Fuel Saving Irrigation Engine

Fuel saving irrigation engine ENGINES Engines 17-3-13 Pennsylvania farmer David Hoover used an old Mack truck engine coupled to a 5-speed transmission to cut fuel consumption to as low as 1.2 gal. per hour when pumping irrigation water. "I had been using a Deutz DX 160 tractor or an IH 856 tractor but they burned 2 or more gal. per hour. It also tied up a tractor and we had to keep changing tractors depending on what field chore we were doing," says Hoover. The 237 Mack engine and transmission came from a junked garbage truck. He remounted the engine on the stripped-down truck frame carried by a 2-wheel axle so he can tow it around the farm as needed to pump out of creeks. The pump, positioned at the back of the trailer, is driven by a pto shaft that runs through a transfer case he got from an old army truck. "We had to use a transfer case to reverse the pto shaft because it turned the wrong direction coming out of the truck transmission. There are universal joints on the end of every shaft. I never would have thought it would run as smoothly as it does," says Hoover. Fuel tanks mount on both sides of the tongue. The irrigation pump mounts on a frame welded to the backof the frame. A tin roof is held up above the engine by steel uprights. Murphy safety switches automatically shut down the engine if any part of it fails. "We never had any safety switches on our tractors so if anything ever failed when they were running over night, it could have been very expensive," says Hoover. He pumps water through 1,000 to 1,500 ft. of 5-in. pipe to a 750-ft. 21/2-in. hose reel. With 90 psi at the hose end, the engine consumes about 1/2 gal. per hour when the irrigator's working on level ground. When irrigating hillsides, fuel consumption may increase to as high as 1.8 gph, says Hoover. Contact: FARMSHOW Fo11owup, David Hoover, 772 Carroll Rd , Patton, Penn. 16668 (ph 814 674-5962).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.