We currently are running straight from water spicket to our di tank with the stock 50ft hose that came with the waterfed pole. Plenty of pressure for us even up 40 ft.
I would like to use up to 150ft so as not to have to spend time moving the water hose & tank to another water spicket in order to clean all of the windows on a house.
Is this length feasible running straight from the spicket with out any pumps?
I appreciate anyones experience on this.
thank you , Scott.
You should use 300’ of hose so you can keep the DI tank in your truck and not have to move the tank at all.
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I’ve use 600’ (Two 100mtr reels connected together) without issue…
Without a pump?
Are you talking water hose or rhino tube
I had a big tank of pure water in my truck and a small 12v, 60psi electric pump running off a 110AH leisure battery and I built a homemade flow controller to adjust the pump speed (To save a bit of water!) - One charge of the battery usually lasted 3 days of work.
I was using minibore hose - not sure if you have that in the States yet - its a twin-wall crush & kink resistant lightweight hose that has an 8mm internal bore,… plenty enough for the flow rate WFP uses, but much lighter and easier to handle than garden hose.
Brush heads with only 2 jets can handle up to 300’ of 1/4" inner diameter tubing in my experience. I bought some 4 jet brush heads recently and could not use even 100’ of tubing the pressure was too weak to rinse. I solved this problem with a booster pump.
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@Njones, how many hours of on pump time do you get with that battery? That is a massive capacity of energy, I thought my Group 24 marine battery was awesome with 65AH. And how long does it take to charge it?
110AH is kinda standard over here for leisure batteries - Bigger gets expensive fairly quick, but smaller doesn’t save much, so it was the sensible option for me.
If I used it constantly without re-charging, I’d probably get about 15-20 hours pump time,… these pumps are tiny & only pull about 3 -4 amps average, especially if you use an electronic flow controller to slow the pump down a little - but thats still plenty enough water flow for WFP.
Personally, I hooked up the battery to a split charge relay and connected it to my truck alternator, so it got charged every time I drove between jobs AND I fitted a small solar panel to the roof of my truck,… once that was all in place I just gave the battery a top-up charge maybe once a month or if I knew I had a massive job on the next day.
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I crammed this deep cycle marine battery under the hood and use it as my starting battery. This is my second one like this; the previous one lasted 4 years or so before it quit.
I wired my pump into the accessory circuit and just leave the key on when I need to use the WFP.
I run 300’ of 1/4" ID hose off the pump. I’d love to pick your brain, @Njones, on your pump controller. I’ve attempted 2 of those RioRand motor controllers from Amazon, and couldn’t get either one the work. I’m pretty sure I damaged the first one installing it in my enclosure, but I was a lot more careful with the second. Maybe it was DOA, or maybe I’m doing something wrong.
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The pump controllers are simple to diy… I use $10 ones off eBay and pop them in a waterproof enclosure.
I even built a couple of fancy ones with remote control and frost protection built in… I’ll dig up the details tomorrow and show u how its done…
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This one works brilliantly - add a waterproof enclosure and a fuse,…
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/182052268631?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
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11.5mm od, 8mm id. Agreed. I love it after our source but before our 8mm od pole hose. It increases flow and builds up pressure at the brush.
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i currently use 160 feet of rhino tube from my wash it pro no pump no issue.
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Thank you
I am not sure on what type of hose I should buy … Rhino or just stick with the Xero
and would a 3/8th hose reel work with both?
Rhino hose goes flat when empty it is not designed to be used on a hose reel. You could roll it up on one but you would need to completely unroll it before use.
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@Infinity I fried the RioRand I installed as well.
What is happening is that the pump draws too much amperage for the controller and it fries something on the motherboard (best theory). So I just bought a 6A rated switch and installed it, will see how long it lasts…
I have hunted around looking for amperage draw specs for all sorts of 12V water pumps and I found a range from between 1-17 amps current draw. So make sure electronics you buy for your pump are rated appropriately, I hope this solves your problem.
p.s. notice how @Njones controller is rated for 40A.
You are the Man, man… 
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Where do you get your 6mm id tubing from?
Update: nevermind, I just found a place locally I can get 1/16id tubing LoL!!
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Yep - i always look at the amp draw of the pump and choose a controller that can handle more than double - and even though a 20A one will usually fit into that calculation, when the 40A one is so cheap then why would you not choose it?!
I built a controller for my dad using one of those I linked above, its over 3 years old and still works perfectly.
Its also worth choosing a controller that has 5 wires going to the dial (Like the one I linked to) instead of the normal 3 as this means it has a switch built into the dial,… turn it down to zero and it clicks and switches off completely, so no need for an additional switch.
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