The middle of the yard is about 150 feet from the creek with about a 15 foot rise. I want to run about 4 or 5 sprinklers at once. I would like to run a hose from the creek to the pump (or does the pump have to be near/in the creek?)
I'm sure I will need a filter for this as well, but I would like to have a pump that would tolerate some amount of trash.
By the way, I do intend to check with the County before pulling water from the creek for irrigation.
you can get pumps that can handle gunk in it... look into farm pumps or the sewage pumps for below line toilets.
That said, i'd consider two pumps and a reservoir were i to do it.
Get a low flow pump (solar powered maybe) with a filter that will fill a resevoir. The filtering of a low flow will be easier i'd think, and it would stir up less silt etc due to the lower flow.
Then use a pressure pump to deal with the high pressure pre-filtered water.
just a thought.
good idea... never know what water rights you'll have to deal with.
If you're using hose, you pretty much have to put the pump where it pushes instead of pulls, trying to suck water up 15' of head will just collapse the hose. If you used pipe, with a foot-valve, you could put the pump pretty much anywhere.
Your system would be a lot smaller if you were willing to drive the sprinklers serially instead of simultaneously.
First off, keep the govenment out of it in my opinion. you ask and they will tell you no or charge you some fee or hassle you with some paperwork.
How would I do it.
Probably a shallow well pump with a pressure tank. I would try and make some type of resivior in the stream or a gravity fed cistern depending on the stream, who/what is downstream, etc. I would consider a small dam to build up enough quantity of water. You may also want to consider just digging up a small area of the bottom. Again, depends on the sizxe of stream and so forth.
Keeping the govt out of it might very well be financially disasterous, especially when you're recommending dams and digging up the bottom of a stream. These days, folks like the EPA and water resource control authorities take a pretty dim view of this type of thing. The fines and remediation could be subtantial.
On our families farm we pull water from lakes and creeks, use to be the main supply but now only as a backup to a deep well.
We installed a 2hp volume pump (or maybe called low flow) at the source. 2 inch line for about 200 ft with about a 20 ft rize. Power was supplied from a nearby barn with big enough underground wire to match the current draw for
240V to keep voltage drop minimal.
We also had a 1/12 pump same type at the end of the 200 ft run as a boost pump at the edge of the gardens (about three acres), not a pressure type pump. We could run about six of the older brass rainbird sprinkers and get enough coverage, about a 30 foot throw of water. If we turned on the second pump pressure increased dramatically and could run 12 to 16 sprinklers easy.
We did not have any major filters, sprinkers used would just pass any debri that was not caught by the screens, the foot valves had course screens but we also added a finer screen mesh around the foot valves that could be easily removed and cleaned when needed. If using sprays or gear driven sprinkers, do like I had to and use a swinning pool sand filter that can be back washed. The bigest problem with any surface water source can be alge, can be a big pain clogging up filters and some types are not good for plants. Make sure the water source is fairly clean.
2 inch pipe was used for the long run for minimal friction and high flow at low pressures. this setup works great for us. and the deep well also having a 3hp pump and 2 inch line has the pressure we need without boost now (can pump 75gal per minute and not go dry), was an old community water system near us, now the county supplies water so we got the well to use.
We also had a thrird smaller pump on a nearby creek to pump addtional water into the lake (small 2 acre pond) when we had to pump a lot out of the lake. We dug into the edge of the creek, installed concrete 3 foot diameter sewers down about 10 feet. with holes and screen to allow water in provided a reservior to pump water out of easliy, had a 1 hp pump and a 1-1/2 inch line up to the lake.
Maybe overkill for what you need but hope give you some ideas.
There is a lot of information on the internet on how to design irrigation systems. several formulas on sizing pumps and pipe sizes for the amount of flow, pressure and rize needed, etc.
Quite a few good replies. This one only addresses location of the pump.
BTDT for many years (not so many heads running at one time tho). Put the pump as close to the water as you can. Mine started about 10ft above the creek but soon wound up right next to it. Priming the pump when it was high was a PITA. I used a Berkely pump w/1 hp motor, actually have an almost new one that only ran one season (or less) sitting on my junk shelf along with the one I wore out.
I did check with the County, and they said it was OK to pull water from the creek for irrigation.
However, I really do not want to put the pump in the creek - is there are particular pump (or pump specification) that I need to look for to be able to pull the water out of the creek (instead of pushing it)? I don't mind using more than 1 pump and could use galvanized pipe.
I see that you have already gotten approval from the county.
You might want to take a look at "pond pumps". They come in a variety of sizes, are generally quiet, and typically have low energy requirements. You can usually find them at home centers, landscaping supplies, feed stores, or fish/pond stores. The smaller ones are generally designed to sit right down in the pond, but the larger ones often have threaded inputs if you want to mount the pump remotely. They usually come with filters to keep the major debris out of the pump. I haven't checked, but I think you could probably find a pond pump that would have enough lift and flow to power your sprinklers (one sprinkler at a time will be easier than all at once).
If you really want to power all the sprinklers at once, and don't want to worry about debris in the water, they do make special "trash" pumps that will pump just about anything. Big 2" lines with lots of flow. You could probably empty that creek in short order. :) I think Northern Hydraulics sells them? Of course, then you need to worry about the sprinklers clogging up with debris...
I would personally use PVC pipe to run to/from the pond. It's cheap, slightly flexible (if you need that), and won't corrode like galvanized. It also won't collapse under suction like a garden hose will. You could bury it underground to keep it from being a trip hazard or getting in the way of lawnmowers and whatnot.
Another option would be that flexible black poly pipe. It's fairly cheap, rugged, and won't corrode. Pretty standard stuff at farm supplies...
You can use adapters to connect any type of pipe to your pump and sprinklers.
Just about any decent sized shallow well pump set-up will do. Self priming would be a good but I don't know if it will work at that distance. The 15 ft altitude is not a problem as suction type pumps will pull water to about 25-26 ft (depending on your altitude, it drops as altitude goes up).
I suggest you let your fingers do the walking through the yellow pages and look for pump or irragation businesses. A trip to them will with your requirements will get you what you are looking for. They will probably fix you up with a real irrigation pump vice well pump.
Don't want a well pump to pull from open stream...a "trash" 1-1/2 to 2" discharge would do nicely...many of them will self-prime from a 15-20' head easily they're designed to do so....
Alternatively, the smaller suction pump to a reservoir w/ a separate high-pressure pump could make trash/silt/sediment easier to control...that seems to me to be a possible real issue to keep from clogging a typical small-orifice lawn sprinkler head...
Yes, a common 'well' pump is not optimum but I know of at least two that have been operating for years. What they used to keep the crude out I don't know, in my case just a bundle of common fiberglass window screen wrapped around the pick-up kept out everything except fine sediment.
A pump made for irrigation is the best choice. Trash pumps (at least most of them) are not because they pump volume, not pressure. To use one will require a reservoir and another pump. Why add the complication??
Worst plug I ever had and don't want another one: I had to pull my pump every fall and reinstall every spring. The outlet was on quick connect fittings. One spring I hooked everything up and started a sprinkler that plugged almost instantely. Unplugged pulling strange looking stuff. Back to the bib, more of same. Identified as a mouse, rather parts of a mouse. I had to pull the bibs off every standpipe to finally clear all of it.
This might now seem like it is not on topic - but it is.
In my last home - we wanted to put a bathroom in the basement - but the sewer pipe left the basement about four feet up the wall. So we dug a sump in the basement about 3 feet deep - we put a barrel in the sump - and put this heavy duty sump pump in the barrel. The sump pump goes on and then off whenever the barrel gets full of sewage. The pump is so strong that in 3 seconds it sends that sewage flying up and out the sewer pipe. I installed that sump and pump 17 years ago. I have never taken the cover off the sump to clean it or service it - that pump keeps going - and going - and going. It services a toilet - sink - shower - and laundry.
When I built it - I thought it would be trouble - boy was I wrong.
In terms of moving water, it is far, far more dificult to pull water. Much easier to push water. FRom what I know, you'd be much better off to put the pump at or next to the creek.
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