Pump for sprinkler system?

In the interests of household economy (eeeeeh, it's just like the

1950s, I'm going to buy shares in spam) we're going over to a water meter for a 12-month trial run (house distinctly under-occupied). At the moment the garden, and in particular various pots, planters and baskets, are watered by a system of little tubes, with drippers in the pots and sprinklers for the beds. This all makes it sound like Versailles, in fact it's about 5 metres by 8, ignoring the patio and its pots.

I've no idea what this will cost to run when we're paying for water by the pint, but already my mind is turning to the idea of water butts, which I guess is part of the point of water meters.

Unfortunately I shan't be able to fill watering cans from the butt and water the garden that way due to a bone disease.* So, getting to the point, would one of those water-butt pumps produce enough pressure to power an irrigation system like this?

Cheers!

Martin

*Bone idle, boom boom
Reply to
Martin Pentreath
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Bit like Versailles, gravity is your friend put the resovoir above highest dripper.

Adam

Reply to
Adam Aglionby

Bit like Versailles, gravity is your friend put the resovoir above highest dripper.

or even mount a black plastic tank high enough up to catch the good old British rainfall from your eaves gutter witha subsidiary small ballvalve for feed from the mains. You'd nee an overflow arrangement, natch, to get rid of the excess to drain in very wet weather.

Reply to
RW

=================================== I've read or heard somewhere that water meters can't be (legally) removed once installed so a quick check with your water company would be worthwhile to find out their regulations if you haven't already done so.

Cic.

Reply to
Cicero

Dunno how many feet head of water and what flow rate do they claim?

I used a cheap £20 "solar powered" pump from Bull Electrical. I can't tell if they still sell them - their website is a total mess. They advertise in the various amateur electronics magazines.

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orange submersible one - just requires matching the diameter of the hose, a circlip or two and a stocking over the entrance to stop mozzie larvae clogging the drip line.

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you need a 12v battery to power it too.

Regards, Martin Brown

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Reply to
Martin Brown
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A water butt pump like this one at £35 -

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- will certainly do what you want but it needs electricity of course.

If your butt is high enough, so to speak, and the pipework isn't too long, gravity will work too - but you might have to be prepared to raise your butt higher on bricks. Hozelock do a gravity watering kit if you need to buy new components - see

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just to state the obvious, none of these systems will keep your plants alive if the butt is dry... although a full water butt should last for at least a fortnight if a drip system is connected.

Reply to
Stan The Man

Thanks for the suggestions, this pump looks ideal. This is still a project in gestation, but to automate it I'm reckoning on sticking one of these timers on the outside wall

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from a RCD-protected spur off the living room ring circuit. All getting rather expensive, but I guess the reduced bills will pay for it in time, and I can feel nice and smug about using rainwater.

I seem to recall that to be strictly in compliance with the latest regs the socket should have its own supply back to the meter, plus a Part P building regs approval, but this would require major upheaval plus a new consumer unit, so I think I shall turn a blind eye to that.

I can't use gravity because the garden slopes slightly upwards away from the house where the downpipe is. Mounting something up at eaves level doesn't sound very feasible for my setup.

As for being stuck with a water meter, we get 12 months to try it out

- if it works out cheaper paying bills the old way we can revert (although the water meter will stay on the pipework ready for the next incumbent).

Cheers!

Martin

Reply to
Martin Pentreath

-

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will certainly do

What about pumping the water from a butt near the house to a higher (bigger?) one at the top of the garden, then gravity feed to the drippers from there. Need some sort of float switch on the top butt, but only low voltage wiring so easily done. That way you have two butts to collect the rain water in. The butt near the house could be a lot smaller, and also have an "emergency feed" from the cold water supply if you wanted belt and braces.

David

Reply to
DavidM

That will do the trick but you can get the same result for a lot less with a cheap mechanical socket timer like this one -

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- if you can run the pump cable indoors to an existing power point. No regulations to worry about either...

Reply to
Stan The Man

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