Homemade Siphon Pump – How To Make One Yourself

Last Updated on July 7, 2024 by Sara Rose

How do you make a homemade siphon pump? If you ever have a fluid in a large container such as a storage tank, and need to get the water out even if you don’t have the necessary equipment, it may be helpful to know how to make a homemade siphon pump. In this article, we will take you through creating your own.

What Would You Need A Siphon For?

A siphon is used to move liquid from one place to another, in the case where a pump is not available or cannot be used.

Examples of instances where you would need to move liquid include;

• if you needed to completely empty a fish tank
• adjusting the water level in the grow bed to keep from overwatering the roots

Cheap materials are often used and the process is quick once you get it right.

The size of the materials such as the siphoning pipe that you use will depend on the amount of liquid you intend to move. The length of the pipe would depend on the distance between the containers you are moving the fluid between.

How To Make A DIY Siphon Pump

To be able to make a homemade DIY siphon pump, you only need 1 or 2 things to make a cheap one. You may not even need to purchase any new materials. If you have an old hose pipe lying around, it will make the perfect siphon.

You will also need a storage container, in the case where you would like to keep the fluid, like fuel that you would like to reuse for other purposes. But if you are siphoning water from say a fish tank and do not need that water anymore, you may just let it run on the ground or use it to irrigate your plants (they will love this by the way, fish water is rich in nutrients).

Step By Step Of How To Make A Siphon Pump

If you want to make a siphon pump for a larger container, such as a water tank, you may need a few more materials, but it is still a cheap and easy process. Let’s follow this step-by-step on how to make a siphon pump.

Step 1: Gather your materials

You will need tubing, a clear plastic bottle, a ball valve, and 3 male hose adapters. The length of your tube will depend on the distance you intend to move the fluid across.

You will also need tools such as scissors or another cutting implement, a wrench, and a lighter.

Step 2: Drill a hole in the bottle

Drill a hole in the bottle cap, the same size as your adapters.

Step 3: Insert the adapter into the hole

Insert one of your male adapters into the hole that you have cut on the bottle cap.

Step 4: Cut the bottle

Use your cutting implement to cut off about two inches off the bottom of the bottle, and use a lighter to seal off the edges

Step 5: Attach adapters to the ball valve

Screw on your adapters to both ends of your ball valve. Use plumber’s tape to tighten the adapters and to help ensure that there will be no leakages.

Step 6: Cut and attach the tubing

Use your cutting implement again to cut about 4′ of tubing. Attach one end of this tubing to the male adapter attached to the bottle, and the other end to one of the adapters on the ball valve. Attach the one end of the remaining tubing to the last male adapter.

And there you have it. your own DIY siphon pump. The role of the ball valve is to help you siphon without having to go back and suck out the fluid which you may not want to get in your moth.

You can use your siphon for different fluids, provided you can clean it properly and well, and not expose yourself to any health risks.

How Does Siphoning Work?

As we know, to use a siphon you first need to suck liquid through a pipe to create pressure. Once a certain volume of fluid moves over the bend of the siphon, more fluid will get sucked by gravity. And as long as the right pressure is maintained, all the fluid you need to move will be sucked out.

Using A Siphon Pump

So how to use a siphon pump once you’ve made one? The steps to operate a siphon pump are as follows:

1. Insert the suction pipe into the container of fluid you want to move,
2. Insert the discharge hose into the receiving container or let it run out into the ground if you want the fluid to run out
3. Pump the tube full of water by shaking the suction pipe in the fluid, remember to open the ball valve. Once the tube is full the fluid should start moving. Make sure that your receiving container is at a lower level than the initial container containing the fluid to make this process easier.

Conclusion – Homemade Siphon Pump

We hope that this article is clear and concise and gives you the confidence to go make your own homemade siphon pump. This is a very useful skill to learn because it can be applied in so many instances where fancy machinery or pumps are not available.

It can also be a fun skill to teach little kids, as an experiment that will help them in future.

Learn how to make your own homemade siphon pump and you will never feel stranded or stuck for a pump whenever you need to move liquid between two places.

Remember that a simple siphon pump requires no fancy materials. You can use materials that you may have lying around in your workshop.

Be careful however when you have your siphon ready to not use the same one to siphon gasoline and other liquids. This is because you cannot clean gasoline out of your tube and this could be deadly. If need be, make two separate pumps and dedicate them to different functions. This should be easy since you now know how to make your own DIY siphon pump.

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