Simple Cheap Vacuum Filter/Water Pump

[Kash]

Hey nexians,

Ever think about buying a vacuum pump or water pump but have not had enough money to invest in an expensive piece of lab equipment? SWIM had this issue for many years until he found a cheap simple solution... 20$ cheap.

A 5 Watt 110 GPH fish tank water pump is all thats needed. With this not only can it be used as a mobile water pump for distillation, but through the pump's aerator you also have an aspirator vacuum pump for filtration of fine crystals. It runs off electricity, so no more tedious manual hand pumping with inconsistant suction. One can even distill and vacuum filter at the same time, just with a simple fish tank pump. Granted, it doesnt have the performance of a piece of expensive lab equipment, but it gets the job done well for those with lower income.

Hope this helps many people who want to vacuum filter or distill. Cheers!

Pic1&2 - Vacuum filtration setup
Pic3 - Distillation setup

 

[Ilex]

Nice, that could come in handy sometimes!

 

[Dr_Sister]

A used fridge compressor from a used furniture store is another cost effective alternative

 

[Jees]

Fridge compressors are great suckers indeed, only they tend to spit some of their oil out of the exhaust tube, this is natural to their way of construction. But this can be taken care of, by hanging the exhaust tube upward and enlarging the diameter, so the oil has to drip in back where it came from when compressor is off again. Heavy things though.

 

[Kash]

A used fridge compressor from a used furniture store is another cost effective alternative

Interesting Sister, I havent heard of that one. Wouldnt that be difficult to rig up?

 

[Jees]

So this little nifty

...5 Watt 110 GPH fish tank water pump...

thing pumps liquid as well as gas? That's quite cool 8)
Is that per same connections, or separate ones for gas and liquid?

 

[Kash]

Is that per same connections, or separate ones for gas and liquid?

Seperate for gas and liquid. I drew up a small diagram how it works. Alternatively, you could also hook up a lab water aspirator to the aquarium pump for greater suction than the aerator attachment.

 

[Jees]

Nice drawing Kash, thank you so much :thumb_up:

 

[--Shadow]

Nice guide, I'll add it to the "DIY Extraction and Smoking Equipment" in the WIKI soon.

I have written up one I just made, using simpler materials. Check it out:

DIY vacuum filtration system

 

[tgun]

Never thought of the pump aspirator/vacuum pump but I have used a lab aspirator hooked to a fish pump to distill under vacuum. Thanks.