A flooded boiler room or an expired water heater means that there’s a lot of water that needs to be pumped away to put things right. It’s only occasionally that I have to deal with such things, but if it requires an immediate response, the Milwaukee M18™ Transfer Pump gets the job. To clarify, I’m not a plumber so I’m not usually the first choice for a fix, but sometimes I’m the first responder.
Here on Nantucket Island we have had such a wet season that water levels are unusually high. The combination of wetter wetlands and astronomical high tides in the nearby Harbor has caused flooding in a number of basements and crawl spaces. We discovered about 4″ of water in a 12’x 12′ space with an oil burner and commercial (!) electrical panels. That’s a big job for a battery-powered pump, but it’s what I had and I was curious to see what it could handle. I brought the pump and 4 REDLITHIUM™ 9.0Ah batteries and hooked it up to a 50′ garden hose going up the stairs and out a window.
The pump is self-priming and very smooth. So smooth, in fact, that I wasn’t sure it was drawing any water until I put my finger over the intake hose. Drawing it was, and by the time the first 9.0Ah battery was about done the water level was down more than 2″. The second battery got the level down over 3″ with more than 2 bars left on the fuel gauge, but it was time to close the store overhead.
This is not an expected use of the M18™ Transfer Pump, but it did it well with no complaint and no leaking. It was barely warm to the touch after a battery and a half of solid run time. Our only disappointment came when we checked the water level the next morning and found that it was right back to where we started. This condition will likely exist until the water level in the nearby wetland drops and the storm-driven high tides become less frequent. Clearly the best way to deal with this is to build a proper sump pit and install a permanent pump with a float, but first we need to dry it out.
When it was time to pack it up, I was pleased that I was able to pull the pump and intake hose and walk it upstairs to disconnect the discharge hose without spilling a drop. I was wary of having a 50′ hose dump its contents on me when I pulled the pump, but it was easy, clean and dry.
This is what Milwaukee Tool’s web site says about the pump:
“Faster Water Transfers, Faster Service Calls. The M18™ Transfer Pump brings new to world cordless innovation to the industry with the fastest setup in the marketplace. With a self-priming pump, you can connect and go quicker than ever. The tool’s flexible impeller and powerful pump moves water at up to 480 gallons per hour, generates up to 18’ of lift and produces up to 75’ of head height. As a part of the M18™ System of tools, it is powered by REDLITHIUM™ battery packs, which deliver up to 240 gallons moved per charge on a XC5.0 battery pack. Onboard REDLINK™ Intelligence can recognize when the tool stops moving water and automatically shuts itself off to avoid dry pumping. Additionally, REDLINK™ provides optimized performance, and overload protection abusive situations.”
The M18™ Transfer Pump is available as a bare tool for $179 (2771-20) or as a kit with an XC extended capacity battery and charger (2771-21) for $279.
-dvl
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