There has been a similar thread for the balloons discussion a while ago, but as the question just popped up again regarding a huge iW dragon it might be worth considering it again over here.
I have rather good experiences with a membrane pump originally intended for a garden pool. There are two air outlets in form of short steel tubes, about 5 mm (3/16 in) in diameter which should be connected by aquarium hoses to the aeration elements in the water. The pump itself may neither be submerged nor become seriously wet, though.
To the steel outlets I connected very short rubber hoses and pushed them into a cork (from a wine bottle) into which I had drilled two parallel holes of 6 mm diameter (you need a sharp drill for this). And I put the cork with its free end in the corrugated plastic hose of a cheap manual air pump for inflatables -- voilà.
The advantage is clearly the low sound. What you can hear from it is the deep hum of the electric grid, 50 Hz in my country, but not very loud. I experimented with putting the pump between cushions to get it even more silent, then I could practically not hear it behind a closed door. And standing directly beside the installation you can of course also hear the gentle hiss of the air flow, but only a little.
Because, and now we come to the disadvantage of membrane pumps: the air volume per time is low. Probably 10 litres per minute, not more. But the pump has unlimited endurance, so it will inflate even the biggest dragon if you give it a couple hours. Of course you should check back in regular intervals: it can go to quite high pressures so left alone it could btp your toys without any emotion...
I have rather good experiences with a membrane pump originally intended for a garden pool. There are two air outlets in form of short steel tubes, about 5 mm (3/16 in) in diameter which should be connected by aquarium hoses to the aeration elements in the water. The pump itself may neither be submerged nor become seriously wet, though.
To the steel outlets I connected very short rubber hoses and pushed them into a cork (from a wine bottle) into which I had drilled two parallel holes of 6 mm diameter (you need a sharp drill for this). And I put the cork with its free end in the corrugated plastic hose of a cheap manual air pump for inflatables -- voilà.
The advantage is clearly the low sound. What you can hear from it is the deep hum of the electric grid, 50 Hz in my country, but not very loud. I experimented with putting the pump between cushions to get it even more silent, then I could practically not hear it behind a closed door. And standing directly beside the installation you can of course also hear the gentle hiss of the air flow, but only a little.
Because, and now we come to the disadvantage of membrane pumps: the air volume per time is low. Probably 10 litres per minute, not more. But the pump has unlimited endurance, so it will inflate even the biggest dragon if you give it a couple hours. Of course you should check back in regular intervals: it can go to quite high pressures so left alone it could btp your toys without any emotion...
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