Portable Water Wagon Project

[Theowegian]

Ive been working on this project for a couple weeks now and finally finished it up today. I thought maybe you would like to see how it turned out. So far, it works very well.

It is a water wagon that I pull with my compact tractor to irrigate my crops and garden. I designed this system to help me do the following:
1- pump water out of my pond and into the poly tank very quickly,
2- then pump water out of the tank to irrigate my acre of sweetcorn, all our little trees and my wifes garden,
3- it’s also a portable pumping station which can pump water from the pond, bypassing the tank and having a straight discharge. For example, I am sucking water from the pond and then discharge thru an irrigation pipe straight up to my garden about 200 ft away.

Here are the main components of my system:
Honda centrifugal pump, 4 hp, 190 gpm
325 gal poly tank,
array of PVC pipes and valves to divert the water.

Here’s the first pix.

Dwight

 

[Theowegian]

Closeup of the trailer. (Yup, I live in kansas)
I can fill the 325 gallon tank up in less than three minutes!

 

[Theowegian]

Here Im tossing the suction pipe into my pond.

 

[Theowegian]

Here’s a view of the water wagon from the tractor seat. You can see how I set up the valves and the array of PVC piping.

 

[Theowegian]

Final shot.
A side view of the water wagon. Note, I had to use rubber couplings - especially on the suction and discharge of the pump to permit some movement of the pump while it is running.
Also, there is an inline filter located near the back of the trailer and is used only during irrigation, not during filling. There is one valve located between the tank and the fender tha the pictures don’t show very well. Therefore, there is a total of four valves.

Lastly, there is a relief line right before the filter. That line is routed up to the tank’s top fill opening.

 

[have_blue]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Closeup of the trailer. (Yup, I live in kansas)
I can fill the 325 gallon tank up in less than three minutes!
)</font>

Do you go fast enough to need that wing on the trailer? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

All seriousness aside, nice rig. I like the way it's self contained. Interesting how the tank has notches to fit over the trailer tires... made to fit!

 

[Slamfire]

Actually the wing needs an adjustment, so it provides lift when the tank is full, and downforce when it's empty. I'd look for some other method than a wickerbill though, they are pretty slow. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[OldMcDonald]

Cost?

 

[Mike_C]

Nice job!

 

[Theowegian]

Cost:
4 hp Honda pump: $400
Poly Tank: $190
20' suction and 20' discharge hoses: $75
PVC valves: $45
PVC pipe, fittings and cement: $70
filter: $15
Relief hose and valve: $15
3 rubber couplings: $15
total (approx) : $825

The wooden thingy at the back end of the trailer is just a couple of 2x4" studs screwed together to serve as a hand hold and it also supports a crude water boom/tower (not pictured) which dangles off the side to irrigate my sweet corn.

thanks for the comments and for looking.

dwight