Irrigation questions

[ravot22]

I have a well but no electricity.

Would a trash pump, semi-trash pump or water pump work best for drawing water to irrigate some gardens? Any issues keeping prime in pumping equipmnet if the draw is vertical line?

The well has water some 25' down or so.

[Bearfootfarm]

Originally Posted by ravot22

I have a well but no electricity.

Would a trash pump, semi-trash pump or water pump work best for drawing water to irrigate some gardens? Any issues keeping prime in pumping equipmnet if the draw is vertical line?

The well has water some 25' down or so.

A good pump similar to a 5 HP "Pacer" will probably do the job as long as there is a foot valve at the bottom of the supply line, which really is needed no matter what type of pump you use


If you intend to have electricity later on, it might be better to install an normal well pump and pressure tank, and power it with a generator

[jwal10]

Getting very close to max lift of a pump with out a jet. Trash pumps are not good for pressure system. Works to get water out and into open tank. You need a foot valve to keep prime. I agree, best to use electric, submersible or jet pump with generator....James

[Moboiku]

Instead of looking at how to irrigate, why not look at how NOT to need to irrigate? I live in an area where we have months at a time with no rain. I mulch with a minimum 8" layer of mulch (and replenish it constantly as it breaks down). I never water and my garden does great every year even when we have weeks on end of triple digits.

[rambler]

What kind of well, 4 inch pipe, 3 foot across shallow, or?

25 feet is right at the limit for a pump to naturally suck water up, will work with a new pump but after some wear... And then, does your water recover to that level quickly, or are you going to draw the water down lower from there and be working deeper as time goes on?

Paul

[Fire-Man]

Originally Posted by ravot22

I have a well but no electricity.

Would a trash pump, semi-trash pump or water pump work best for drawing water to irrigate some gardens? Any issues keeping prime in pumping equipmnet if the draw is vertical line?

The well has water some 25' down or so.

As said its according to the well. I use a gas 5.5hp Pacer pump on one well and it does good. I do not have a foot valve on any of my shallow wells. I use a 2" check valve above the dirt----after the first prime/start I have not had to re-prime. I have another 52ft deep 2" shallow well I put down about 30 years ago with a electric pump on it, it still produces 60,000+ gallons per day If I want to run it that long. I ran it 21 days non stop one time and it produced 1 1/4 million gallons----It was producing just as much after runnng steady for 3 weeks as it was the first hour it ran.

If your well does not produce many GPM,---enough to run a few spinklers you can get a free swimming pool some times----using a small pump to draw out the well to fill the pool----then use a water transfer pump drawing out the pool to run many sprinklers at one time.

[AmericanStand]

I'd think jet and a booster pump.

[haypoint]

I have a 6 inch well with water at the 25 foot mark. I use a 5 horse Pacer pump to draw water up the 3 inch diameter flex pipe and out the 3 inch plastic hose. I have a Y at the end and run two garden hoses to irrigate. If I run the 3 inch diameter hose, without restriction, like to fill my 300 gallon herbicide sprayer, the pump draws out water faster than it can flow into the well. Running a pump out of water is not good for the pump.
If your well can produce water as fast as a Pacer pump can draw it out, you are all set. If your well can't keep up, get a smaller gas powered pump and pump slowly into a tank. Then use a larger, higher pressure pump to draw from the tank and irrigate your garden. Watering at 4 AM is best. Allows the soil to absorb the water and the plant's leaves dry out within a few hours, limiting mold.

[Rectifier]

You are pushing the limit for suction head. Especially with trash pumps, they are famously poor primers.

I would run a generator and submersible, this is the only way to get good head pressure. Fill a reservoir (tank, pool etc) high enough on a hill to build 5-10psi. This combo may in fact be more fuel efficient than the gas powered pump when it comes to pushing high head.

Run drip from the reservoir and you'll only need to pump once a week.

[Fire-Man]

Originally Posted by haypoint

I have a 6 inch well with water at the 25 foot mark.

Haypoint--I am not familiar with a 6" well----Is it like a 6" casing pipe that goes down so far(set into rock etc) then the well drilled alot deeper? Is it designed to drop a pipe inside it to get water out?

[haypoint]

Originally Posted by Fire-Man

Haypoint--I am not familiar with a 6" well----Is it like a 6" casing pipe that goes down so far(set into rock etc) then the well drilled alot deeper? Is it designed to drop a pipe inside it to get water out?

It is a 6 inch steel casing. At one time such wells were steel casing the whole depth of the well, but to save costs, Schedule 40 plastic pipe is often used, with only the top 10 or 20 feet steel. I have a foot of loam, then 20 feet of red clay, a few feet of gravel and then hundreds of feet of sandstone.
You can drop a submersible pump into the well, down below the water level, but not on the well's bottom. Then a plastic pipe runs from the pump to a pitless adapter. That allows a seal between the inside of the well and the ground outside. Around here the pitless adapter comes out the side of the steel well casing about 4 or 5 feet underground and the water line runs from the pitless adapter to the expansion tank in the house. The electric hooks to the pump, up to the top of the well. A well cap has a place to seal the well and let the electric wires run out of the well and into electrical conduit. The wires run, with the water pipe to the house and the pressure switch turns the pump on and off.