Water Pump - electric or PTO

[Pooh_Bear]

I want to pump water from a nearby river up to my house.
Distance is about 400 feet. Approx 20 ft rise.
I can drive the tractor down rite next to the river.

I would rather use an electric water pump.
This is one I found.
Electric Water Pump on Ebay

Or I can get a PTO mounted pump like this one.
PTO Water Pump on Ebay

What do ya'll think of these two pumps.
If I go with electric I would like to mount it up at the house.
But I don't know if it will suck water that far.

If I go with a PTO pump there is setup involved each time I want to use it.
Plus tractor gas and leaving the tractor down there at the river.

I just want to pump water up to the house easily.

What do ya'll think about those two pumps.

You can see the layout of the property here.

Thanks.

Pooh Bear

 

[beenthere]

Nice looking place. Are you planning to bury the water line? How many gal/min are you wanting to pump?

On first blush, I would think the pump located at the river would be easier to get to work and more dependable, without having to prime it to get it started. Just thinking out loud. The electric will require some pretty substantial size wire to reduce voltage loss over that distance.

In my state, you cannot pump water out of the river without permits in place. Any problem where you are at?

 

[rpeter]

I just had to make a similar decision. I went with the electric pump. If you look at all the PTO pumps all they talk about is PSI at the spray nozzle. They are built for sprayers, not for moving large amounts of water over longer distances. I just like to go with the tool that seems like it was designed for the job. It did not sound like the roller pump was designed for what I was doing.

I use a small gas generator for power whenever I need to pump water.

 

[Pooh_Bear]

I can pump all the water I want out of the river.
No restrictions on it and no permits needed.

Mostly want the water to fill up a pool.
Also water a tiny garden. (40x40 feet)
Pressure isn't really important.

I can bury the line across the property to the tree line.
After that it would be exposed on into the river.
I wanted to mount an electric pump up at the house.
But I could bury electric line at the same time I bury pipe.

One option is to run electric and water line down inside the tree line.
There is a drop off there about 10 feet high.
Then I could put an electric pump at the bottom of the drop off
and it would only have to suck water about 4 feet vertically.
I would still be about 50 feet from the water.

Another option is to use a Well Jet Pump.
I would have to run 2 water lines to the river.
But the electrical would be simplified.
Would have to drain the system in the winter.

The biggest thing here is to do this as cheap as possible.
That's why I am looking at pumps on ebay.
I can get 400ft rolls of pipe for about $50.

What do you think of the two pumps I posted.
Any good or cheap junk.

Thanks.

Pooh Bear

 

[troweller]

You could run some 10 guage direct burial wire to a submersible pump in the river and run some black flexible poly pipe for water.

 

[demote]

If you were to mount the motor at the house, you would have to have something like a deep-well pump (two pipes as you mention). Something I've considered is investing in a portable generator. I know you mention your wanting to do this as cheaply as possible but the generator wouldn't be a bad investment and can justify it for many other uses as well as easily marketable. I suppose tropical storm Ailene is promoting my thinking right now as well. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[v8dave]

There are two issues in your situation about using a pump to suck water instead of pushing water.

A perfect pump at sea level can suck water only 32' up. I can't remember what the drop off (reduction) per feet above sea level is. Somewhere between 16,000' and 12,000 feet it's only 16' that suction will work. So, to make the numbers easy, say you lose about 1' of suction per 1,000' above sea level.

The pump you're looking at on eBay says it can suck water 9 meters or 29 feet. That isn't too bad but, I'd bet that at 20' rise for suction you'd be working that pump pretty hard for little or no water flow. It would take forever to prime the pump. And, if you're higher than you state, you'll be in trouble.

The second problem is the pipe you use for the line. If you still want to do a suction pump, you'll need to use a rigid line. A poly (or most any flexible) line will probably suck flat before you get any water out of it.

So, if you push the water, you'll get flow sooner and get more flow. Putting the pump at the top of the drop off will probably work. Use a rigid line of some type for the 5' drop to the water, galvanized pipe would work well here. Don't over size it too much--match the pump inlet size. Then use a modest size larger line on the run to the house, your coiled flexible poly line would work well here. The uphill larger size will help increase the water flow at the house.

So, that means you need to put either type down at the river. The Ebay electric pump looks like it would work fine

You'll need to cover an electric pump. Few inexpensive motors are truly waterproof they are mostly drip resistant. The eBay electric pump doesn't say any thing about water resistance.

For an electric pump run the largest sized wires you can afford down to the pump--minimum #10, be sure to get direct burial wire/cable too. The wire could end up being the most expensive part of the project.

 

[thcri]

Poor Bear,

Many years ago and I mean many so my memory is being taxed a bit here. In fact it goes back to when I was around, well under twenty years old. A friend of mine's dad pumped water up to his garden using an old tractor. If I remember right it was an old John Deere D with the steel wheels yet. He had the tractor at the top of the hill. This tractor had a very large water tank on it also that he made sure was full all the time. This was his prime for the pump and he also had a check valve in the line to prevent it from flowing back. But I can't tell you or remember what style of pump was attached to the tractor. But he used it to bring water up for the cows and the garden. He collected old tractors so this tractor just sat there and never moved. But the tractor was on the end you want it to be where you can wath it.

But I don't see why you could not come up with a pump of some kind that you could operate off your pto that would sit under a water tank/stand of some kind.

Sure wish that farmer was around yet I could ask him for you.


murph

 

[Pooh_Bear]

I thought about that too.
Put the pump up here and put a check valve on the bottom end of the water line.
I could fill it with water from the well. Then start pumping.
Probably be what I end up doing.

Now I also gotta figure out how to keep the line from freezing in winter.
I can bury it down to the edge of the yard.
From there it will be exposed for about 100feet to the water.
I could drain it but I don't want to go in the river to open a valve.
Anyone got any ideas about this.

Thanks.

Pooh Bear