Moved in my house about a year ago. Lots of new discoveries on a 120 year old house and property. It had a one acre field that was neglected. I wanted to turn it into a garden. So after cutting saplings down moving rocks and anything that the brush hog wouldnt like i finally got it brushhogged well there were two very soupy spots that i got buried in... several times. July rolls around still had two soupy spots but i plowed it plow hooked up on one of the wet spots and i got buried. After a sequence of events i ended up finding out these two spots where springs that at one time some one dug out and placed 3' x10' clay pipe into the ground so hired a company to put drains in. They put the drains in to keep it below the clay pipe and they capped them so i have access. Well garden is finally in now i want to use these springs so i dont have to stretch out 200' of hose all the time . So i have some submersible pumps and a portable 7.5kw generator. Thinking if i drop the two submersible in the springs i should be able to connect them to sprinklers and cover the whole garden. One pull start the generator pumps come on sprinklers go. It keeps me from having to do maintenance runs on my generator in the summer. Im just not sure how the pumps will like the back pressure. Or if i should just elevate an ibc tote or two fill them and gravity feed soaker hoses. Anyone with ideas or
Garden watering using my resources
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Depends on the submersible pump, most that I've seen don't have an issue pushing against head pressure, so sprinklers shouldn't be an issue.
It really depends on what the springs are capable of for flow rate, trying to fill an IBC tote quickly might pull more water from the spring that it can re-supply.
It really depends on what the springs are capable of for flow rate, trying to fill an IBC tote quickly might pull more water from the spring that it can re-supply.
The advantage of the tote solution is that they could be filled slowly, maybe with a solar-powered pump? Paging peakbagger.
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Solar Powered Well Project
I did an upgrade to the project I started last summer to pump water out of unused surface water well for my garden and grass watering. When I built my house 30 years ago in my development I had no nearby neighbors and was tight on cash so I had a ground water well put in. It never ran out of...
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I was on the road today, thanks for posting the link to my prior post.
It really comes down to how much water you need and to lesser amount if the water is clean. Most submersible pumps are centrifugal with wide clearance to pass solids, that generally means lower efficiency which is a fundamentally a low efficiency design. Ideally if you have clean water you can go with positive displacement pump, its a lot more efficient, the trade off is they will not tolerate solids and if you try they will wear out and break quickly. I was starting a lawn and needed a higher volume of water and was using a Shurflow diaphram pump (a version of positive displacement pump). It also has a key component which is an internal pressure relief valve. PD pumps will not last long if the discharge is closed without some way of protecting the pump from being shutoff.
I and others have tried soaker hoses including so called low pressure hose and it works initially but plugs up after a few days. I think it plugs up with some sort of biological substance as when I flush the lines not much comes out.
BTW, instead of gas generator, honda and some clone companies make small gas-powered pumps, they are centrifugal but keeping a generator out to the loop probably offsets a lot.
Ideally the higher the tank the more pressure. 2.31 feet is 1 psi. I built my wood stack with what I had around plus I had to lift the tank into place. Another 10 feet high would be nice but it would get even more complicated using cheap bilge pumps and a three old 60 watt panels.
It really comes down to how much water you need and to lesser amount if the water is clean. Most submersible pumps are centrifugal with wide clearance to pass solids, that generally means lower efficiency which is a fundamentally a low efficiency design. Ideally if you have clean water you can go with positive displacement pump, its a lot more efficient, the trade off is they will not tolerate solids and if you try they will wear out and break quickly. I was starting a lawn and needed a higher volume of water and was using a Shurflow diaphram pump (a version of positive displacement pump). It also has a key component which is an internal pressure relief valve. PD pumps will not last long if the discharge is closed without some way of protecting the pump from being shutoff.
I and others have tried soaker hoses including so called low pressure hose and it works initially but plugs up after a few days. I think it plugs up with some sort of biological substance as when I flush the lines not much comes out.
BTW, instead of gas generator, honda and some clone companies make small gas-powered pumps, they are centrifugal but keeping a generator out to the loop probably offsets a lot.
Ideally the higher the tank the more pressure. 2.31 feet is 1 psi. I built my wood stack with what I had around plus I had to lift the tank into place. Another 10 feet high would be nice but it would get even more complicated using cheap bilge pumps and a three old 60 watt panels.
Thanks for the insight! Its great to get opinions from others. If i go with the tote option i have a 2" trash pump to fill those as well as catches when it rains. I have a decent slope so i am thinking about 3' off the ground would do it. Im leaning towards the totes the wife would have an easier time turning a valve on and then off after there is enough water.
Harbor Freight has an electric pump with a pressure tank mounted on it. I believe the name is spelled Drumond. That is close if not correct. I water about 4 acres with one. It has been running since 2017. It will easily run two rainbird sprinklers mounted on T posts at the end of 400' of garden hose.
The pump is on a timer, and the hoses have timers on them also. Each hose timer will feed 4 hoses or 8 rainbirds. The hose timers run on AAA batteries and I change the batteries every other year.
The setup is spring box to cistern, cistern to pump, hoses to timers, timers to rainbirds. I water 6 hours each night on timers, and set other hoses out during the early morning. I have a 2100 gallon cistern, and probably pump out 1000 gallons per day. That guess is based on the old 1000 gallon cistern I would pump pretty much dry every day.
I water this much to keep a green belt around the house. We do not have fire protection in this area.
The pump is pretty cheap, and I doubt I use $10 worth of electricity each month.
The pump is on a timer, and the hoses have timers on them also. Each hose timer will feed 4 hoses or 8 rainbirds. The hose timers run on AAA batteries and I change the batteries every other year.
The setup is spring box to cistern, cistern to pump, hoses to timers, timers to rainbirds. I water 6 hours each night on timers, and set other hoses out during the early morning. I have a 2100 gallon cistern, and probably pump out 1000 gallons per day. That guess is based on the old 1000 gallon cistern I would pump pretty much dry every day.
I water this much to keep a green belt around the house. We do not have fire protection in this area.
The pump is pretty cheap, and I doubt I use $10 worth of electricity each month.
Wow, that is quite a setup. Hope we all make it through this summer. It is shaping up to be a record heat.
They, the timers, are manufactured by Orbit and we get them at Home Despot. I also have a 2100 gallon cistern off the well. It feeds the house, and the well pump only runs every 4 to 6 weeks. The house is gravity fed from the cistern.
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