12 volt water pump

[Zig]

I have a small trailer with a 250 gallon water tank on it that I pull around with my 3038 JD. I currently have a fimco 2.1 G.P.M. pump on it to help me water my small seedlings around the farm. Currently all my seedlings have tree tubes on them with a gallon milk jug attached at the bottom with a small hole in it to drip water on the trees. It works well enough, but it is slow to fill the jugs and I would like to speed up the process. (there are about 275 of these) I would like to get a pump that would take me closer to 4-5 gallons a minute and would like to have some recommendations on the type of pump that would be reliable and easy to hook up and use. I know that fimco makes a 3.8 gallon a minute rated pump but have not read great reviews on this. Any suggestions would be appreciated. The reason that I do run drip irrigation is because of no access to water in that area.

 

[Travelover]

I've been using a HF pump for a couple of years for this very purpose. Once after sitting all winter it wouldn't start and I took it apart and freed up the brushes. Ran fine all summer after that.


12v Marine Utility Water Pump

 

[Stimw]

I would go with one of the HF gas pumps. The one I bought a couple years ago for $200. does a great job of pumping water!
You can turn down the throttle to an idle and it still puts out a good stream.
If that's still too much you could rig a bypass to handle the volume.

 

[jaotguy]

try a bilge pump for a boat ... small , cheap and a decent flow ( but no pressure )

 

[Stihlrunner]

Any RV store will have a wide selection of 12V pumps in all styles, most of them are on demand pumps so it will have a pressure switch/regulator. You can go to an industrial supply store like Graingers and get heavy duty 12V constant pumps for things like carpet cleaning machines and sprayers. Expect to spend $150-250 for a decent quality pump.

 

[Gunny]

try a bilge pump for a boat ... small , cheap and a decent flow ( but no pressure )

+1, bilge pumps have good flow rates, just adapt the outlet down to whatever hose size you're using.

 

[Diamondpilot]

+1, bilge pumps have good flow rates, just adapt the outlet down to whatever hose size you're using.

But no lift. 3 to 5 feet max.

Chris

 

[jaotguy]

12V 2,000GPH Bilge Pump | Princess Auto

 

[uglyboywith11fingers]

12V 2,000GPH Bilge Pump | Princess Auto

+3 on the bilge pump. I use one of these as a battery back-up sump pump, it pumps up over 8 feet to ground level with good flow.

Pete

 

[Bladehauler]

how bout one of these ??

Surplus Center - 19 GPM 12 VDC HYPRO PUMP

 

[fish6942]

I have a very similar situation where I use an RV water pump. I'm going to assume that you have a section of garden hose connected to the pump to allow you to travel from tree to tree? The problem that I see with the bilge pumps and the one linked to in post #2 is that they run continuously so when you shut off the flow at the end of the hose, what happens to the pump? The RV pumps have a built in pressure switch to alleviate this problem. I suppose a person could rig up their own pressure switch somewhere after the pump.

BTW - I do something similar to you with your gallon jugs except I use 5 gallon pails with a 1/8" hole drilled in the bottom of the sidewall. I'm not sure that 1 gallon of water would do that much for a small tree.

 

[jaotguy]

bilge pumps have loose fitting impellers ( no real pressure ) so shutting it off with a standard hose spray won't do any damage... or simply put the end of the hose back into the tractor tank and let it run ( use a small clip to hold the end from falling out of the tank)