The 33 1/3 second mystery #20
 

Fimble's basement has flooded owing to heavy spring rains. He has two pumps, neither of which will do the job. The 1" output high volume pump has a fine intake screen which will clog with debris, and the 2" output pump is old and cannot manage the lift from the basement floor to the window.

After a few minutes of pondering, Fimble has an idea which works well. What is his solution?

move?
fit them together in such a way that pump 2 pumps a short distance into a bucket or something and then pump out of there with pump 1.

I thought about that, but if you do that, wouldn't all the debris that would clog the 1" pump just get transferred to the reservouir by the 2" pump and end up still clogging the 1" pump?

Remove the screen from pump one.

I don't think that would be valid...

take the house off and let the water evaporate then put the house back on it wont cost that much.

pump 2 is postioned to clear off the screen on pump 1 while it pumps the water out.

No valid answers yet, lads. I'll check tomorrow before heading out for the week. :D

sump pumps have a float switch which turns them on when the water level gets to a certain level. Using this principle, you can use the old pump to clean the new pump. Position the old pump so that its float switch activates at a higher water level than the strong pump, and so that the inlet for the old pump is right next to the filter for the strong pump. The strong pump will then pump the water out until the filter is too clogged, at which point the water will rise and switch on the old pump, which will suck the debris away from the strong pump, and the strong pump will take over again and pump the water out.

Of course, the whole premise is invalid since a properly set up sump system filters the water before it gets to the sump pit, so there wouldn't be any debris to clog the filter in the first place :D

Sorry shakran. The pumps that Fimble has available are not of the sump variety, and would be better described as trash pumps. My bad for failure to specify.

place the smaller 1'' one inside, or at the end of the 2'' one? that way it will give it the extra power, and the 2'' will filter out some of the debris... or at least some of the debris will simply pass by in the area between the 1'' tube and the 2'' tube

So very close, but still not quite right. :hmm:

All he needs to do is clear the basement? Swap filters.

The solution involves no filter swapping or cleaning.

Switch the outputs so the high volume pump uses the 2" output and the weak one uses the 1" output.

On the no filter swapping, that is a good idea and should count as an answer :-D

Eh-no. Only one pump is used in Fimble's solution.

The 2" pump pumps directly to the 1" pump.. Therefore, the 2" does not get clogged, and only has to pump to the 1" high powered pump and out the window

OK, I'm gonna call BS on this one then. There are multiple possible solutions, and several of them have been mentioned here. Puzzles are fun until they become akin to word problems in school, where 10 answers may be correct but you get flunked unless you give the answer the prof wants. At this point, this puzzle is rewarding mind reading ability rather than problem solving ability. Only one pump? How could we possibly know that from the original question? There are so many viable solutions to this puzzle that it's now a matter of luck rather than intelligence and critical thinking ability that will determine who "solves" it.

i.e. Use the high-output pump and get off your lazy ass and clean the damn filter!

Run the pumps in parallel

Swap filters

Swap outputs

Go outside, dig a deep pit far away from the house, and run the pipe down into it. The rise is then lessened, and the low-output pump can do it.



Maybe it's just me, but I prefer problems that reward thinking rather than guessing.

Yeah.. many answers have been presented that would work perfectly well.

Well, since you think this is BS-the answer is based on the Bernoulli Effect, and has been used by fire departments for many years.

Fimble takes his high volume 1" pump, and draws from a bathtub full of clean water, thereby negating the need to clean the intake filter. The discharge of this pump is placed an inch or so inside the 2" unused pipe from the other pump which couldn't do the job.

Fluids in motion have a lower pressure than static fluids and as such will draw adjacent fluids into the lower pressure area created by concentric orifices. When the draw level approaches floor level, a wet towel placed across the assembly will allow draw to within an inch of floor level, within the parameters described.

I didn't think people would become cranky simply because they couldn't figure it out.

No bunny awarded.

well dude we got cranky because you kept telling us that our viable solutions were wrong when in fact they were right. A better way to have phrased the question would be "list all possible ways" to solve it. Otherwise, like I said, it ceases to be puzzle solving and becomes instead random guessing.

duh... i could have told you that... :crazy:

Put some chlorine in, and use as a pool.

I like that answer. When life hands you lemons...