I am new to the world of water pumps (as you will see), never have owned one. Not new to country living though. Here in Virginia we're suffering through a drought and my gardens are withering. I have been watering from our well sparingly to keep things alive but I don't want to do that too much.
I have a decent size pond with relatively clean water and it has never gone dry. I also have relatively flat land. I am trying to figure out if I can pump from the pond directly to my gardens. It's a horizontal distance of approximately 500'. I know, that's a lot. However, the good news is that the elevation change (lift) is only around 5-8' max over the entire distance. I have tried to do a lot of reading and it seems my biggest enemy is going to be friction loss based on pipe size. If I read the chart correctly, I'd be adding 13' of loss per 100' (2" pipe), for a total of 65' + 8' = 73' + whatever the fittings and connectors have on the system. The pumps I'm looking at are rated for 90' head lift or a little more so the math seems to suggest it *could* work - unless (likely) I'm missing something.
If I end up going this route I would eventually bury the line most of the way for a permanent system. But running 2" line 500' is going to be prohibitively expensive and time consuming for now, not to mention the ground is like concrete. Option 2 is to repurpose a 275 gallon water tank that I can put on my trailer, pump that full in just a minute or two, and then haul to the gardens where I can use a small electric pump to distribute it. Obviously less work overall but more time consuming going back and forth.
I am looking at several brands of 2" pumps that range from about 160GPM up to 180 in some cases. Is it even reasonable to consider going direct to the gardens over this amount of distance and lift? Could I chain two pumps together? Sorry if these are dumb questions, this is a new idea. Thanks in advance.
I have a decent size pond with relatively clean water and it has never gone dry. I also have relatively flat land. I am trying to figure out if I can pump from the pond directly to my gardens. It's a horizontal distance of approximately 500'. I know, that's a lot. However, the good news is that the elevation change (lift) is only around 5-8' max over the entire distance. I have tried to do a lot of reading and it seems my biggest enemy is going to be friction loss based on pipe size. If I read the chart correctly, I'd be adding 13' of loss per 100' (2" pipe), for a total of 65' + 8' = 73' + whatever the fittings and connectors have on the system. The pumps I'm looking at are rated for 90' head lift or a little more so the math seems to suggest it *could* work - unless (likely) I'm missing something.
If I end up going this route I would eventually bury the line most of the way for a permanent system. But running 2" line 500' is going to be prohibitively expensive and time consuming for now, not to mention the ground is like concrete. Option 2 is to repurpose a 275 gallon water tank that I can put on my trailer, pump that full in just a minute or two, and then haul to the gardens where I can use a small electric pump to distribute it. Obviously less work overall but more time consuming going back and forth.
I am looking at several brands of 2" pumps that range from about 160GPM up to 180 in some cases. Is it even reasonable to consider going direct to the gardens over this amount of distance and lift? Could I chain two pumps together? Sorry if these are dumb questions, this is a new idea. Thanks in advance.
