make a geyser for a pond?

[Jim Elbrecht]

I'm building a little pond [8x12 or so] & have been toying with the idea of making a geyser adjacent to it. It doesn't have to be huge and dramatic- a 1 foot spurt/gurgle every minute or two would make me happy.

I'd like to hook it into a branch line off the same pump that will be filtering/circulating the water. It is a 2000gph, low pressure, pump. Pipe will be 1 1/2" PVC. [is there any way to calculate water pressure when all you know is it will push 16' of head and the top rating is 2050gph?]

I was thinking of a very low pressure pressure-relief-valve- but then realized that the pressure would be fairly steady. So I need to figure out some [simple] way of gradually increasing pressure on an isolated line, then releasing it.

Or should I just go with a separate little pump and a timer?

Thanks, Jim

[Harry K]

Head to pressure. .433 psi per head rise 16 x .433 =3D almost 7 psi - not a lot.

Harry K

[Pete C.]

Those little pumps have little or no chance of powering anything resembling a "geyser". Best bet is to find a used but working pool pump at a garage sale and using it on a timer to power the geyser.

[SteveB]

Check with the pump people online. They may have: a pump with variable pressure and a timer, or suggestions for a second pump and how to calculate and do it.

Remember, too. You can get a lot of pumps cheap at yard sales, salvage places, and spa repair shops. For what you want to do, I'd consider going a cheap way, then replacements are easier. Plumb for it with removable connectors.

Steve

[Eric in North TX]

That would be an energy hog though, those pumps use a tremendous amount of electricity to start, then drop back to rated. If I were doing it I would use a couple of electric valves or a 3 way, and put that on a timer. Then the filter discharge would be cut off & redirected to the geyser. You would need enough pressure at all times to run the geyser. If the water is relatively clean, sprinkler valves would work, cheap and easy to work with. You would just need a low voltage circuit for the timer & it could be all ac, so a doorbell transformer would work.

[greenpjs]

Maybe you could rig up something that slowly fills a bucket and mount the bucket so that it loses balance and dumps all at once when nearly full. The bucket full of water would flow through a pipe that leads to the base of your geyser. The bucket would have to well above the rest of the system, but maybe you are lucky enough to have a place to hide it. The bucket would right itself after dumping and begin to fill again. (One of those old toy drinking birds comes to mind). ...Pat

[charlie]

dags 'surge device for reef tank'

regards, charlie cave creek, az

[Oren]

Here's a kit "Geyser Garden Fountain Pond Kit". I haven't used one, but look at the small "geyser"(pic).

This would be constant and not have a timer, unless you added that.

[Bob F]

Two speed SPA pump, perhaps?

[websurf1]

Depending on what's nearby..... Old time flush toilets used to have the tank mounted high on the wall. You could rig up an elevated tank with a large diameter discharge tube. When the tank filled, the inner works could "flush" the tank, sending a large volume of water down the pipe to the fountain. The drawback would be the pressure necessary from a low- volume pump to get water to the tank.

[KC]

Not a geyser, but this is a simple idea.

[KC]

Not a geyser, but a very simple idea.