water butt pumping

Hi,

I have connected some water butts to our drain pipes so we now have lots of free water. Buckets and watering cans are fine but being lazy, we would like to use a hose pipe occasionally ;)

So I am looking for some sort of pump to generate a decent flow: what are my options? I see machine mart sell all sorts of water pumps:

submersible ones:

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presume you have to remove these in winter to stop them freezing?

and centrifugal ones:

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being centrifugal mean they generate better flow, just like centrifugal extractor fans do ?

Am I right to think that these pumps are on for as long as they are powered, so they could be pumping when I don't want them to? Is a pressure switch like this:

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answer? It's a shame it costs as much as the pump.

I have heard that some pressure washers will connect to a water butt but it seems a bit over the top to water the roses with 120 bars!

I see that water butt pumps are available but these appear to be just another submersible pump without pressure switch. Is that right?

Any ideas what would work best?

TIA

Reply to
Fred
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ones:

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I presume you have to remove these in winter to stop them freezing?

Go for a cheap submersible - Machine Mart, or Aldi.

They won''t freeze in Winter (too deep), but they don't like Autumn's dose of cruddy sediment, so it's generally a good idea to only leave them under water for the Summer when they're in use. It's also useful to attach some sort of "feet" to them (Mine have a garden pond perforated planting basket held on with tiewraps) so that they're not sitting directly in the crud layer.

They don't last forever.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

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- don't Google for 'butt pumping' :-)

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

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> I presume you have to remove these in winter to stop them freezing? >

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> the answer? It's a shame it costs as much as the pump.

If your garden is below your butt - ours is - you can siphon the water reasonably easily (fill the hose *before* you put the input end in the butt. Wrap some lead flashing around the end to hold it down.).

If you are really keen, you can do this with the bath water too.

S
Reply to
spamlet

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> I presume you have to remove these in winter to stop them freezing? >

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> the answer? It's a shame it costs as much as the pump.

I'd go for a shower pump with built in flow switch. You need to get a small flow through the switch before the pump will start so should be ok if your butts are above ground level.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Minchin

Usually is

Reply to
1501

I buried a plastic drum once as I thought it looked untidy on the back of the garage. It, however, gradually rose back out of the ground.

S
Reply to
spamlet

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Reply to
D.M.Chapman

Why not build a platform for the butts, or put them on a convenient hill. Then use gravity for water flow.

Reply to
Matty F

My butt needs pumping real bad too, I just don't seem to be able to find anyone who can help me out.

-- Remember Dr Folkman

Reply to
Anita Palley

Thanks. I had a flyer from Machinemart saying there is a VAT free day, so I will look what they have. Aren't they on whenever they are powered though? Won't I still need a flow sensor to switch it on and off? Are they lime pressure washers: the more expensive ones being quieter and lasting longer? Do they come in plastic and metal varieties, the metal ones being long lasting?

TIA

Reply to
Fred

gardening web site (can't remember which) selling these and a customer reviews said that it did not currently have a sensor but Hozelock were hoping to add one to future models. Have these new models reached the market yet I wonder?

Reply to
Fred

the box to see whether this includes the flow sensor. Without one I would guess it won't last long?

Reply to
Fred

The butt is raised but the flow from gravity alone is not enough.

Reply to
Fred

Yes. That's up to you and a manual switch.

Float switches only work for emptying to a level. Flow switches require an accumulator and a pressure switch. Although there are cheap pumps with cheap float switches around, I've not seen a cheapie with a flow switch.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

If the Butt is above ground level then surely they are only as "deep" as their distance from the outside of the butt in the same way a bucket of water will freeze solid when the pond has only just started to look like it's going to freeze over?

Reply to
www.GymRatZ.co.uk

Thanks. You mean something like:

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the accumulator essential because I see you can get a pump and sensor without:

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for reasons I don't understand, the one without costs more than the one with it.

The flow sensor is available separately:

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was hoping I could just but this and use it with any pump of my choice?

I don't know what advantage these centrifugal pumps have over the submersible ones but one disadvantage is having to find somewhere weatherproof to put them. At least with the submersible pump, it is placed in the water butt.

By the way, do you recommend using a "clean water" submersible or a "dirty water" one? I know you lift yours above the bottom of the water butt but is there still a chance dirt might get in?

Thanks again.

Reply to
Fred

For a hosepipe (long periods of operation, no urgency in starting) it's not, provided you have an electronic control that stops the pump short-cycling (cutting in & out very rapidly with the slightest fluctuation, even from unrolling a hose). For supplying taps, you want the accumulator.

Twice the flow rate.

separately:

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> I was hoping I could just but this and use it with any pump of my > choice?

For seventy quid and the use pattern of a hosepipe, I'd use a switch. My own is a submersible with a float switch - when it's dunked in the butt, it starts. Lift it out and it stops.

Not much, for pumping lumpy water from a butt.

I don't know of any electric "dirty water" pumps. My petrol pump has

2" hose connectors and will pump water with small rocks in it. A real dirty water pump is a diaphram pump and can pump damp soil. The electric submersibles range from "clean water" to "the odd leaf". Either will pump a well-settled butt if they're 4" above the base. Neither will enjoy pumping the bottom crud layer.

Yes, if you disturb the sediment at the bottom. Normally though it just sits there. Keep a few inches above and inlet suction won't disturb it.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Butts have more insulation than a water surface, especially with a wind across it. For English weather, it's enough.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "The Medway Handyman" saying something like:

But surely the keen gardener needs a butt plug?

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

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