Hello all, I visit here often but rarely post as most of the time all my thoughts have been posted by the time I read the thread. I am looking for some help on this situation though. I have a pond that is drying up because of lack of rain and the little creek that feeds it is down to a trickle. Below my pond (litterally 100 feet from the dam), still on my property, but CLOSE to the property line back in the woods there is a little creek and kind of a swampy area. The creek flow is probably only 1/2 gallon a minute or something. I am trying to think of a way to pump this water back up the hill (about 20 ft vertically and 100 feet linear) to my pond. I would love to do it using solar so it doesnt cost me any on my power bill. My biggest question is how to collect the water out of a swampy mash area. I was considering burying a 55 gallon drum with some holes in it so that the water would seep in then I could pump that water. I was going to set up a timer to turn the pump on and off for 5 minute bursts or something.... Any help is greatly appreciated!!!
Ideas to gather and pump water from swampy area to my pond....
- Thread starter Nilesw
- Start date
A windmill will do the complete job for you (if you have any wind). A 2" cylinder connected to a pump rod can provide plenty of water over time. An 8' wheel is equivalent to about 1 hp in a smooth, brisk wind from any direction. And, it will work day and night.
Western
Super Member
Windmill is tried and true, whether it will give you the volume you need, it would depend on allot of variables.
The drum idea would work too, or maybe dig a small lagoon, let it fill then use a gas powered water pump to drain it into your pond.
The drum idea would work too, or maybe dig a small lagoon, let it fill then use a gas powered water pump to drain it into your pond.
Kays Supply
Veteran Member
The volume you are talking probably could be handled by a 12V bilge pump. A 12v battery and a 12v solar charger could be all you need. The bilge pump probably will have a float switch on it to control your cycles.
Wis Bang
Gold Member
We used to de water sludge in a 40 cu yd container using a sump made form 1.5 steel drums welded together. we used a sump pump w/ a float awitch and sliced the drum(s) up w/ a plasma cuter to let the water in. Just hosing down the inside a little would get the juce flowing again.
Sorry guys but windmill is out of the question.... I got no wind only sun to power this thing!!! I was thinking of a plastic 55 gallon drum so it would not rust but I am concerned about it eventually filling up with muck. maybe a 55 gallon trash can so I could take the top off and muck it out??? would a bilge pump pump water that far??
cityfarma
Silver Member
How deep is the water? If fairly shallow, you will need to collect in a hollow or drum as you suggested. An alternate system was shown on Australian TV.
In shallow water, it is nearly impossible to suck up only the water with a hose as the suction at the hose end is too great and will suck up the mud as well. What is required is a means of increasing the suction area. The invention was basically two plough disks welded as a clamshell with a gap. The suction pipe sucked from the middle. The total area of suction was thus increased to the circumference of the discs times the gap. As the flow rate is reduced into the clam, there is minimal mud sucked in.
The idea was put forward by an Australian farmer to allow water to be collected from nearly empty dams.
Cityfarma
In shallow water, it is nearly impossible to suck up only the water with a hose as the suction at the hose end is too great and will suck up the mud as well. What is required is a means of increasing the suction area. The invention was basically two plough disks welded as a clamshell with a gap. The suction pipe sucked from the middle. The total area of suction was thus increased to the circumference of the discs times the gap. As the flow rate is reduced into the clam, there is minimal mud sucked in.
The idea was put forward by an Australian farmer to allow water to be collected from nearly empty dams.
Cityfarma
i do not think a bilge pump will give you enough head lift. Also bilge pumps are not made for constant duty, the cheaper ones aren't and if you go heavy duty on the bilge pump you got to watch out what size solar panel you would need and that can get very expensive. I did look into solar power to circulate water in my pond and the cost was more than what I wanted to spend. I had a old 60 watt panel set up for 12 volts that was given to me and ran a cheap bildge pump from walmart. It worked for about a month and did not move enough water. I am going to move the solar panel onto my cover for my tractor. Add a battery and a couple LED setups with a switch and I will have some lights plus the battery can be used for jumping the tractor or running my 12volt air compressor etc. I need to add this on my ever growing list.
OK anyone out there willing to take a stab at how much solar power it would take to run this pump say 10-15 times a day for 7 minutes a time or so? I know I would need a panel a nice big battery and an inverter.
Pump in question:
46' Water-Lift Sump Sewage Waterfall Pond Pump 4/10 HP - eBay (item 250470848822 end time Aug-22-09 13:22:48 PDT)
Pump in question:
46' Water-Lift Sump Sewage Waterfall Pond Pump 4/10 HP - eBay (item 250470848822 end time Aug-22-09 13:22:48 PDT)
radioman
Super Member
Not sure why you were concerned about the electric bill. For amount of work and power it consumes, a sump pump should work fine. If it a distance to get power out there a problem, perhaps a large invertor running off from your vehicle? If you get a large invertor , say about 3000 watts, it will have enough power to start it up and then once running it will consume about 800 watts. a sump pump can move several hundred gallons or so in no time. This is the easiest and cheapest way i can think of. Having a solar power coupled with batteries will cost more then getting a gas powered pump or invertor and sump pump.