How to choose a pump for watering a garden

Garden, vegetable garden, flower beds, lawns - everything needs regular watering. Conventional pumps for water supply do not always cope with this task - irrigation has its own characteristics, therefore a pump for irrigating a vegetable garden, a garden, a flower garden and a lawn is chosen separately, using a completely different approach.

To water the garden, you need to correctly select the pump

Water source and pump categories for irrigation

The choice of a pump for watering a garden largely depends on the source of water. This could be:

• well;
• well;
• river, pond, pool;
• containers and barrels.

In the case of a well and a well, technical characteristics will be decisive - it is necessary that water with the proper pressure be delivered to the irrigation site. Models - in principle, any. Choose according to your taste.

If we are talking about a river, a pond or a pool, then the requirements for the degree of water pollution are added to the technical characteristics. If the water in the pool can still be considered conditionally clean, then there will be enough pollution in the river or pond, so conventional equipment will not work. In this case, conventional models will not work, since they are designed for clean water. Drainage and garden pumps can pump contaminated water. It is among these categories that it is worth looking for a pump for watering a garden in this case.

Not all pumps are suitable for watering a garden from a river or pond

When watering from containers and barrels, the task becomes even more interesting. The water in this case is also not clean, so drainage pumps are suitable, but not any, but the least powerful. It's all about the volume of water that can be contained in the barrel. With a high capacity of 200 liters of water, an average power pump will pump out in 1-3 minutes. During this time, you will have time to water very little, but there is no more water. Therefore, the best in this case are the least powerful (they are also the cheapest). Only when buying, pay attention that the pump comes with a float water level sensor. If there is very little water left, this sensor will turn off the power.

Some firms produce special drum pumps. They just differ in their low productivity and the ability to pump polluted water, have small dimensions and weight, but at a price more expensive than similar drainages. But the barrel pump for watering the garden is compact and light.

The pump for watering the garden from a barrel Karcher SBP 3800 pleases everyone, except for the price

By the way, solving the problem with quickly running out of water in a barrel is easy. There are usually several of them on the site. Slightly above the bottom level, you can weld the fittings with taps and connect all the barrels with pipes. So it will be possible to pump water from all barrels without shifting the hose.

Types of pumps, their advantages and disadvantages when used for irrigation

Choosing a pump for watering a garden is not an easy task - you need to decide on many parameters, take into account the features of pumps and water sources. You need to pick up such a "pair" so that it is convenient for you to water, and the equipment worked in normal, not emergency mode.

Submersible

Submersible pumps can be used to pump water from any source of sufficient volume - a well, a well. It is problematic to pump from a pond and a river even with a sufficient amount of water - the water is not clean, and the usual models only feel normal with it. With a very strong desire, you can make a filter chamber in which the pump itself is placed. But this is also a controversial option - the walls of the chamber can break or clog.

Both vibratory and centrifugal submersible pumps can be used in wells or boreholes.The difference is that centrifugal ones can "deliver" water over long distances and lift from great depths. Vibrating ones have more modest characteristics, a smaller resource, they are more demanding on the purity of water, but their price is much lower. This explains their popularity.

Submersible pumps are of different types (vortex and vibration), they can work with different water - clean, dirty and very dirty

As for the river and the pond, we have already said that there are still tanks. You can't put a centrifugal unit in a barrel or eurocube at all - it will pump it out in a few seconds. Vibrating will create a very strong roar, although it will "pull" the water for several minutes. But the roar is such that neighbors can come. So it is also not very suitable for such working conditions.

So, for a submersible pump for watering a garden is suitable if the water source is a well or a well without sand.

Drainage

Drainage pumps are mostly submersible. What distinguishes them is their ability to work with muddy and polluted water. In this regard, drainage pumps are used just for watering the garden from open water sources - rivers, ponds, etc.

But just remember that dirty water is not duckweed and mud, but water, which contains solid particles no more than 5 mm in size. But some manufacturers define other frames for their equipment - often the particle size should not exceed 3 mm. Therefore, if the reservoir is heavily polluted, the same chamber with mesh walls is required, which will retain large pollution. If you don't feel like messing around with this, and the water is really dirty, you can use not a drain pump for irrigation, but fecal... It can even pump silt. There are models with a grinder, which grind large objects in seconds.

Drainage submersible pump can supply water from a river or pond

So, a drainage pump for watering a garden is good if the water has a significant amount of impurities, but all of them are not more than 3-5 mm. In case of large contamination, it is more advisable to use a fecal unit.

Barrels

Another type of submersible pump designed specifically for irrigation from small containers is barrel (barrel) pumps. They have low performance, low power and size, low noise level. As the water level in the tank decreases, they gradually increase the pressure so that the outlet pressure remains stable. In general, such a pump for watering a garden is a good purchase, but ... if the price suits you.

The barrel irrigation pump is very convenient and quiet, but the prices are not encouraging

The inlet of the barrel pump is closed with a mesh - a filter from large impurities. But this is not always enough. If there is a lot of dirt in the barrel, an additional filter is made. You can even put a piece of gauze or other mesh fabric (old tulle, for example) into the barrel, fix it so that it does not reach the bottom a little. The unit can be lowered into this fabric. In this case, it will work longer without maintenance (it must be periodically cleaned from dirt that accumulates inside). The fabric will not tighten inward during work - there is a mesh there, so the option is quite capable.

Outdoor

For watering a garden from a river or pond, external pumps are more suitable. Only the hose is lowered into the source, and the unit itself remains on the surface. Just keep in mind that the hose must be reinforced - the usual one will simply flatten the negative pressure created during operation.

The disadvantages of this type of equipment include their weight - they are usually quite heavy, which makes it difficult to carry. Their body is made of steel or cast iron, and it is clearly not lightweight. To eliminate this disadvantage, special garden pumps were invented. Their body is made of plastic, which makes them much easier - even a woman can handle it easily. In addition, garden pumps are better suited for pumping water that is not entirely clean. So for watering a garden from a river, this is a good choice.

External pumps are good for everyone, but filling them before starting work is not the most interesting thing.

There is one nuance in working with external suction pumps: in order to start them, you first need to fill the pump itself and the hose with water. An external pump for watering the garden according to the way of work can be self-priming, then you need to "fill" a little - only the capacity in the pump, and this is several hundred milliliters. If the model is normally suction, it is necessary to fill the entire hose and the capacity of the unit, and this may be more than a dozen liters. Since watering is a periodic action, filling such a system every time is tedious. Therefore, self-priming external pumps are used for watering the garden or they are looking for something else.

There are external vortex (centrifugal) pumps, but they are only suitable for clean water. That is, this is another option for a well or well, but with a shallow depth. Their plus is that it is not necessary to fill them, although by weight - it is problematic to carry heavy from place to place.

Pumping stations for watering the garden

If desired, you can use not a pump for watering the garden, but a pumping station. This, in principle, is an ideal option - the pressure is stable, and it can be regulated within a fairly wide range, while the motor works in normal mode - it turns on and off. But even without flaws in any way. Usually pumping stations are equipped with surface pumps for clean water. They will have to be poured before starting, these are two. They are heavy - that's three. And the price is not always happy - that's four.

Pumping station for watering the garden - convenient, but not cheap

True, if you wish, you can assemble the station yourself, and on the basis of any pump (drainage, for example). It will take hydroaccumulator, pressure switch, a pressure gauge and a five-way fitting or a set of flexible connections with nuts of suitable diameters. You can also assemble the entire system on polypropylene or plastic, as you are used to. It's not that difficult, so it's real to figure it out.

Requirements

When choosing a pump for irrigation, it is necessary to take into account the specifics of the operation of these devices. It still differs significantly from the normal working conditions that are used to supply water at home.

Performance

You can water the garden with any type of unit, but there is one caveat: the power must be selected so that when using nozzles (spray gun, sprinkler, etc.) the hose does not break. And not the most pleasant moment is that with simple root watering, less productivity is required - a strong stream will simply wash out the soil. When using sprinklers or spray guns, the head must be higher to cover a larger area.

The only acceptable way out is to put a tee at the pump outlet of a decent power. Connect a hose for irrigation to one outlet, and a hose to the second through the valve, which will divert some of the water back to the source. With such a connection, by adjusting the amount of water returned by the valve, it will be possible to change the irrigation pressure, and in a wide range.

Surface pumps for watering a garden in plastic cases are garden models that were developed just for these purposes.

Such a system is very useful when watering from barrels. Barrels are pumped out very quickly even with conventional drains. This water return trick allows you to extend the flow and irrigate a larger area.

If you are looking for a pump for watering a garden with a low capacity, you will find that it is difficult to find units of good brands with low power. If they are, then at a high price. But there are a lot of cheap Chinese low-capacity pumps, which are also designed to pump dirty water. This is exactly the option that is needed for watering from a barrel, pond or river. True, their marriage rate is high - 20-30%.

There are two solutions in this case - to buy a cheap pump, if necessary, buy a new one.The second way out is to reduce the performance of a normal unit. This can be done by installing a smaller diameter hose at the outlet. But this is bad for the pump - it will work, but the wear rate will increase significantly. To improve working conditions, you can lead to the point of irrigation with a regular size hose, and only then install the adapter. This will not drastically improve the situation, but the water consumption will be less, and the pressure will be strong - you can use sprinklers and other nozzles.

Overheating and dry running protection

Since the pump for watering the garden has been working for a long time, and even often not in the best mode for it, a situation is quite possible when the motor overheats. Therefore, overheating protection (thermal relay) is highly desirable. A very useful option - when the threshold temperature is reached, the power supply is simply turned off.

This float cuts off power to the pump when water is low

There may be little water in any source. It can even be pumped out of a well or well. If the pump runs for some time without water, it will burn out - water also serves to cool the body. Because they put dry run protection... The most popular, simple, reliable and cheapest method is a float. This is a water level sensor, which, if there is not enough water, simply breaks the power circuit. There are pumps for watering the garden, which immediately come with such a device, and if not, you can install it yourself - by connecting the wires from the sensor to the break of one of the supply wires.

Parameter definition

As for the productivity, we have already decided - it needs a little - about 3-5 cubic meters per hour (this is 3000-5000 liters per hour), which is more than enough for watering the garden and vegetable garden.

What will need to be considered is the pump head. This is the amount by which water can be pumped. The pressure usually consists of two components - vertical and horizontal. Vertical is the depth from which the water will have to be raised. Here, as it is, so it is - each meter of depth is equal to one meter of pressure. Only in the technical data for pumps there is such a line as "maximum suction depth". So, it should be at least 20-25% greater than the available depth. You can take it back to back, but only branded equipment, since the Chinese indicators are usually significantly overestimated.

Garden pump for irrigation BP 4 Garden Set

The horizontal component of the pump head is the distance that the raised water will have to be transported to the place of irrigation (take the farthest point when calculating). When using inch piping or hose, it is assumed that 10 meters of horizontal piping requires 1 meter of lift. As the diameter decreases, the figure becomes smaller - for example, 3/4 inch is considered 7 meters of pipe / hose per 1 meter of lift.

You will also have to take into account the resistance of pipes (hoses). To do this, add about 20% to the calculated value.

An example of head calculation. The water mirror is at a distance of 6 meters from the surface, we will pump it from a depth of 8 m, it will need to be transmitted from the point of the fence to 50 m.The pipe is one inch, therefore we consider the horizontal head at 10 m.

So: the total head is 8 m + 50m / 10 = 13 m.Adding a margin for losses at the joints (20% of 13 m is 2.6 m), we get 15.6 m, after rounding - 16 m.When choosing a pump for irrigation see that its maximum head is not less than this figure.