midlf
Platinum Member
Eddie - the first question you need to answer when considering high pump rates from the creek is How Many Gallons per Hour can the creek supply? Also at high pump rates what is the trash content of the creek going to be?
Water Pump advice needed.
- Thread starter EddieWalker
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Nat
Platinum Member
Eddie, go to Lowes and buy a swinning pool pump. Make sure it is an inground pool pump and buy 2 ea. 1 1/2 male adadpters for flex hose and buy 2 ea. 30' vacuum hoses and then run a temp power cord from the house thru the woods to the pump. Any decent pool pump will pump 8,000-10,000 gal per hour. Pump and fittings and hoses shouldn't cost more than 300.00 and the wire can be reused. The pump is made to run 24/7 and will pull 8-11 amps so not to expensive for the duration. 12/3 wire is under 200.00 for 250 ft so 500 may get you there, Later, Nat
Kyle_in_Tex
Super Star Member
Eddie, If I remember you said you have about 40 something acres to feed the pond. I haven't calculated yet how much our pond has but maybe twice that. When it rains the 1st inch or so, the ground usually soaks it up, but the 2nd inch on, it flows like a river in our creek.
You just need a good 5-6" rain and it will probably fill it up. I think there is a low pressure headed this way from a tropical storm off baja california.
I'd try to give it a while and let mother nature save you some $$$. Get some bermuda planted whereever there could be erosion.
You just need a good 5-6" rain and it will probably fill it up. I think there is a low pressure headed this way from a tropical storm off baja california.
I'd try to give it a while and let mother nature save you some $$$. Get some bermuda planted whereever there could be erosion.
OP
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
midlf,
You're right, it's a concern that I might suck the creek dry during the dryer months. Right now, it's flowing really good and there is a very deep hole that's about 40 feet long, four to six feet wide and in the neighbor hood of six feet deep. I plan to pull from that hole and keep the intake about a two feet below the surface. I'll just wait and see what happens and adjust once I see the results.
Nat,
I did consider a waterfall pump, but the closest power is at my meter and it's 1,300 feet away from the creek and not where I'd want to pull from. I'd probably need 1,600 feet of wire and it would go across areas of my land that I have to do allot of tractoring. I also need about 20 feet of lift. Down the road, I have thought about putting an electric pump in the creek to just constantly run water into the lake, but that's just an idea. Not sure if it's a good one or not yet. hahahaha
Kyle,
Your right, Mother Nature will give me all the water I could ever need if I want to be patient. The amount of watershed is just a guess. It's kind of hard to tell how much will go which way on my neighbors land that drains to mine. With the ground being so dry, it's really tough to figure out how much I'll get.
The last rain we had here gave me an inch and a half in my guage. Around my small pond and my pasture, I had pretty good run off, but around the lake, the rain just got sucked up around all the trees. I guess the areas with trees absorb more water than open land??
Even if the rains filled the lake, I'd still want a pump for those months that nothing happens. My creek never dried up, even after two years of drought. I'm thinking that if the lake was full next spring, I'd still want to pump water into it at least a few times a month just to fight evaporation between rains.
Eddie
You're right, it's a concern that I might suck the creek dry during the dryer months. Right now, it's flowing really good and there is a very deep hole that's about 40 feet long, four to six feet wide and in the neighbor hood of six feet deep. I plan to pull from that hole and keep the intake about a two feet below the surface. I'll just wait and see what happens and adjust once I see the results.
Nat,
I did consider a waterfall pump, but the closest power is at my meter and it's 1,300 feet away from the creek and not where I'd want to pull from. I'd probably need 1,600 feet of wire and it would go across areas of my land that I have to do allot of tractoring. I also need about 20 feet of lift. Down the road, I have thought about putting an electric pump in the creek to just constantly run water into the lake, but that's just an idea. Not sure if it's a good one or not yet. hahahaha
Kyle,
Your right, Mother Nature will give me all the water I could ever need if I want to be patient. The amount of watershed is just a guess. It's kind of hard to tell how much will go which way on my neighbors land that drains to mine. With the ground being so dry, it's really tough to figure out how much I'll get.
The last rain we had here gave me an inch and a half in my guage. Around my small pond and my pasture, I had pretty good run off, but around the lake, the rain just got sucked up around all the trees. I guess the areas with trees absorb more water than open land??
Even if the rains filled the lake, I'd still want a pump for those months that nothing happens. My creek never dried up, even after two years of drought. I'm thinking that if the lake was full next spring, I'd still want to pump water into it at least a few times a month just to fight evaporation between rains.
Eddie
My friend is always looking at those web sites that specialize in auctions from school districts and cities. He said there is all kinds of machinary for auction. If you have the time, you look for a fire station pump or something big for a reasonable price. The only web site I can think of now is something like renebates.com (I think that was one of them but I am block here at work.)
Jarrett
Silver Member
Try GovDeals HomeCharlieTR said:
BobRip
Elite Member
For a run of 500 feet you will need a lot bigger wire than 12 guage due to voltage drop. The wire will handle the current, but the pump will not have enought voltage to start. That's 500 feet X 2 (wire in both directions) X 0.0016 ohms/foot X 11 amps = 17.6 volts drop. This is running current and might work. The starting current would be 3 to 6 times that or up to 105.6 volts or almost 1/2 of your 240 volts.Nat said:
California
Super Star Member
- Joined
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- Tractor
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Eddie, Tommu is right that a jet pump will move huge volumes so long as net lift is minimal. He described a simple one, here is an engineered version that should give more lift:EddieWalker said:
4" Power Jet with 2" Jet Log: Keene Engineering Online
As for how it works, scroll down to the bottom of:
The gold dredge
All you need is your ebay pump, that power jet, and an output hose - the blue hose made from the same fabric as a blue tarp is the cheapest. Look around in Keene's website to get a feel for what goes with what.
I've used Keene gear at my mining claim for some 30 years now, and I don't know of anything more efficient. My 4 inch rig will suck up rocks the size of beer cans and spit them out hard enough to bruise your hand when working at snorkel depth.
This kind of rig is only good for a lift of a couple of feet above the intake, maybe 3 feet at reduced capacity, before output is reduced to only the raw pump capacity. And of course damming the creek, now or during storm runoff, gives you a new base level to figure the net lift from.
If that would get you a head start on the fall rains you might try it.
I like the idea of an engine with an oil level sensor. That continuous use on a cheap engine is sure to turn it into an oil burner!
dmccarty
Super Star Member
Eddie,
I can't remember the number of gallons that trees pull out of the ground but its a large amount. South Africa is actually cutting down trees since they have been sucking the ground dry. At my place once the trees drop their leaves the ground gets very wet and stays the way for along time after a rain...
If the trees drop their leaves down your way and you can find some patience then maybe Momma Nature will fill up the pond for ya.
Since you have the water rights to the creek maybe it would be better to spend money on putting power down at the creek and using an electric pump. Sounds like that might be a better bang for the buck.
Interesting "problem".
Later,
Dan
I can't remember the number of gallons that trees pull out of the ground but its a large amount. South Africa is actually cutting down trees since they have been sucking the ground dry. At my place once the trees drop their leaves the ground gets very wet and stays the way for along time after a rain...
If the trees drop their leaves down your way and you can find some patience then maybe Momma Nature will fill up the pond for ya.
Since you have the water rights to the creek maybe it would be better to spend money on putting power down at the creek and using an electric pump. Sounds like that might be a better bang for the buck.
Interesting "problem".
Later,
Dan
OP
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
Dan,
It's all in my level of patience. In time, I will have power along the creek. In fact, there will be allot of it because I'll be building a sewage colection system to pump tens of thousands of gallons a day to the sewer plant across the highway from my place. But that's a differnt project.
The attraction to the pump is it's fairly cheap and simple. Putting power in now meand digging up the ground in areas that I will need to dig it up again.
My real mental block right now is between the two models the ebay guy is selling. One is a Honda copy and the other is made by ETQ, which is Eastern Tool & Equipment. My dad likes the Honda version, but I like that ETQ has a good website with manuals and parts for there engine.
Both are the same price, so it's just a matter of wich one.
The fire truck idea had my wheels spinning too. I like the idea of it, but the more I thought about it, the more work it represented and than there is the liability issue. What if an RV catches on fire here and I try to put it out with my own fire truck? Hmm. What if I have a fire truck, but chose not to put out the fire? Either way, I'm open for a lawsuite. I'm putting in a fire hydrant, so that's just gonna have to be good enough for that issue. hahaha
Eddie
It's all in my level of patience. In time, I will have power along the creek. In fact, there will be allot of it because I'll be building a sewage colection system to pump tens of thousands of gallons a day to the sewer plant across the highway from my place. But that's a differnt project.
The attraction to the pump is it's fairly cheap and simple. Putting power in now meand digging up the ground in areas that I will need to dig it up again.
My real mental block right now is between the two models the ebay guy is selling. One is a Honda copy and the other is made by ETQ, which is Eastern Tool & Equipment. My dad likes the Honda version, but I like that ETQ has a good website with manuals and parts for there engine.
Both are the same price, so it's just a matter of wich one.
The fire truck idea had my wheels spinning too. I like the idea of it, but the more I thought about it, the more work it represented and than there is the liability issue. What if an RV catches on fire here and I try to put it out with my own fire truck? Hmm. What if I have a fire truck, but chose not to put out the fire? Either way, I'm open for a lawsuite. I'm putting in a fire hydrant, so that's just gonna have to be good enough for that issue. hahaha
Eddie
