dip line + rain water, what pump for vegy garden

13 years ago

i have a 3.3m x 3.6m vegy patch with a 13mm drip system installed which has 5 x 13 mm 3m 3lt/m drip lines and 3 x 10lt/m drippers.. which works out in water use as 180 lt per hour give or take a bit, this is running off an irrigation system and works out great, but i want to run it off a rainwater tank instead, i already have a 19mm poly pipe running 10m to the vegy patch from rainwater tank to a tap, as this is gravity feed it can't run the drip system, so i need a pump, but i don't know what size pump i need, all i know is my watering system uses around 3lt of water a min(180lt per hour) and poly pipe runs at 100 to 300kPa.

Any help would be great

Comments (6)

lehua49
13 years ago
A,

The hardest part is converting and understand what you are dealing with. Your system description says that you have 5 each 1/2" x 10 ft lines with each line a delivery rate of 0.024 gal per ft. Each ten feet delivers 0.24 gpm for a total of 5 x 0.24 gpm equals 1.2 gpm for that section. The next section uses 3 each 2.64 gpm drippers which equals 11 gpm. Therefore the system uses 12 plus gpm. The pressure is 200,000 pa equals 28 psi. You can find an electrical transfer pump that sits outside the barrel connected to the bottom of one or many barrels. The pump characteristics should be for 20 gpm at 30 to 40 psi which will be regulated by an inline pressure regulator. Check out past threads that talk about rain barrel systems. Hope this helps. Gday JMHO Aloha
ace2
Original Author
13 years ago
very hard to find a 240 volt pump that does that low, what i'm looking at is a pump that does 17 l/min 40 PSI or there is one that does 12.5 l/min 35 PSI, these are both diaphragm pressure pumps, i know they are well above what i need, but i was going to put a return line back to tank with tap for adjustment...
with this idea i could have full pressure to my current tap and with a return line after a timer going to veg patch i could set pressure/lt to whats needed....i'll try get a pic up with details
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lehua49
13 years ago
A,

I would think a 1/2 HP 120 Volt Transfer Pumps could be used in your case. Check out the specifications for different vendors and price via google or check local hardware outlet stores in your area. If you don't want to put holes in your barrels use a submersible with siphons between barrels. Aloha
ace2
Original Author
13 years ago
looking for 240 volt stuff, i have a pump now that does 17lt/min at 45 psi, but it's in need of a pressure tank i think as it does heat up a bit after 20-30 mins
lehua49
13 years ago
Acester,

Split the irrigation into 15 minute segments with a cool off period between applications. also fill or irrigate at night which should be a cooler time. JMHO Aloha
ace2
Original Author
13 years ago
i've ran out of rainwater now, waiting to get a 4500lt tank, once the pressure tank is installed it'll get the run time right down, i do water at night, i only water for a max of 20 mins once, it's a dripper line so plants get it straight to the roots....