Pump advice for 30-45 PSI outdoor irrigation

[zeem]

Hello,

I need pump advice.

This is my context. I started with a 1/2-inch black plastic "hydrofarm" tube with the 1/4-inch punch (a hole) style outlets. Driving that was Active Aqua AAPW1000 1000 GPH Pump. Results were just OK. Too much spot watering and dry areas. Eventually some punch holes leaked.

Trying something new...
Used these products:

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

Using a longer (than before) and brand new 1/2-inch black plastic "hydrofarm" tube.
When using the same pump -- As you can imagine -- the results are wimpy.
I do not get a spray or a fountain result. It just flows out the head and down.
I have twice the number of outlets (per container) so my coverage is better.

Which pump can put in my 33 gal garbage to deliver the pressure that I need? Perhaps 30-45 PSI?
The Drip Depot suggest Operating Pressure 20 - 40 PSI. The Amazon pages documents the max pressure of this product to be 50 psi.


Thanks loads! Good luck to you and your projects.
-Z

 

[ooof-da]

I may be able to help spec a pump but please clarify:
1. You are pumping 1000 GPH (17 GPM) from a 33G (total) reservoir?
a. There is no active makeup water?
b. This is the desired flow @ ~40 psi?
2. You want this to be submerged and do not have an option for a flooded suction condition?
3. You only have 1P/115V pwr available?

 

[zeem]

Hey thanks!

I need the help as I am inexperienced in this area.
Have make-up water. I did not mention that I have a float valve that brings the makeup water into the 33gal trash can.
1 P/115 V only
I think that I may prefer a submerged pump due to noise considerations. I am just speculating. If there is a quieter pump that sits outside the reservoir then I would definitely consider this.

I appreciate your help!

 

[ooof-da]

Hey thanks!

I need the help as I am inexperienced in this area.
Have make-up water. I did not mention that I have a float valve that brings the makeup water into the 33gal trash can.
1 P/115 V only
I think that I may prefer a submerged pump due to noise considerations. I am just speculating. If there is a quieter pump that sits outside the reservoir then I would definitely consider this.

I appreciate your help!

Cool - this is my area and I run TDH calcs weekly.

Would you wanna consider an inline pump and ex-nea the reservoir? It’s only in there for like 1.5 min so unless you are mixing something or adjusting pH or whatever there is a better mousetrap and it eliminates a failure point. You can also inject into an inline system but it is much more complex and easier just to size the rez appropriately imo. It’s all about mass balance but if this flow is accurate then I see hardly any value in having that atmosphere point in the system at all…plus your pump needs to recreate the psi you let out to atmosphere vs only bumping it by 1X. That is directly related to pwr consumption too so 50% cost savings.

What is your total demand in GPM or GPH that you need at the end? Is it really 1000 gph? That is around 2(EA) garden hoses running off city pressure wide open. Sounds like you are going to be like 2x that pressure but if you focus only on volume and imagine that at a much higher pressure but the same volume is that about right if you read what the foam or sprinkler is calling for? That’s important to get right….psi is easy once we know flow.

The last input is friction loss. Is the run from the pump to the field device(s) less than 100 feet?

PS I am not a vendor and only can give you some options…I am not selling anything here

 

[Thurston]

Edit>Sorry I must be high and wrote this before realizing your grow is outdoors.

Just some thoughts as I am sure @ooof-da has got you covered.

The 1/2" line is only good to 840 GPH. So a bigger pump may not be the answer. The amount of outlets will also effect flow to each outlet.

Many ways to automatically water/feed plants and the more complicated the setups, the more of your time it takes to maintain it.
Any major restrictions like spray nozzles will need to be checked and kept free of debris or buildup. So I recommend the Floraflex bundles for their distribution manifolds and other items. Link below

Floraflex bundle 2g

I use a 800GPH Vivosun submersible pump for 6-7 plants up to 5 times per day.

 

[ooof-da]

Just looked at this curve. Ya the Active Aqua AAPW1000 is a low pressure pump. At 200 gph it is creating 10’ of head or 4.3 psi. That is 10% the pressure you are asking for at 20% of the flow. That def isn’t gonna perform to what you indicate you need.

 

[zeem]

Thanks all for the dialog. It is helping.

My run length is around 60-70 ft of 1/2 inch line (with a stopper at the end).

Feeding the reservoir with filtered water, a 3/8" tubing and John Guest push connector style fittings.

I would consider an inline pump. Just need to figure out the connectivity to get the water from the reservoir.

I wonder what might be possible if I could figure out a way to run a timer device right at the water faucet (skipping reservoir stage); and running a small diameter ( 3/8") line to the manifold outlets. Hmm. Next version maybe. Kinda hoping that I don't need to do that now.

Dropping a bigger pump into my reservoir seems so much easier for now. And later I can plan a replacement irrigation network.

 

[hostagecs]

is the distance flat, uphill, downhill? matters for pump, if all down hill you could just have have a gate with a time release, just remember the more up hill you go, the more head height you need on the pump

 

[7CardBud]

I've done something similar from two 55 gallon vinegar barrels that worked well.
My setup was a 1/6 horse submersible pump with 1/2 barb adapter through a 120 mesh filter, then a 1/2 valve.
The final flow was tweaked with the screw top 1/4 sprayers. Small plants got one sprayer, large got two.
The fine filter is a must and needed cleaning every week.

 

[zeem]

@hostagecs, My layout is flat.

All the inputs are mighty helpful.

@7CardBud , I may have found a pump that is submersible n-horsepower rated ones

@ooof-da, Does the the n-feet of head infer psi.

And this company has some pricey pumps that look like they are selected for this task but holy shit are they expensive:

Pumps

1

www.dripdepot.com

I was looking at the 1/7 hp Munro pump or maybe the 1/5 hp Munro pump.
DripDepot publishes pump curve graphs. I need to learn how to interpret those.

Oyo Water Pump

 

[Hook Daddy]

When I did ours one key thing that helped was to make a loop for the 1/2” lines, one like you have with all the emitters, and one going to the far end where you have your stopper with no emitters. Remove the stopper and attach the lines to each other. This way there is constant high pressure at both ends of the line with emitters, otherwise there is virtually no pressure by the time you get 60-70’. Hope it helps at least some.

 

[ooof-da]

@hostagecs, My layout is flat.

All the inputs are mighty helpful.

@7CardBud , I may have found a pump that is submersible n-horsepower rated ones

@ooof-da, Does the the n-feet of head infer psi.

And this company has some pricey pumps that look like they are selected for this task but holy shit are they expensive:

Pumps

1

www.dripdepot.com

I was looking at the 1/7 hp Munro pump or maybe the 1/5 hp Munro pump.
DripDepot publishes pump curve graphs. I need to learn how to interpret those.

Oyo Water Pump

Here are the plotted pump curves for those 2 pumps. Basically you take feet of head at your flow and divide by 2.31 to get psi. Then you compare that to the total dynamic head (TDH) your system requires. You have some losses being created by the 70 LF of 1/2” if you are asking that size to carry 1000 gph…a whopping 27 feet per second is your velocity (which is impossible)…you do not want to exceed ~10 feet per second typically. With 1/2” pipe your max flow is somewhere around 8 GPM (or 480 gph) to get down to ~13 fps velocity….

 

[ooof-da]

Here are the plotted pump curves for those 2 pumps. Basically you take feet of head at your flow and divide by 2.31 to get psi. Then you compare that to the total dynamic head (TDH) your system requires. You have some losses being created by the 70 LF of 1/2” if you are asking that size to carry 1000 gph…a whopping 27 feet per second is your velocity (which is impossible)…you do not want to exceed ~10 feet per second typically. With 1/2” pipe your max flow is somewhere around 8 GPM (or 480 gph) to get down to ~13 fps velocity….

I did some digging and to get 1000 gph @ 40 psi you are really looking at a 230V pump….meaning you would need to do electrical work.

Here is a pump that is closer to your requested duty point but stays in the 115V pwr voltage. But it’s not gonna run at 40 psi..more like 15 psi or 35 foot of head.

HS(Z)2.4S made by tsurumi

https://www.tsurumipump.com/assets/4b/71/4b7187ba-8e55-4395-b0a2-7f1683b006ab/HSZ2.75S-62.pdf

 

[zeem]

Thank you...
Y'all are awesome!

 

[zeem]

Here are the plotted pump curves for those 2 pumps. Basically you take feet of head at your flow and divide by 2.31 to get psi. Then you compare that to the total dynamic head (TDH) your system requires. You have some losses being created by the 70 LF of 1/2” if you are asking that size to carry 1000 gph…a whopping 27 feet per second is your velocity (which is impossible)…you do not want to exceed ~10 feet per second typically. With 1/2” pipe your max flow is somewhere around 8 GPM (or 480 gph) to get down to ~13 fps velocity….

I am still wrapping my head around these concepts.
If I push water into a 3/4 inch or 1-inch tube -- perhaps by using a larger pump (compared to an active aqua 1000).
Would this take me in the right direction?

Another way of asking this conceptual question is: Does a larger diameter mainline have the potential to improve the pressure? (I guess larger dia. increases the Gal/Hr)

Thx!
Z

 

[ooof-da]

I am still wrapping my head around these concepts.
If I push water into a 3/4 inch or 1-inch tube -- perhaps by using a larger pump (compared to an active aqua 1000).
Would this take me in the right direction?

Another way of asking this conceptual question is: Does a larger diameter mainline have the potential to improve the pressure? (I guess larger dia. increases the Gal/Hr)

Thx!
Z

Absolutely! Friction loss (line loss) is screaming high @ 1000 gph in 1/2”. It is dragging the pump down for sure because you have a high volume/low head volute. Almost no residential pump will cram water at over 10-12 fps….it can be fine obviously but the line pressure would be so high you would need steel materials or better and a pump that could physically do it like a multi-stage setup. I can run some 3/4 and 1” and get you results if that would help.