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I'm trying to run a front load He Samsung washer (13 gallons water per wash) with water from a 18gal tub sitting on top of it. This is not enough pressure to get the water to work. It needs a minimum of 20psi but likely better if we can get a normal home pressure, roughly between 60-80psi. This means I would need to get a pump, but what flow rate for the pump? There are garden pumps with 1gallon per minute rate that runs 60psi. Will this work? I called Samsung and they tried but have no answer as to flow rate. Please help identify what requirement in terms of flow rate or anything else you know that I might have missed for a pump to work in this situation. Why? House burned down. No water source currently, only rain & collected water in buckets. I'm running this off of a generator. It seems the He washer uses less than actual hand washing the clotehs for the family. Thanks!

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    Beware: if you have a pump you'll have to have some sort of pressurized reservoir between it and the washer to moderate the pump's on/off cycles. Otherwise the pump's supply and the washer's need will likely conflict, and you'll have trouble.
    – Daniel Griscom
    Commented May 28, 2018 at 22:44
  • Could you please elaborate on what trouble might come without a pressurized tank? I just got the first two washes from a tub-pump-washer setup and it worked really well. The pump is on-demand marine pump and I put my hand in the tub to feel when it was working and when not. It seemed to synchronize just right with the washer demand. If having a tank might mediate potential future issues, I'd do it.
    – người Sàigòn
    Commented Jun 3, 2018 at 1:18
  • I probably sounded more certain than I should have. If the pump is designed to supply water needs on-demand then it's likely you'll be fine.
    – Daniel Griscom
    Commented Jun 3, 2018 at 1:54

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Possibly a sump pump.

Or, you can get about 8 psi for every 20 feet of height of the tub, such as on the roof or in a tree.

Or you can put it on pause, open the door and pour in the water.

Or you can remove the top cover, and find the vent in the top of the outer stationary tub, attach a hose and fill.

You could get poly drum 20 gallons or larger, or gang together 4 five gallon buckets with gasket lids. Attach a bicycle or auto tire valve stem and a garden hose outlet. Put your 15 gallons water into the drum. Replace the screw-bung so it's air tight then pressurize it bicycle pump. The smaller the air space, the less time to pressurize, but the quicker the pressure will drop.

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  • I'll look into sump pumps.I think the bike/air pump sounds doable. I wonder how much the air pressure translates to water pressurre. If I get the drum to 50 psi, does it translate to 50 psi in water pressure?. Hanging the water some 50ft up won't be feasible. For pausing, these washers actually move water differently ( they spray water through the clothes); so dumping water in won't work right and will not wash properly.
    – người Sàigòn
    Commented May 26, 2018 at 1:57
  • air psi will equal water psi. but air will expand to replace the exiting water. If the air space doubles the pressure will cut in half. the equation is $P_1V_1 = P_2V_2$.
    – April's Squeeze
    Commented May 26, 2018 at 2:53
  • I think manually adding water could work if the OEM required quantity was known, but i've never tried it, nor any of the others.
    – April's Squeeze
    Commented May 26, 2018 at 3:04

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