Watering lawns or gardens

Please correct me if I am wrong.

I was told that I would do damage to the well pump by watering our garden, especially the one that is far away. One is about 200 feet or a bit more. The other would be about 600' or perhaps more. We are using 1/2" line. Yes, I know that we'd get more water with a larger line but the faucet we hook onto is only 1/2" line to the faucet and I really don't want to change it out.

I was also advised to use a larger hose than 1/2" or 5/8" as it would be easier on the pump. I don't understand this at all. Water will move only so fast no matter the size of the hose because of the line coming to the faucet. Also, a water pump cannot pump too far up but you can push water a long, long ways with a pump. The only concern to me is how often the pump has to turn on and off.

Will I do damage?

 

Thanks Larry.

 

Thanks LP. Yes, and we had to go 153' for the well, which really surprised me but we have lots of water for sure now. I think it is rated 14 gpm.

 

There are a few considerations Dennis to help make sure you don't damage the pump. The short answer to your question is that, no, you will not damage the pump by asking it to pump water.

Now, most times the pump is sized to the irrigation that needs doing but since that's impractical in most cases like yours, we can do a little reverse engineering to size the irrigating demand to the pump. You're main concerns will be duty cycle, cooling (of the pump motor), and the capacity of your well.

If you are hand watering, then the concerns will be fewer because such intermittent use is rarely harmful to the pump. But if your automating the process somewhat (water timers) or manually running sprinklers for a long time, then your concern for the cycling of the pump is justified. In an ideal situation, you would want to be flowing enough water to keep the pump running continuously while you are watering. But you also would not want to be flowing so much water that the pressure drop would result in poor performance of the sprinkler head(s). Also, higher flow rates place more load on the pump motor which if the pump is old, you find out if the motor was marginal soon enough.

There is some truth to that, even if the faucet plumbing is only 1/2" line. There are frictional losses in any line, especially hose, and stepping up the line size will reduce those losses even if the supply is limited. 600' is a long way to go through a typical 5/8" garden hose. 3/4" is available but relatively expensive and harder to find, especially in quantity. Perhaps a couple rolls of black poly pipe stapled to the ground would do the trick.

 

The 3/4 poly is probably the way we are planning on going if we do decide to go that far garden. Today, we hauled water there from a pond as I have a nice pump for filling barrels. We may just stick with that.

 

2" is perhaps a bit much but one of those all day soakers would really be nice.

 

In my previous home, the pumps were not an issue, depleting the aquifer was a NO NO. If you do not have issues with the aquifer, I say go for it, pumps can be repaired or replaced, but gardening is priceless in my book...

 

Not sure about the giving away but I do have a friend who has one or two for me. Just have to find the time to get there and pick it up.

 

Back pressure to the pump will actually reduce the load. Centrifugal pumps are different than positive displacement types (gear, piston, vane) in this regard. Put an amp clamp on a running centrifugal pump and throttle the outlet. The more you close that valve, the less current that motor will draw. The pump needs a certain flow rate to keep itself cool however, and cool the motor as is the case with a submersible turbine pump typical to most deep wells.

The pressure tank is simply an accumulator. It will absorb flow from the pump in excess of demand to a point, at which the pressure switch shuts off the pump. It will provide flow for a short period of time until the pressure drops to the switch's cut-in set point. The larger the tank is, the longer that time is. And also the longer the pump must run in order to fill the tank to the cut-out point. The longer these cycles are, the happier your pump is!

I timed my system and with 1 faucet running in the house, my pump can fill the tank in just under a minute. With a 1HP pump in the hole, that's a bit too fast for my liking. (Needs to be 2+ minutes for a 1HP+ pump) With the shower running, the pump cycles on for 1 minute. That was ok, just barely, with the the old 3/4hp pump, which would take a bit longer to fill the tank. So since I'm in the middle of expanding my mechanical room to accommodate a new softener and filter, I ordered a much bigger pressure tank (WX350-82 gal) to replace the WX-202 (20 gal) that has been here since well before I owned the house. I should be able make a sandwich while the pump fills that puppy.

 

There actually not that bad empty. We put ours on a good wooden pallet, and use a fork lift to move them around when they are full, though. But typically pump from one tank to the next tank, at the edge of his gravel to the garden.

 

Backwoods Savage ... I'll try to take a picture of my set up for you on something like bocefus78 was talking about. I got mine off craigslist for like $80 (330 gallons tanks) and they were relatively clean had like a rubberish glue in it. Pressure washer took care of it.

 

Here we go... I just finalized it yesterday. I got the pump at Harbor Freight ($49) then a 20% coupon, PVC stuff about $50, and the quick disconnects McMaster Carr (about $100)... But hopefully this will provide years of service for our garden, plus it'll break down and pack down stairs in the winter time...