Irrigating garden with trash pump supplied by creek?

[cheeto]

I'm interested in getting some feedback on setting up my own personal irrigation. I have 6000 sq.ft. garden that I want to irrigate. The garden will be about 200 ft from the water source and approximatey 10 ft higher in elevation. Electricity is not a option. Gas powered will be the only way to accomplish what I want to do. The plan in my head is to purchase a cheap gas powered trash pump/ semi trash pump that will be supplied by a creek that borders my property. The creek is generally 25 to 30 ft across and about 3 to 4 ft deep where I will be pumping. I will have a pretty elaborate filter system that will filter most if not all of the solids. I plan to move that water about 200 ft to a 4 head manifold. From there I will be able to run 1-4 sprinklers depending on my needs. I have searched for weeks and have found little info on running a setup like this. There are a couple guys on youtube that have run this, but there isn't a lot of discussion on the use of common semi trash pumps as a irrigation pump. I'm interested in some of the theoretical problems in using this setup along with real world info. The pump I plan to use is the hyundai gas powered from walmart.com or red lion from tsc . Both are 2 inch in, 2 inch out and are rated about 6hp. Thanks in advance.

 

[paulharvey]

I would think about making a "kelley well" using a piece if say 8-12" water or sewer pipe with cuts in it, wrapped in fabric, placed in a whole with #57 stone in the creek, will filter your solids out. If the depending on the pump, I could see the pump surges making the sprinklers act up. If so, you might need a bladder tank and a backflow preventer, to allow steady/even working preasure.

 

[Gunny]

I do just about the same thing you're asking about. The only difference is that I have about 30 feet of elevation. My pump has a 2 inch intake, but necked down to 1 1/2 inch output. I run 200 feet of 1 1/2 discharge hose to a homemade 2 head manifold, then 5/8" garden hose connecting two impact sprinklers. I initially tried running 3 sprinklers, but I wasn't able to have enough pressure to get a very wide coverage, so I dropped it down to 2 sprinklers and got pretty good dispersion. I wanted a pretty wide pattern (a 25 foot radius) so that I wouldn't have to reset the sprinklers to water the whole garden.

I just put fiberglass window screening over the intake strainer and I use a screened hose washers in each of the garden hoses. Anything that gets past them can easily pass through the sprinkler. The only problems I've had is when I forget to flush the discharge hoses before hooking the sprinklers up. My pump runs pretty steady on this outfit, so I haven't seen any surges that amount to anything.

If this isn't enough detail for your needs, shoot me a PM, I'll help all I can. I'd really try out my way before spending the money on bladder tanks, etc, no sense in spending money on something that isn't really needed.

 

[daveshoot]

The key is to use the largest pipe you can afford for the long uphill run, because the pressure loss over 200' (and up 10) is more than many folks realize. Start with the flow and pressure you need to do the job in your 6000' feet and the time available.

The Hyundai at 5.5 hp should generate about 45 psi at the pump if I am reading the head spec correctly (they don't usually give enough info on these things for design purposes). You're gonna lose about 4.5 psi going up 10 feet and another 6.4 psi over 200' with 1.5" pipe. That might leave 35 psi at the garden.

 

[Rock knocker]

Make sure taking surface waters is legal

 

[hunterridgefarm]

I bought the Red Lion from TSC and irrigate between 2-3 ac. I have an intake filter attached to the pump and have a 15-20 foot rise out of the small river I pump out of. I can run 4-6 sprinklers and a fire hose nozzle at the same time. I use 2" flat hose and "T" off at several locations with cut-offs on each T. This allows me to irrigate different sections of the field. I attached a few photos. !st picture is where I T off coming out of the river. I connect the discharge hose to the PVC. The second picture is one of the in-line sprinkler set ups I use, but most of my sprinklers run off a 5/8 garden hose. I used this system last year and it worked great, however drip tape would be a more efficient way to irrigate. The date on the pictures are wrong as this set up was put together in 2012.

I plan to go with T-tape which is a type of drip irrigation this year or next. Most likely next year since I also want to use plastic mulch with drip irrigation.

 

[DFB]

We always used a high out pump at the farm for sprinkler head irrigation 80 PSI 11hp. A firefighting pump they called it.

I use a 3.5hp BS homelight/pacer pump I got at the old Farm and Family store years ago. I think TSC has them too.
I use it pump water uphill over 150' run @ approx 20'rise

2" threads necked down to use 1" poly pipe. It delivers a lot of water. Its rated 50 psi max. Sprinkler heads can make a big difference. Take a look at low output wobblers

 

[cheeto]

Wow! Thanks everyone for the response. This is the info I was working to find thanks. I went ahead last night and bought the harbor freight 2 inch in and 2 inch out. I found a 20% off coupon online and got the whole thing shipped to my door for $168.52. Plus it has the 212 cc motor that will power my old troybilt if all else fails. My biggest concern now is the effects of back pressure on the pump. I'm probably over thinking this whole thing. I will keep everyone posted on the progress. Once again thanks, I'm glad I finally joined this forum.

 

[cheeto]

Thanks

 

[cheeto]

[QUOTEI=Rock knocker;3299176]Make sure taking surface waters is legal[/QUOTE]
I live in Michigan and have legal right to use water that runs through or borders my property, as long as I dont pump more then 100,000 gallons per year. Even then I would just have to register the pump with the state and get a permit. Lots of water around here.