Hey I have a question... I have a pump for my fuel tank that fits in the bed of my truck that is a 12 volt DC motor and I am wondering if I can connect this to 120 volt AC? It has your standard 120 volt plug connected to the motor, so I assumed it could be connected to 120 AC, however when I connected it, it simply buzzed a little and then blew the breaker. Any suggestions?

 

Poof- probably, you killed it.
12 VDC stuff is not compatible with 120 VAC.

Try it again on 12 VDC, see if it still works?

 

12 VDC stuff is not compatible with 120 VAC.

Not necessarily, I have a couple of snow blowers that use a standard 12V starter motor that use 120VAC through a bridge diode to start the motor. These snowblowers don't have a battery so they were made this way from the factory. The 12VDC motor has/is the same one on my battery start lawn mower.

 

You should be more careful, specially with stuff that pumps fuel!
Unless there's circuitry that converts the 120 vac to 12 vdc included on the pump, the dc motor won't work on ac, and the 120 vac will burn the motor, as the voltage needs to be the same, not 10 times the nominal value!
If you have a manual for that pump, that's the place to search for information on it's use, or try to find the manufacturer's site, etc.

 

Hey I have a question... I have a pump for my fuel tank that fits in the bed of my truck that is a 12 volt DC motor and I am wondering if I can connect this to 120 volt AC? It has your standard 120 volt plug connected to the motor, so I assumed it could be connected to 120 AC, however when I connected it, it simply buzzed a little and then blew the breaker. Any suggestions?

Yeah - its phutted.

 

Hey I have a question... I have a pump for my fuel tank that fits in the bed of my truck that is a 12 volt DC motor and I am wondering if I can connect this to 120 volt AC? It has your standard 120 volt plug connected to the motor, so I assumed it could be connected to 120 AC, however when I connected it, it simply buzzed a little and then blew the breaker. Any suggestions?

Look carefully at the pump. Hopefully there is a name plate with some data. See if the name plate data includes current? Yes, you can run a 12 VDC pump using a 12 VDC adapter. The size of thew adapter 120 VAC to 12 VDC will depend on the pump current needed. Also 12 VDC pumps like this normally in an explosion proof enclosure so no sparks around fuel. A few pictures would go a long way is seeing what you have as I have never seen a fuel transfer pump with a standard 120 VAC line cord and plug.

The result you got comes as no surprise so I would, as mentioned, make sure the pump is operational. A 12 VDC automotive type fuel transfer pump is not designed and will not run directly off 120 VAC mains power.

Ron

 

From my experience, automotive fuel pumps run submerged in order to prevent ignition from com sparks etc.
Max.

 

From my experience, automotive fuel pumps run submerged in order to prevent ignition from com sparks etc.
Max.

And sometimes cooling - I've heard of a FI pump being run dry and got hot enough to decompose PTFE seals. The hydrogen fluoride apparentl caused someone a nasty injury.

 

Look carefully at the pump. Hopefully there is a name plate with some data. See if the name plate data includes current? Yes, you can run a 12 VDC pump using a 12 VDC adapter. The size of thew adapter 120 VAC to 12 VDC will depend on the pump current needed. Also 12 VDC pumps like this normally in an explosion proof enclosure so no sparks around fuel. A few pictures would go a long way is seeing what you have as I have never seen a fuel transfer pump with a standard 120 VAC line cord and plug.

The result you got comes as no surprise so I would, as mentioned, make sure the pump is operational. A 12 VDC automotive type fuel transfer pump is not designed and will not run directly off 120 VAC mains power.

Ron

 

My guess is that is either a mains plug used on 12v DC, or there is a 120v/12dc power supply internal, likely the former.
It looks like it might be a gear pump.
Could be blown now.
Max.

 

I think that there is some good old fashioned redneck wiring. I bet if you had the truck it came off of, it would have house wiring and an electrical box plumbed into the battery and a household receptacle.
This is a 12VDC motor and does plumb into vehicle wiring but not like that. Try it on 12v. Probably smoked. You can buy repair kits for them. I have done a few in the past.

 

My guess is this is not factory, someone put that plug on the pump. That pump should have had a 30 amp inline fuse which would have immediately blown when you applied 120 VAC. The 12 volt DC pump motors use an inline 30 amp fuse and the 24 volt DC pump motors a 20 amp inline fuse. If the pump survived you really want to get a better connector and a connector rated for at least 30 amps DC as well as add an inline fuse available in just about any automotive parts store. You might also find a suitable connector at a parts store. Under a 20' run of cable you likely want to use a minimum of AWG 10 wire

They do make AC pumps but I don't believe yours is one of them. The name plate data is pretty clear. You may want to give this a read.

If you do want to run this pump on 120 VAC I suggest a 12 VDC 30 Amp capacity power supply.

Ron