Thread: Water from Dam to tank

Rather than waking the koalas, try some sort of solar pump that will work all day, every day, sun permitting.

Al

Originally Posted by dazzler

Hi

I would like to fill my 10000lt tank from the "dam" that runs 35m behind my house.

Any suggestions on an economical (read cheap ) electric pump that would do the job.

Needs to pump 35m and lift about 4m over that distance. Dont need pressure or a high flow, just enough to fill it overnight.

Has to be electric as a petrol would wake the koalas .

cheers

dazzler

Dazzler, I use my fire pump for that. Have it permanently set up under cover at the dam, we have a 4500l garden water tank. The pump is about 100m away from the tank with a drop of about 3m. Takes 20 to fill the 4500l. I have the pump sitting on pins so that it easily removeable in case I need to use it for its' original intended purpose, then just mount it on the carry-all on the tractor.

There is a 2" black poly pipe from the pump to the garden tank, buried so you can't see it. This also gives a non-electrical firefighting source at the house.


Based on my timing it would only take about 45 minutes to fill your 10,000l tank, tell the koalas to b*gger off for that time.

Definitely the solar pump. Chugs away and moves water economically and efficiently.

Costs a bit more to set up but the savings are worth it.

I go along with the fire pump.
You should have one anyway.
Needs testing.

But I dont want the greenies to hear me taking water from the "dam" .

NB: Dam according to dazzlers dictionary is defined as

"a stormwater runoff area at the back of a house that may well belong to the local council and its nasty rangers "

Oh, right, that's different.

Mine is actually a legal dam on my own property and I'm entitled to pump water from it

Yes, I did opt for the fire pump so that we always know that it is working, and we have a non-electrical water supply for fire fighting to the house.

In your case solar seems like a good option, only problem there is that when you empty the tank it will take a while to fill up again.

Dazzler

The only problem you may have is that to move the water 35 metres and lift it four metres you would probably have to have the pump at the water source because to have it at the tank you would need a pretty big pump to suck it that distance. Pumps work better when they are pushing water rather than sucking it.

The bigger the pump the more expensive.

Ahhhhh. Something like this will do the job.
You will need a foot valve to keep the system primed.
Make a sump for the foot valve. Cover it in mesh then vegetation to hide it.
Bury the pipe.

Daz, do a search about hydraulic ram pumps. cheap, indestructable all you need is that the water source is flowing. No electricty or solar panels required.

Thanks all

I think i will get that big sucker on ebay or a ram pump or similar.


I just hope the council appreciates me getting rid of that water for them but there is no thanks needed, all part of living in the community.

cheers

Originally Posted by DavidG

Ahhhhh. Something like this will do the job.
You will need a foot valve to keep the system primed.
Make a sump for the foot valve. Cover it in mesh then vegetation to hide it.
Bury the pipe.

Ninja suit ready

Do your homework on the ram pump before you buy it, the ones I've seen up here need a fair bit of head to work & they make a noise that sounds just like a.... ram pump.

Here is some info I dredged up on ram pumps....

The optimum length of the drive pipe is 5 to 12 times the vertical distance between the source and the pump, or 500 to 1000 times the diameter of the delivery pipe, whichever is less.

Here we go, check this one out.

A hydram pump that only requires a head of 0.5m, and yet is capable of pumping water to a height of over 200m.

The problem is, it will make a clunking noise.


And this one would be quiet but it kinda sticks out like Grunt's... does.

Ram pumps are also EXPENSIVE. $2000 +

Also very "banging" noisy.

Paul