How full do you guys keep your water tanks during a pass. I had mine at least about 3/4 full and I kept getting an air lock in the pump. Do you guys keep them full to the top? My pick up for the water pump faces the front of the car.

Rick

 

By "facing the front of the car", do you mean the fitting on the outside of the tank faces forward or rearward? You need to have the pickup at the rear of the tank so the water covers the pickup upon acceleration. Even at the front, 3/4 of a tank should have it covered. do ou have a screen over the inlet to prevent ice from being sucked into the pump?

 

we have our fitting at the bottom of the tank facing the front of the car... you have to have a screen covering it so that ice cant get sucked in but make sure that there is enough surface area that plenty of water can flow to the pump... also what size is the fitting? ours is -16... and make sure that the take is mostly above the level of the intercooler as well...

 

My pick-up is at the bottom of the tank facing the front of the car and it does have a screen over it. I'm using 3/4" hose and a Meziere pump...12AN fittings. The cooler is mounted under the dash......it feeds at the bottom and drains at the top. I would have thught that 3/4 tankwould cover the puck up too......I'm only doing 1.5 60fts so far!

Rick

 

I keep mine full clear to the top, the more water there is in there the more heat it can store per degree of temp increase. Remember it's not like a radiator where you are removing heat to the atmosphere, the water has to store up all that heat you're removing from the air stream during the pass and then you dump it and start over.

If you're getting air into the pump then for some reason the pickup is becoming uncovered or you are getting the air into the pump and/or lines when you drain and fill it. Where is the pump located in relation to the tank? above the water line when you drain it or below? I did have to put a line on mine where I stop when draining the tank to prevent air from getting into the pump just to be sure that I don't have this issue.

 

Is it airlocking during the run or is it just when you go to fire it up for each run? I have heard of guys having to place a one way check valve in the lines so the system does not get an air pocket in it when shut off.

Chris

 

The inlet of the pump is at or slightly below the level of the tank outlet. I'm getting air lock during the run at some point. When I left the staging lanes to do my burnout one of my buddies verified that it is still running ........at the end of the run it was air locked. Good point Waterpog about the heat transfer being more efficient with a full tank. Do you fill it up past the drain back hole and let the pump push the water back into the tank??

Rick

 

my Outlet(feed for pump) is on the bottom at the Rear of the Tank. the return is at the front of the tank on top.

what i do is have about a 1/4 tank(5gallon tank) full with water. then fill the rest with Ice(about 17-20lbs). i have never had a problem with air lock at all.