We have a decent sized garden/orchard area that I would like to irrigate. Right now I am pulling hoses from the house about 150 feet. The pressure is unimpressive and often my well runs low (when I need to irrigate is when we have had the least rain, of course). I have a couple of ponds on the property that I would like to use as an irrigation source. Though I haven't measured, I would say they are about 20 feet below the garden, and about 200 feet away.
I'm thinking of a gas powered water pump connected to PVC or steel pipe running water to two tall sprinklers. Can anyone offer advice as to where to buy this stuff, what to buy, how to rig it up, etc. Any websites that are useful would be appreciated.
I sell gasoline powered pumps made by Pacer. They are lightweight and economical to buy (not to operate). At $3.00 a gallon, you might be better suited to an electric pump. Copper is high too, but it's a one time investment and you won't be lugging gas cans back and forth. I recommend an electric jet pump. A 1/2hp will run two normal sprinklers with no problem. Jet Pumps
In my post I mentioned that the garden is about 20 feet above and 200 feet away from the nearest pond. I would need something to connect the pump to the sprinkler. What is the best way to do that? Tubing? Pipe?
The easiest would be poly pipe. It comes in a roll, wouldn't need couplings and would be easier to install. The size would depend on what volume of water you need.
I dont even know...its about 1/3 of an acre all told. I figure based on the shape of things that I would need 4 sprinkler heads with a 30 foot watering radius. Most of the pumps I have seen online have a minimum 2" output. I assume it would be easy enough to step that down to an inch or inch and a half. Do I need to run that line into a manifold to split off to the four sprinklers, or can I just run them in series?
You could bush down to 1-1/4" if you like just to run four sprinklers. One inch would work also, but you might as well plan for future use. I wouldn't shrink the size of the suction, but the output is ok. Most normal (average) sprinklers that go 30 foot like at least 40 psi and will put out roughly 2.5 gpm. The smallest gas pump I have would do about 35 psi at that volume.
I have a Honda WX 10 water pump that I use for irrigation. It will suction lift up to 26' and I routinely run a couple of hundred feet of garden hose to the sprinklers. The only down side to this system is that it will only run one hour on a tank of fuel but after that hour it is time to move the sprinklers anyway. Attached is a link to the WX 10 but I don't know if it is still available as they now have the WX 15.
This works fine for me, but it will only run two sprinklers at a time, you might need more volume for your usage. pump
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