external pump question

[joeyt66]

Do you need to drill the tank to use an external ? Or can you attach hoses to each end and run them up and over the sump?. It will be used as return pump only. Wondering if i use without drilling what will happen in a power outage,when power comes on will the pump burn out?
Thanks

 

[cdbias2]

You can go up and over only if it is a "self priming" pump.

 

[joeyt66]

heres the pump

 

[Henry Bowman]

You can prime the pump by manually sucking water over the side of the sump into the pump but if the power goes out, the pump will lose the prime. When the power comes on (and you arent at home) the pump will run dry until the thermal overload on the pump kicks in. You'd have to manually re-prime the pump.

You would be better off finding a way to drill the sump so the pump's impeller stays "wet". Otherwise you'll need to find a self priming pump.

BTW, that pump is very quiet but does add a bit of heat to the tank.

 

[Toddrtrex]

My two sumps with external pumps are not drilled, used the over the top method. I only have to prime the pipes when I move, or completely pull the one end out of the water. Have never lost the prime while doing water changes.

A basic picture of one of my set ups

 

[Henry Bowman]

^^^^^ that makes alot of sense....