Question about my super sucker plan and Thomas Vacuum pumps

[TangTonic]

Greetings everyone. I am in the process of building a super sucker out of 12" Schedule 80 PVC reducing down to 2" for a hose attachment. The pipe will be capped on one end then reduced with a 12x10 reducer bushing, a 10 x 6 bell reducer and then a 6 x 2 reducer bushing. A 2" hose barb will allow for attachment of ABS 2" hose. A 2" bronze ball valve will be installed at end of hose before stinger. The pipe will be tapped with fittings for vacuum/pressure hose attachment and for a gauge. I am using PVC because I work at a water plant and can build this using scrap materials. For those who haven't seen Schedule 80 PVC, it has a generous wall thickness and more robust than the typical white schedule 40. My question is should I only be looking at diaphragm pumps or will WOB-L type Thomas pumps work also to draw a vacuum on the vessel? The WOB-L Thomas pumps seem to be cheaper on Ebay and they have a faster flowrate than diaphragm pumps. I just want to make sure these will work before I buy one. If so, the only downside is they draw more current, but I guess if they run for less time, it would probably equal out. Thanks for any help you can give me. Also, are there any reasons why a 12" schedule 80 PVC super sucker won't work?

 

[wmoguy]

TT, my super sucker is a 22 gallon vessel (or maybe 25, can't remember) I bought this pump @ Harbor Freight and it does the trick just fine. It sucks the tank down to a 25 inch charge in 5-7 minutes generally speaking. I learned a little trick that works well for me. If in the evenings I pump it down to about 22 inches, by mid day next day (when it's hot outside) I have a GOOD 30 inch of charge (probably more, but my gauge only goes to 30 inches) 30 inches will pump some oil something SERIOUSLY fast.
I couldn't tell you what psychics are beyond this phenomenon but it is pretty cool!


http://www.harborfreight.com/two-stage-3-cfm-air-vacuum-pump-66466.html