Highbanker, Honda WX15 Water Pump

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After researching various pumps for my Walbanker, I've decided to go with the Honda WX15 as recommended by several forum members.

I have already started directing my pump related questions at Wal but I thought they would be better served on the forum for future reference by others.

So for the guys running these pumps I have a couple of questions,

  • What hose lengths are you using?[/*]
  • What sort of running time are you getting out of a full tank of fuel?[/*]
  • When using in combo with a Walbanker, how much throttle is needed to maintain an efficient flow?[/*]
  • How often do you service your pump?[/*]
  • Is there anything I should be aware of with this pump? i.e the do's and don'ts[/*]

Please feel free to post up some pics of your Honda WX15 config.

Cheers,
Nugget
 
Just for reference sake, this is what I run with my banker.

30 meter webbed lay flat
2 meter swimming pool intake hose
Cam locks to hoses and pump
Cam lock to spray bar

Wal

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Thanks a million Wal, the pics explain a lot and I think I'll go with a similar config to yours.
 
I have the same Matt , except I dont have Wals lighter cloth wrapped hose, which I will be chasing. I have 2 lengths , 1 about 25 metres & 1 about 6 metres, Cam lock fittings as well.
The important part is to make sure you get the fitting exactly as Wal has them , run the 1.5 inch elbow & convert to 1" directly before the spray bar & you can run pump just over idle. if you convert from 1.5 inch to 1 inch BEFORE the elbow , you loose 50% preasure & need to run pump higher, that is the mistake I made with my home built version. The 1.5 inch elbow wont be found at Bunnings, but an irrigation shop.

Running for 6 hours I go through 1.5 tanks of fuel

Cheers Paul
 
for those of us that are to young to under stand inch's can we get hose and fitting diameter in mm please as well :)
 
headbut said:
I have the same Matt , except I dont have Wals lighter cloth wrapped hose, which I will be chasing. I have 2 lengths , 1 about 25 metres & 1 about 6 metres, Cam lock fittings as well.
The important part is to make sure you get the fitting exactly as Wal has them , run the 1.5 inch elbow & convert to 1" directly before the spray bar & you can run pump just over idle. if you convert from 1.5 inch to 1 inch BEFORE the elbow , you loose 50% preasure & need to run pump higher, that is the mistake I made with my home built version. The 1.5 inch elbow wont be found at Bunnings, but an irrigation shop.

Running for 6 hours I go through 1.5 tanks of fuel

Cheers Paul

Thanks for the advice Paul, would you happen to know how big the fuel tank is?
 
I reckon about 1 litre ? , I have the red 5 litre fuel can I would get 5 fills , thats a guess

To answer the other question , shops still talk inches as well as MM when it comes to irrigation
 
not for me mate others will have trouble buying fittings in inchs as we have changed system I have to deal with my dad every thing is still inch's to him :)
 
Hey Nugget,
I run a wx15 with a home made Walbanker

I have 25m of lay flat hose which i bought off ebay for about $70 delivered
It is quite heavy but looks robust. I have used it on two outings- no problems.
Here's the ebay link
http://bit.ly/1gq2k9R

I used the standard plastic screw hose fittings that came with the Honda.

For suction hose i use 1m lengths of pool hose that can be pushed together. I have 3 lengths.
These were from Bunnings.

The wx15 comes with a bright yellow strainer which i have attatched to the end of one of the lengths, the pool hose floats so i have attached a snapper lead to the strainer to keep it underwater and not sucking in any air ;)

I used a 1 1/4 inch irrigation riser for my spray bar. Cuts were done with a 1mm cut off wheel in a 4" grinder

The pump sits just under half throttle most of the time, depends if your pumping slightly uphill or not. I was getting around 2.5 hours per litre, i expect this to get better as the motor runs in.
I have bought the Honda 4 stroke oil from my local lawnmower shop for around $12 for 1 litre.
I will change the oil before i head out next trip as it probably has around 8 hours use now.

The whole package is great, can't wait to put some serious amounts of gravel through it soon.

Reeko
 
Just a tip on cam locks
Save your your hands
Go the resin chem resistant yellow clocks instead of the ally ones
Much easier to get on and off :D
 
Hi nugget
I hav various lengths 1 x20m 3x 30m, poly camlock fittings on ends. to join multiple hoses I use 32mm pvc pipe clamped on hose and a plain 32 mm standard joiner just pushed together , run goldhog matting . 3 hrs a tank.. change oil every 10 hrs approx. they r an excellent pump just keep an eye on air filter n oil n they will last. :)
 
Great to see your set up Wal.
I have been working on mine and to date this is what I have come up with. Not quite the wal banker but a bit of a hybrid. Test runs in the yard seem to have everything working OK. Hopefully I will get to test it out in the next few days at Oallen.
Jason.
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Maybe a suggestion to have a 10m and 20m length in the car. Use the 10m when close to water, easy to carry. Pull the big guns out when you are seriously far from the water.

One other suggestion Nugget, the Honda is 'the bomb", but my $170 buck ebay pump was a great start (only 200lpm). Hasn't skipped a beat and while ur "working things out" may be a good start pump to try. The Honda specs much better for the size but if ur only banking once every month or so the $600-$820 pricepoint is tough when ur also buying hoses etc at the same time. One day ill upgrade to the Honda when ive got all my ducks in a row. The cheap pump enabled me to buy everything else I needed while fumbling around with building the banker and all those little screws,fittings etc that add up. Give it 6 months when I have all the "extras", ill be able to just impulse purchase the Honda when ive got the spare cash. While im buying classifiers and other tit bits the $400 or so I saved on the pump got me some other accessories I also needed. Anyway just thought id throw that in there for the sake of those umming and aarrring about pumps. Yes I do agree the Honda seems the end choice when ur fully accessorised!
 
Twapster said:
Maybe a suggestion to have a 10m and 20m length in the car. Use the 10m when close to water, easy to carry. Pull the big guns out when you are seriously far from the water.

One other suggestion Nugget, the Honda is 'the bomb", but my $170 buck ebay pump was a great start (only 200lpm). Hasn't skipped a beat and while ur "working things out" may be a good start pump to try. The Honda specs much better for the size but if ur only banking once every month or so the $600-$820 pricepoint is tough when ur also buying hoses etc at the same time. One day ill upgrade to the Honda when ive got all my ducks in a row. The cheap pump enabled me to buy everything else I needed while fumbling around with building the banker and all those little screws,fittings etc that add up. Give it 6 months when I have all the "extras", ill be able to just impulse purchase the Honda when ive got the spare cash. While im buying classifiers and other tit bits the $400 or so I saved on the pump got me some other accessories I also needed. Anyway just thought id throw that in there for the sake of those umming and aarrring about pumps. Yes I do agree the Honda seems the end choice when ur fully accessorised!

That's how I see it too. Honda is pretty good, I had small Honda generator when I was sailing, long time ago. But is it four times better then eBay Pump? You pay lot of money for brand name. My two cents worth.
Karl
 
willo1 said:
Great to see your set up Wal.
I have been working on mine and to date this is what I have come up with. Not quite the wal banker but a bit of a hybrid. Test runs in the yard seem to have everything working OK. Hopefully I will get to test it out in the next few days at Oallen.

nice setup there mate, hope you ahve a short length of hose as well, sometimes its just a pain in the ass to find room to lay your hose out when you only need 5 meters max. I have 15 meters, 10 meters and 5 meters covers all situations
 
G0lddigg@ said:
willo1 said:
Great to see your set up Wal.
I have been working on mine and to date this is what I have come up with. Not quite the wal banker but a bit of a hybrid. Test runs in the yard seem to have everything working OK. Hopefully I will get to test it out in the next few days at Oallen.

nice setup there mate, hope you ahve a short length of hose as well, sometimes its just a pain in the ass to find room to lay your hose out when you only need 5 meters max. I have 15 meters, 10 meters and 5 meters covers all situations

I reckon that's about right.
 
KarlS said:
Twapster said:
Maybe a suggestion to have a 10m and 20m length in the car. Use the 10m when close to water, easy to carry. Pull the big guns out when you are seriously far from the water.

One other suggestion Nugget, the Honda is 'the bomb", but my $170 buck ebay pump was a great start (only 200lpm). Hasn't skipped a beat and while ur "working things out" may be a good start pump to try. The Honda specs much better for the size but if ur only banking once every month or so the $600-$820 pricepoint is tough when ur also buying hoses etc at the same time. One day ill upgrade to the Honda when ive got all my ducks in a row. The cheap pump enabled me to buy everything else I needed while fumbling around with building the banker and all those little screws,fittings etc that add up. Give it 6 months when I have all the "extras", ill be able to just impulse purchase the Honda when ive got the spare cash. While im buying classifiers and other tit bits the $400 or so I saved on the pump got me some other accessories I also needed. Anyway just thought id throw that in there for the sake of those umming and aarrring about pumps. Yes I do agree the Honda seems the end choice when ur fully accessorised!

That's how I see it too. Honda is pretty good, I had small Honda generator when I was sailing, long time ago. But is it four times better then eBay Pump? You pay lot of money for brand name. My two cents worth.
Karl

When it comes to tools and serious equipment, the old saying "you get what you pay for", more often than not rings true. If say "Golf" was you're passion and you played regularly, you could go to St Vinnies and get a set of cane handled golf clubs for about a buck. They will hit the ball plenty good enough for a game of golf.

If you want to enjoy you're game of golf and get the most out of it, you'd go to a golf shop and get a better quality set.

High banking pumps are the same. If you want the trouble free service of a portable pump to get to the better locations, and prospecting is your passion, then the better quality pump will make the whole experience more pleasurable. Same goes for Metal detecting if that is a great passion. Just my opinion of course.

Wal
 
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