irrigation booster pump qestion

[WTA]

I have a 5 horse 3 phase pump in my well that's putting out about 200 gpm roughly going out the 2 inch pipe wide open. I'm holding about 50 PSI at 60-70 gpm through my one big sprinkler with a 3/8 nozzle and a 1/8 nozzle on it.

Last year I was able to run 2 of these where the big one has a half inch nozzle installed but this year the biggest I can run is this 3/8. My pump is starting to get ate up by the sand is what happened.

For irrigation what i have is 2 inch pipe in all the fields coming from this pump. There are risers every 60 feet with a quick connect fitting.

I'm wanting to put a booster pump out there to boost pressure back up so I can run two big sprinklers again. For now, it's a cheaper alternative than replacing the pump and to get the pressure I really need I need a 10 horse pump. I definintly can't afford that right now.

Do any of you have any experience with booster pumps? I don't know squat about them really and want to be informed a little better before I go talking to salesmen. I want to be getting about 80-100 Psi at at least 80 GPM out there in the field for the sprinkler.

 

[schmism]

I have a 5 horse 3 phase pump in my well that's putting out about 200 gpm roughly going out the 2 inch pipe wide open. I'm holding about 50 PSI at 60-70 gpm through my one big sprinkler with a 3/8 nozzle and a 1/8 nozzle on it.

Last year I was able to run 2 of these where the big one has a half inch nozzle installed but this year the biggest I can run is this 3/8. My pump is starting to get ate up by the sand is what happened.

For irrigation what i have is 2 inch pipe in all the fields coming from this pump. There are risers every 60 feet with a quick connect fitting.

I'm wanting to put a booster pump out there to boost pressure back up so I can run two big sprinklers again. For now, it's a cheaper alternative than replacing the pump and to get the pressure I really need I need a 10 horse pump. I definintly can't afford that right now.

Do any of you have any experience with booster pumps? I don't know squat about them really and want to be informed a little better before I go talking to salesmen. I want to be getting about 80-100 Psi at at least 80 GPM out there in the field for the sprinkler.

Check your flow rates first. If your only getting 60gpm out of your ground pump, a booster pump wont help.

If your flow rate is satisfactory, its fairly basic. Check the pump curve for your HP requirement at the pressure head you need. If you got level ground you have no gain/loss in head, and the input pressure will help lower the overall HP requirement. (it takes less energy to move 40psi to 70 psi than it does to go from 20 psi to 70 psi) (in general your looking at a 1.5" 2hp pump would be my guess)

youll need a starter relay for your booster pump to cut on at the same time your well pump does. So generally the booster relay is wired after the pressure cut off (either high or low) so that neither pump runs without the other.

so you have the controller (or your manual light switch) trigger the pump relay, then your pressure switch, then your booster relay. It was a nightmare wiring up the last one i did.

 

[WTA]

I'm sure we have the flow for it. Just not the pressure. That pump does abotu 200 GPM when I'm flood irrigating with no pressure head on it. It's just lost it's ability to build up pressure well enough to drive more than one sprinkler anymore.

I was thinking more about a gas powered booster but no luck finding a suitable one yet. The company I buy all my irrigation stuff from told me yesterday I should install one near the well head and boost my entire pipeline up instead of using it at the riser though and that makes sense. If I do that I can run an electric and hook it directly to the controller for the sub pump. That would be easy. I called all of the pump and well people in town yesterday and none of them could tell me anything about a high pressure booster pump. I'm still waiting on a call back from one of them so maybe he will have an idea of what I am talking about.

 

[schmism]

. I called all of the pump and well people in town yesterday and none of them could tell me anything about a high pressure booster pump. I'm still waiting on a call back from one of them so maybe he will have an idea of what I am talking about.

there is really nothing special about them.... the one iwired up looked just like these

Sprinkler/Booster Pumps | PumpStoreUSA.com

fairly standard afair. For the booster i wired up they had a bout a 20ft hill they pumped up from the pond that the "well" pump was in. The well pump pushed up the hill 400' and the booster pump was up by the barn, and then out to large 1" impact heads to "water" the riding ring