Big Vern, art thou becoming spoiled in the southern climate?
I tried a pool vac hose for the first one and it collapsed when I closed it off. I kinda use the rule of "if you can stand on it, it should work for suction".
Was looking at the camlok connectors but feared they would drip or leak when disconnecting, do you have that problem?

Hey SignDoc!

With all your mermaids you could have a bucket brigade!
This hose at Target was almost identical to what we use. It wasnt that crappy thin non re inforced hose it was actual suction hose. I can take a picture of it when I return for the second trip of cheap clothes for the family...
Camlok connectors are great. They do leak if you are not careful, we have 'bung' ends which are the male and female ends with closed caps on the ends. When we need to disconnect the hose, we keep the vacuum on and it seems to suck up any residual oil in the connector. stick the hose length together, (all our sections are 20' long) and continue down the line. Our suckers will operate well with up to 60' of line, but lose suction after 100 feet.
We are going to move to a booster line from a fire truck... It is on a reel, is 1.5 inches and long enough to hit any of our collection equipment from where we can park the truck. No more messy fittings to deal with, and it is nice and compact. I can see your trailer working nicely with a hose reel on it.
Florida isnt all that warm! Usually we experience a bit better weather while we are all down here, but thats okay! Anything is better than the snow up at home. Too bad I couldnt bring all my piggies with me. They would appreciate the holiday, but probably not the flight!
Vern

Yeah, I tried not to pay too much attention to the fire hose reel comment when you first made it the other day. But since you brought it up, it definitely has a high coolness factor, and not to mention would work really well for hose storage, so I'll start looking for one here soon.
Enjoy above freezing temps...

Yeah, the hose reel is more functional than cool...
It is really quick to pull the hose off the reel, suck out the oil, then hit a button and watch the hose go withering back onto the reel.
If you are looking for a good hose reel, ensure the hose isnt cracked or too old, and the union connectors either new, or tested. Nothing worse than a crappy union connector!
If you want, I can send you a link or two for brand new hose reels
I would have bought them, but the freight charge would be more than the cost of the hose!

Vern

I need a swag estimate from you guys. How much will I end up investing in the pumping valve parts of a sucker system? I will let the tank size be the largest we can affort to start with. But the pump parts are hard for a non engineer type to guess. Trailer is simple. Hoses are going to be a process. So how much for the fancy stuff? And I am not going to hold you to anything.
Thanks,
rusty
By the way it is supposed to be 70 here in NC this weekend.

Rusty...
First, SWAG refers to 'shit we aquire gigging'
for us old roadies you know...

Second, the valves are the cheapest item.
Depending on the size of the tank you get, you will need to size the compressor pumps properly. Too small a pump(s) and you will be waiting forever for pressure or vac to build.
I will use our 100 gallon setup as an example.
We have 2- 12volt diaphram pumps which do both vacuum and pressure. They are small but do the job. (I will get the specs for you later on) It takes 5 to 10 minutes to reach 25Hg - 30 Hg of vac with those 2 pumps provided the battery feeding them is fully charged.
That is also based on an empty tank.
Here is what you will need for a simple vac/pressure setup

4 - 1/4" ball valves
1 - Compressor manifold with at least 3 outputs
(one for vac, one for pressure, one for a gauge)
1 - Vac / Pressure gauge (30PSI / 30 Hg)
various black pipe fittings and pipe dope or thread tape
2 - Air Compressor pumps
1 - Tank
1 - Main valve (we use 1.5") Ball valve
some wire, marr connectors and a battery or use your cigar lighter in the vehicle.

Estimated cost is about $70 for the fittings,
and about $220 - $250 for 2 pumps.

As I have mentioned previously, Murphys Machines sells a plan on how to build a super sucker system which does both vacuum and pressure without changing hoses, only opening and closing valves.

It was worth the money for his plans.
I will post the info from our pumps for you; any air compressor pump will work provided you can thread in the air intake and exhaust ports on the cylinder head or better than that the diaphram pump.

Vern