Garden Irrigation Idea ... Comments Please

[blueriver]

I have a pond about 200' from my garden I am thinking of using a Gas 2" trash pump to pump to the garden.

I believe I will start with a 2" hard suction hose and strainer from the pond to the pump ... then from the pump run 2" line to the garden and continue with the 2" serving as the bulk head.

I think about every 30' across the bulkhead put in a Tee and reducing to a
3/4" line to run down the garden rows with a sprinkler head about every 30'

Estimated 200' of Bulkhead ... Tee in 4 lines of 3/4" each about 160' long with each line having 4 sprinkler heads.

This is all rough estimates ... Has anyone done such? What do you think?

 

[TRR]

So you're going to have sprinkler heads on a 30' grid. I'm not familiar with the pump performance specs, but it should work just fine if the pump can supply the pressure and volume. - Take a look at how many sprinklers you'll have and how much water they put out at the pressure required to cover the 30' and if the pump will put out that much water at that pressure it'll work.

 

[DAY]

what is the GPM of the trash pump? Don't forget to figure in the head- how much lift from the pond to the garden? The higher you have to lift, the lower the GPM delivered. and you need to make sure you have enough pressure to make the sprinklers work. Not enough and they just sit there! There's good info on the net- google 'irrigation'.

 

[ken4831]

I use a 1 hp. pump from a pond and also use the rain maker type of sprinkler each head is about 50' and on side of garden to make a fan shaped area then in middle is a head to spray 360 this gives coplete coverage. shut off valves to decrease flow if necessary. This way plowing or working the garden the piping doesn't interfer with preparing the soil. Tried to use movable types and wet soil allowed them to fall and have to always re set.
a old water heater is used to keep from having the pump run continous and maintain pressure.
Hope this helps.
ken 4831

 

[DAY]

Yet another way to do it is with "soaker hoses". That's just a layman's term for drip irrigation, and again, if you google that phrase you can get an on-line Masters Degree in the subject

The concept of the system is to deliver water (and fertilizer, if you chose) to the root zone of the plants, where it is needed. No wasting water between the rows, and no danger of getting the 'over-watering diseases' on the leafy plant parts.

 

[Knight9]

I've been thinking about doing this too. But I'm concerned about clogging the irrigation lines. Those pond strainers don't do a great job of filtering, just straining out the real big trash. Or maybe your water is just a lot cleaner than mine ;-)

Kevin​

 

[DAY]

Yes, it is cleaner- I use the overflow from my spring (which we drink!):laughing: flowing into a 100 gallon stock tank, and a Harbor Freight pump to lift the water to the garden (20').

For your (dirty) pond water you do need a filter. Check this one out at

http://www.lakeweeds.eventwebsitebuilder.com/LakePump.html

For the answers to questions you didn't know you had, go to:

http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/

 

[ENTS]

It is my understanding that trash pumps are low head, high volume. You need a high head pump which may be more expensive. Look for gas powered pumps that fire fighters use, like this one:

Davey Water Pump 4800 GPH, 6 HP, Model# AK280 | High Pressure | Northern Tool + Equipment

Later,

 

[RobertBrown]

Your sprinklers will have a gpm demand, a minumum flow rate necessary for each head to operate. This flow rate will incease with the spacing. Add up the flow rates, get the total and now look at the performance curve for the pump. If your pressure at that flow rate is below 10 (? a guess, could be higher) psi something has to change, as you are going to have a pressure loss due to friction (pf). If these numbers don't work consider a much smaller tubing and smaller heads spaced 18-24" on center. This will probably require a filter and if it is after the pump it will add to the pressure loss. Better to employ the use of some kind of strainer on the suction side, in the pond.
Pressure and flow problems can sometimes be resloved with a grid type arrangement. This means more pipe but smaller diameters. The supply pipe will spit down either side or the garden and smaller pipe connect to both sides. This is your most efficient configuation if your garden is of any significant size.
If you have access to a 55 gallon drum you could gravity feed drip irrigation and your pump just has to be big enough to fill the tank. Of course the tank would have to be elevated and the elevation to use for sizing the pump pressure should be from below pond level to the top of the tank.
If there is anyway to use an electric pump you could employ a float switch and the pump would automatically fill the tank.

 

[TracTrac]

If you use a gas engine I would recommend using a large pipe and pumping to a tank. That would decrease friction losses. After that allow gravity to take over. I can't think of any reason water must be sprayed into the air.
Unless your pond has clear water be ready for turbidity (dirt). Does your pond lose incoming flow in droughts? Another thing to consider is capacity of the pond vs you quantity needs. If you pull water from the bottom of the pond there can be good and bad. Good is this will remove Co2. Bad is the bottom water will be more saturated with minerals and turbidity which will clog nozzles. Another bad thing is fish sometimes go to the bottom when the water gets too hot. Cooler water slows down their need for oxygen. Pulling water from the bottom could raise the temperature of the pond 15-20 degrees. Top layer of water has more oxygen. Checking the dissolved oxygen could tell you where to remove from.
Knowing when to pull water is important. If you pull from the top in the afternoons you will lower the average pond temp. This depends greatly on the size of the pond vs. gallons needed.
I would place the pump on the opposite side from where the inflowing water is. The fish will thank you.