that end of the line. Alternatively, you could put a similar pump at your tank and install a switch to select which pump runs. In that case, as you said, you do need to verify that the one on the generator will free flow when not energized.

Your unit has 3 pumps. They are all the same. The main 2 pumps are in series for redundancy. You can run fine off of one pump. Take one of those and relocate it to the oil tank. Use that and the aux. pump in series and you should be more than ok. Then if it works well and you want the 2 pump redundancy just buy another of the same pumps.

You would likely need to beef up the dc wiring for that distance.
Jerry

Fuel line adapters for aux feed

Here are some pics of my remote fuel line setup. I had 50' new air hose of decent quality, so I used it. Could have gotten by with a 25' piece, easily.

Cap on aux pump is replaced by female compressed air quick disconnect. Fuel hose has a female quick disconnect on each end to keep it from loosing prime and introducing a lot of air. Male connector fits the bung adapter. The two male adapters joined with a coupling are the key. Everything stays leak tight until you want to hook up the remote tand and all you do is attach the double male fitting to aux pump and hose and start pumping.

Hope this helps. Pretty simple and about all of it comes in a simple kit for about $12 from Lowes. I used some connectors I had at the tank, which happened to be 3/8", but that was for convenience as I wanted the Lowes 1/4" connector for something else. Either size will work. BTW: I am blessed with a few bung adapters.

BTW: the item laying on the fuel oil tank is an aux fuel pump to illustrate the connections. Kept me from having to take a picture on my hands and knees at the genny. To get down like that and still focus a camera...and get back up... would be a minor miracle.

Jerry

Storeman thanks, seeing it is really helpful.

Guys, I found this adapter on my unit on the gusset next to the pump. It was covered by a yellow cap (1st picture). Can anyone help me understand what it's for? Is this part of the drum bung adapter? I can't seem to find any other part that goes with it.

That bolts to your frame to secure the hose from your oil drain valve.
Jerry

Pull the hose up that is hanging below your frame. It should have a connector on the end that attaches. Connecting the two is not important if not being transported or dropped via parachute.

Jerry