How to choose the perfect water pump for your garden
When it comes to gardening, water is one of the fundamental elements. A precious element that will not be able to reach where it is needed without a good irrigation system. And the key to this system is the water pump, with which to move the liquid efficiently so that it reaches every corner of your garden.
If we think of the irrigation system of a garden, a farm plot or any other space where we have planted all kinds of plant elements, whether ornamental or not, it bears a considerable resemblance to the human circulatory system. On the one hand, we have the connections in the form of hoses, which carry the water from its origin to where it is consumed, which in our analogy would be the organs of our body. And although it is true that water does not recirculate like our blood, it does also have a heart, which is key for this precious liquid to reach every corner of your garden.
The good news is that, unlike the human heart, we can choose which water pump is best for our garden. Something that depends on factors such as the frequency of irrigation, the size of the land and many other elements. But the truth is that it is worth dedicating time to the process, since a suitable pump for your specific needs guarantees a sufficient flow of water to the area to be irrigated and, in addition, will save you headaches in the future, without you having to rethink the installation later because it is not capable of covering the entire terrain adequately.
pump type
The first thing we must know is where we are going to get the water that we are going to use in the irrigation of our garden, since depending on its origin, one type of pump or another will be necessary. In the case of surface waters, those located less than 8 meters deep, the recommended option is to use a surface pump.
If the depth at which the water is found is greater than those 8 meters, then it will be necessary to have a depth pump, which has greater strength and capacity to make the water go up this higher height difference.
Both pumps are suitable for both manual and automatic or programmed irrigation and require an electrical connection, especially the deep ones, so, apart from the hydraulic connections, you will have to have a power outlet near the mounting point. If you do not have this socket, you will have to resort to gasoline models, which require fueling and greater care.
Water inlet to the pump
Once you’ve chosen the type, it’s time to take a look at how the pump is powered. In the case of surface products, this process can be through suction, when the pump absorbs the liquid from the surface, or loading, when the device is placed in the lower part of the tank. As always, we are talking about products suitable for deposits up to 8 meters deep.
If the depth is greater, then we will have to switch to submersible pumps, which always work by suction. In fact, these pumps remain floating on the surface of the water and from this point they obtain the existing liquid inside the corresponding well or cistern. Something that has the advantage of not accumulating or absorbing mud and dirt from the bottom of the well.
pump flow
One of the big questions we face is the flow rate that the pump should deliver. In this case, we will have to take out a pencil and paper and start making numbers. In general, the greater the number of elements that use water at the same time, the greater the output of water that the pump will have to generate.
This output is measured in liters of water moved per hour and on the market we find models from about 5,000 liters / hour to the most professional and advanced models, which can be around 100,000 liters. To know the exact measurement, we will have to see how much water each of the sprinklers or irrigation elements that we are going to install and use at the same time consumes per leaf. Something that you can verify directly with the specific models that you have installed or that you are willing to install.
As a general reference for calculation purposes, one of these irrigation elements usually has a consumption of about 750 litres/hour, so if you install 20 of these elements and they all work at the same time, you will need a pump that is capable of offering 15,000 liters of water per hour. In any case, let us remember that we are talking about the simultaneous use of 20, so if only half are used simultaneously, through the corresponding irrigation programming, then that quantity demanded will be only half, 7,500 litres.
Conclusions
At this point, you already have all the elements with which to know which water pump is best for your garden or, at least, what parameters you should look for in your future pump so that its behavior is adequate. However, there are different tools online that make this whole process easier. Tools that we can find on pages like Bombadeagua.es, although they are also present on other websites.
One of these is the wizard to choose a water pump. You just need to decide what you need the pump for and indicate the basic parameters of the installation you are going to carry out, many of which we have already mentioned. Once the form has been filled out, which only takes a couple of minutes, you will see the most recommended water pumps for the uses you have decided on or the technical parameters that said pump should have.
The other help that we find on the net is a wide range of water pumps, among which we have irrigation pumps, but where you can also find dirty water pumps, submersible pumps or well pumps, among others. So if you want to see what the current market offers, you can also find it, either by the type of specific pump or by the application that it has.
