THis will be the second year in a row that I use my fule pump and have problems .
Let me explane , I only fly in the summer , about 12 times a summer or 12 outtings .

Last year my magnum brand broke (Hobby People ) ok that went after about 10 uses .

Now my Tower Brand (hobbico ) is doing the same thing , its makes the noise as if its pumping and no fuel.
I cleaned the filter , changed the lines in the event that there was an air leak , checked everything . still no fule will pump

I think I am going to the good old manual jobs but its really disappointing to fly as little as I do and not be able to rely on a simple eletronic pump

Anyone elese have these problems ?

The shaft from the motors to the pump has a rubber or plastic drive that will dry out or break. I have taken them appart and replaced the drive and they are better than new. The motor is running but not turning the pump.

Most of the hand pumps from the different companies have the same pump unit inside when you take them apart.

There was another thread around here a few weeks ago about the coupling on the electric fuel pumps

is the drive a home made unit that can be fabriacted at home ?

Once you get it apart, you will see it s no big deal to repair. May just need to be relocated on the 2 shafts

Ok thanks , i just want to make sure I know what to look for .

Hey Live Wire , is that name after the HalDebot Live Wire Champ -if so that was my very first RC plane , built it with my dad in the early 80ties

That user name come from the old CB day's when I worked on radio's and TV's I did have a live wire many year's ago. Seems like yesterday.

I've tried using electric pumps, but they never seem to hold up. I've had my old six shooter manual pump for over 30 years and it still works fine. I've had electric pumps now and then when I buy guys out of the hobby, but they never seem to hold up. For my gas planes I use a geared manual pump which will fill a 16 oz. tank in about 38 turns. If I was flying a 40% 150 cc plane with holding 48oz. tank I would probably get a electric. I think the geared pumps work pretty good.

Thanks for the help guys , going to disassemble first , then if that does not work I am going to the crank pumps , I only fly up to 180 size but mostly 120 4 strokes

yeah the problem with the electricpumps is that the immediate torque from teh motor sheers off the pump drive on the motor shaft. this isbecause the fuel evaporates and leave luibe oil behind which makes the pumps gears stick. turnthe pump motor on and snap it sheers off.

You can repair but it will sheer off again. I just use a hand crank pump now. easier more reliable and delivers enough fuel per revokution to fuel up in less than a minute in a 12oz tank.

if you could replace the pump drive unit on the end of the motor shaft with something permanently attached then it would be fine.
alternatively find yourself a automobile window washer pump and use that to drive the pupm unit. they are far more robust. 

I had a similar problem w/ one of my elec. pumps...the plastic coupler was slipping on the motor shaft. The motor ran but the pump was barely pumping.

I took it apart and cleaned it...put some scratches on the motor shaft and CA'd the coupler to the motor shaft. It worked for a while, but then it started leaking...

The replacement leaked from day one...

Using a hand crank pump now...has been working fine for several years...(hope I didn't just jinx myself )

well its pays to save old junk , I switched the pump unit out of the Gobbico one for the magnum one , the pump itself must be clogged ect .
I will disasseble that later , at leaste now I can go fly this weekend .
Thanks for the tips

After experiencing the same problems discussed here, I tried a slimline pump which has been working for 5 years + without fail.

Six-shooter works for me.

The Hobbico pumps are gear pumps. The back side has a brass disc against the gears. There is a big rubber ring that rides against this brass disc to hold pressure against the gears to seal them. If you loosen the three screws on the back of the pump just a smidgen, the gears will turn freely.

1 word SLIMLINE BOXER


having gone thru this same scenario and the fun of cleaning up the leaking fuel throughout my flight box, i decided to use what actually works.
this fuel pump by Slimline is like the hand pumps except it is done by a motor. the motor drives 3 rollers against a large piece of fuel line that creates a suction and pressure to fill the tank. nothing leaks. i bought the maintenance kit, and now 3 years later i still don't need it.
not the cheapest piece of field box equipment out there in regards to pumps, but the most trouble free to use.
based on spending money on 2 of the so-called popular electric pumps, this pump isn't that expensive at all, and it's quiet............none of that annoying whine that lets everyone know you are to lazy to crank a mechanical pump.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXNB26&P=0

Those fuel pumps are just no good, they work for maybe 3 or 4 outings and then poof they take a poop and it's 10 to 12 buck's a pop, Do like I did and get you a Dave Brown "Six Shooter", they make 2,,One is for glow and the other is for gasoline, After 2 of those other nasty money drain pumps, I got a Dave brown six shooter pump and it's been doing it's thing for 6 years now, The other day I broke off the tubing fitting, no problem I just tapped threads for a 6-32 pressure or fuel fitting (Super Tigre $1.49 Tower # LXFX78) and no worries and fixed tubing fitting..Tower has what I mentioned, Just type in Dave Brown Fuel Pumps in the search bar and it will come up, note also that the DB pumps are slower that what you've been using but guarantee on my testimony you will never wear one out....greengoose...

Buy a cheap electric pump and it will last about as long as the 3 month warranty. Sometimes it won't even make it that long. I had one die after two weeks.

I've solved the problem by buying the best electric fuel pump on the market, the Slimline Boxxer Fuel Pump http://www.slimlineproducts.com/onli...oxxer_pump.htm . I've been using one for several years now and it's still running strong. Internally it's the same type pump as the highly rated, manual Dave Brown Six Shooter but electric powered. The housing is machined from billet aluminum. And best of all, parts are available for rebuild so when it does finally have problems you can just rebuild it instead of buying a new pump.

It does cost a few dollars more but way less than all the cheap pumps I went through in the same amount of time that I've used this one.

Dave

I love it how this thread came to be a recent addition, I was today looking for a decent replacement for my fuel pumps. I fly frequently, then will stop for about 6 months, and even though I gave maintenance and repairs to both electric AND hand-crank Hobbico's and the like, these puny pumps fail miserably. I recommend any modeller to stay clear of these. So far, the winners of the lot seem to be:

Manual Glow & Gas
1. Dave Brown six shooter

Electric Glow
1. Slimline boxer or SL 2000 (Fuel bottle mounted)

What about Gasoline? Any GOOD, RELIABLE electric fuel pumps out there?

Geared Manuals - These handle the majortity of my needs very well, walked away from electrics years ago. Don,t care for Six Shooters as they cannot be operated one handed when mounted on a gallon bottle or jug.

If you choose geared manuals always leave them with a prime without back turning and when they are not used real often then do check every few weeks by back turning carefully before reversing till it is primed agine.

John

Thanks for all the advice , its funny that the hobbico and magnum did not last long considering I am a summer fair weather flyer lol , really lame !!

I have one working now as stated from my rebuild , the other motor was fried and again it was barely used !!!

I am going to pick up a six shooter

i am also going to check out the boxer , I would rather spend the money and only struggle with my flying [X(]

See if you can find a Sonic Tronics Mark X

They have a solid reputation but cannot be used with gasoline

http://www.sonictronics.com/xcart/home.php?cat=301

I have used six shooters before and I am aware of that problem, however I am planning on mounting them to a more robust surface, such as the wall of my trailer, so that they don't dance around when fuelling.

This is my mission: to have a robust fuelling system, that allows me to be as worry free as possible, and if murphy comes along, still have enough redundancy to be able to fill up without having to pack everything and go home.
(I mostly fly alone, so that is why redundancy is necessary, in other circumstances, I would borrow a friends fuel pump at the field )

I also discovered that regular automotive fuel pumps might seem like the solution to my problem of electric gasoline fuelling.
When I get a chance I will go ahead and try setting up an automotive pump. Will post results here <br type="_moz" />