Drafting Instructions for 4201 and 4250

re wagner - 2/19/2005

4201 and 4250 can both pull water from some source of water other than the hydrants (i.e., creeks, cisterns, and porta-ponds.) This is called 'drafting'.

Steps for drafting on 4201:

  1. Make sure that ALL of the drafting connections are air tight! This will be (and has been) the major problem with getting a prime started. If you don't hear the pump change tone is 20-30 seconds you probably have a loose connection somewhere.
  2. Leave all valves shut.
  3. Turn up the pump speed a bit.
  4. Push Primer Valve in until you hear the pump sound change (again 20-30 seconds.)
  5. Watch the Main Pump Pressure Gauge. It should read around 100-150 pounds when the pump/lines are primed.
  6. Once primed you can fill the tank by pulling the tank fill valve or pump directly to hoses/discharges.
  7. NOTE: If pumping directly to discharges do not use the Tank-toPump valve.
  8. NOTE: Also do not use the Tank Fill valve when using discharge valves.
  9. REMEMBER: Open and Close ALL valves slowly! Failure to do so can cause serious damages to all sorts of things that you do not want to fix! ALSO, doing so can cause the prime to be lost and you may be without water till it gets restarted... Be forewarned!

Steps for drafting on 4250:

  1. Make sure that ALL of the drafting connections are air tight! This will be (and has been) the major problem with getting a prime started.
  2. There is no primer valve on 4250.
  3. Once the drafting hoses are placed in the water source (i.e., portapond) and if there is some water in the tank, you can open the Tank to Pump valve a bit till you see water flowing out of the screen device on the end of the drafting hose. The close the Tank to Pump valve.
  4. Pull the Tank Fill valve or the discharge valves, but not both!

In both cases hooking up the hard drafting hoses can be a hassle! It will take 2 or more folks to do it quickly.

On 4201 hooking up the 5" drafting hose may take 3 or more! It is a hard task in the best of time! If reasonable, using the 2 1/2" drafting connection may make more sense and only slows down the fill rate a bit.

On 4250 you may need a gender changer to do the hookup.