You Might get a Kick Out of This

This recovery setup kicks some butt.

I took my 325-gal water supply tank and bought a shop vac with a sump pump on it and put weather stripping on the manhole. Turned the vac on and.... Whala!! It works!!

Sucks the water right into the tank and if it gets to full, the sump pump will pump the water at 6-GPM to an area where in won't leave the property. (Water the plants, grass, whatever)

Don't want all the heavy junk in your tank? Problem solved, a netted bag sits inside to catch all the heavy stuff and the dirty water sits at the bottom of the tank that drains out the side like an RV septic tank. Take the bag and dump it in the trash.

I might be cheap, but then again, I have thousands of dollars to spend on something else, LOL!!

Toys, Toys and more Toys!!

How is that netted bag secured inside the tank? Have a day where it gets alot of dirt, it may be heavy enough to fall off and it is a pain to get it out of the tank as well as clean all that crap out of the tank.
What size man hole do you have on your tank? If the vac hose were to become clogged, can that vac suck the tank closed? Easy way to check is to cover the hose with your hand and see if the tank gives. Better to find out now, rather than on the job.
You will need a vac relief on the tank if it can be sucked closed.

Not really worried about to much dirt. It is actually for dumpsters and the sort.

Good point though.

The netting is secured by multiple screws and as for the tank... It holds, it better... That vacuum is nothing compared to the amount of weight that water puts on these tanks, LOL!!

Just an experiment that worked... Glad it did!!

Thanks for the suggestion...

The water exerts its pressure outward, the vacuum is doing the opposite and may pull the side walls inward. The positive is that you have a round tank which is considerably stronger than a flat walled tank.

True...

I went out there, and believe me, that thing isn't going anywhere, LOL!!

I did what Alan said, and it can easily give me a hicky...

I was just told by my wife that her boss needs me to come down and do his dumpster area.

They have to do them twice a year, per health department. Property management refuses to have it done and says that it is the owner’s responsibility.

I'm in!!

What's really cool is that in this one shopping center, there is: her restaurant, IHOP, Taco Bell, McDonalds, a Mexican Restaurant, an Italian Restaurant, Subway, a Pizza restaurant, Ralphs (Grocery Store).

All of which have there own assigned trash areas.

Gross way of making money, but that's why they gotta pay, right?

Ha Ha Ha!!

Does anyone else go dumpster diving?

Slurpppp!!!

Tasty!!

I do dumpsters quite often, and despite your best efforts to shovel, rake, sweep, scrape and whatever else you may do, you will have a very heavy and stinky net bag in that tank. Make sure those screws will hold it in place.
Post a picture of the bag and how it is attached and I may see what can be improved upon. I have been through the bag is heavier than the attachment device way to many times. Also, you will want a disposable cost efficient bag, as it is not worth the time or effort to clean it out.
If your tank will rely on the water to prevent collapse, what about when it is empty? As Grant said, round tanks are stronger. I once tried to use a plastic 55 gallon drum with my single head electric vac and sucked up the rag I had hanging from my pocket. The hose got clogged and the drum went boom. I now use a steel tank and 2" hose to eliminate any problems like that.

Originally posted by MR ALAN
I do dumpsters quite often, and despite your best efforts to shovel, rake, sweep, scrape and whatever else you may do, you will have a very heavy and stinky net bag in that tank. Make sure those screws will hold it in place.
Post a picture of the bag and how it is attached and I may see what can be improved upon. I have been through the bag is heavier than the attachment device way to many times. Also, you will want a disposable cost efficient bag, as it is not worth the time or effort to clean it out.
If your tank will rely on the water to prevent collapse, what about when it is empty? As Grant said, round tanks are stronger. I once tried to use a plastic 55 gallon drum with my single head electric vac and sucked up the rag I had hanging from my pocket. The hose got clogged and the drum went boom. I now use a steel tank and 2" hose to eliminate any problems like that.

Click to expand...

Good info to keep in mind... Thanks... I will post the pics, I'm sure I will be tweaking it here and there.

The manhole is 16â€￾ across, and the shop vac fit perfectly over the opening. I got the shop vac at Costco.

Hope this works, I'll have to keep an eye on the bag and empty it once in a while.

If all fails, I can use the shop vac container and the sump pump to pump the water into the tank from the shop vac.

The sump pump pumps at 6GPM.

Sure this is going to be some nasty work.

HAZMAT suits are available where?

Will that vac suck and pump at the same time, or do you have to switch between the two?
How many feet of hose can you use on it? If you can bump the hose to 2" it will allow a longer run, as well as not clog as easily.

Originally posted by OrangeCrest
This recovery setup kicks some butt.

I took my 325-gal water supply tank and bought a shop vac with a sump pump on it and put weather stripping on the manhole. Turned the vac on and.... Whala!! It works!!
...

Click to expand...

I used a setup similar to yours for loading plastic pellets into the hopper for an extruder. While it did the job very well, the motors used in shop vacs aren't designed to run for extended periods or they'll overheat. Also, the brushes in the motor typically have a lifespan of 100 hours (assuming you haven't been overheating the thing!)

If you're running the vac the entire time you are washing then I think you're going to be disappointed with it's service life. A better thing to use would be a "regenerative blower". You've seen these in action all the time: sucking canisters through the tubes at bank drive-throughs and Home Depot. A surplus regen-blower will cost $100-$200, or 4 shop-vacs Here's a link to a place I've bought stuff from before:

Surplus Center - Regen Blowers

Orangecrest,

That's brilliant. You deserve some kind of award for ingenuity. Are you using a separate sump pump in the tank with the vac in the big opening? It's money saving ideas like these that make these websites worth their weight. Thanks again.

Re: Re: You Might get a Kick Out of This

Originally posted by tesseract
I used a setup similar to yours for loading plastic pellets into the hopper for an extruder. While it did the job very well, the motors used in shop vacs aren't designed to run for extended periods or they'll overheat. Also, the brushes in the motor typically have a lifespan of 100 hours (assuming you haven't been overheating the thing!)

If you're running the vac the entire time you are washing then I think you're going to be disappointed with it's service life. A better thing to use would be a "regenerative blower". You've seen these in action all the time: sucking canisters through the tubes at bank drive-throughs and Home Depot. A surplus regen-blower will cost $100-$200, or 4 shop-vacs Here's a link to a place I've bought stuff from before:

Surplus Center - Regen Blowers

Click to expand...

Thanks.. I am checking it out... When this gives out, perhaps I can go that route.

Never seen anyone use a regen blower for recovery. Do they make large ones in the 200+ cfm range, and what if it sucks up some steam or water.
The hot ticket is a positive displacement blower like the carpet cleaners use. These thing really suck some water and can handle steam and water if the pump out system goes out. More pricey in the $1000.+ range not to mention some sort of power source, whether it be an eletric motor or a gas engine.