What size fluid reservoir do I need for my wood splitter?

[sdnomad]

I am in the process of building a wood splitter. It has a 16gpm 2 stage pump, 4" X 24" ram, and a 10hp motor.

How big of fluid reservoir do I need?

Or where can I go to find out what is recommended?

Thanks.

 

[upandcommer]

the rule of thumb I was told is 1 gal reserve for 1gpm so a well rinsed beer keg should do you just fine if you need help emptying it prior to rinsing let me know I would help just for the sake of helping a brother wood cutter out.

 

[sdnomad]

The tank I am making is out of 6x10 x 39" long rectangular tube steel which come to 9 gallons. I was hoping to reduce it slightly. I did find some specs on other commercial splitters. They have 16gpm splitters with 33quart or 8.25 gallon tanks.

http://www.wikco.com/images/spco3.jpg

 

[Patrick62]

From what I have experienced.

The tank is the radiator. As long as the hoses and fittings are sized right then there should be little extra heat generated. Smaller tank will work. With that in mind, Sometimes overkill is a good thing.

I have one with 16 plus gallon tank, 16gpm pump. Give it an hour, and it is warmed up nicely. I will change hoses eventually.

Homemade tanks are cool, just remember it has to be clean! I recomend some sort of strainer on the inlet to keep hunks of wood, rocks, and extra sparkplugs out of the pump.

-Pat

 

[Basso]

Tank size

Hello,
I would make it at least 12 gallons with your 16gpm pump.........16 gallons would be fine also.

Basso

 

[mga]

we had another thread here about tank sizing and designs.

i suggest you search for it and read the information available.....it'll help you 100%

 

[CharlieG]

Tank Size

My splitter is a 9.5 gallon tan (of ATF DEXRON III), and runs nicely at 16GPM. Like another poster said, the tank is like a radiator, cooling off your system. Fill to about 1 inch from the fill cap-remember not too much because there will be fluid expansion with the heating of the fluid.

 

[triptester]

The shape and design of the tank is sometimes more important than the capacity. A tank that is a square cube will be much less efficient than a tank that is long, narrow, and taller than it is wide.

The purpose of the tank is to act as a radiator and air separator, so the greater the distance between return line and suction the more efficient it will be.

Example , a tank that is 12" high X 12" wide X 12" long will be less than half as efficient as a tank that is 12" high X 6" wide X 24" long even though the capacity is the same.

A properly designed tank may only require 3/4 gal. capacity per gallon of pump rating. Where a poorly designed tank may require 1 1/2 gal. capacity per gallon of pump rating.

 

[drmiller100]

a few design considerations.
have the return line go into the side of the tank, not the top, not the bottom. you want the fluid NOT to aerate as it returns to teh tank.

you want the suction line below the return line. this encourages air bubbles to not go down teh suction line.
you want the return and suction not pointing at each other.
cooling is one very minor thing the tank does. more importantly it lets the air settle up the tanki.