Water Transfer Pump, Mains Powered

[Elderly]

We have a well in our garden ....

..... and my wife has getting on for nearly a million water hungry plants in large pots.

Can anybody recommend a mains powered pump, that will enable me extract the water from the well via hoses to the pots?

[Mr Pointy]

How deep is the well - have you got to lift the water 2m or 15?

[Elderly]

Mr Pointy said:

How deep is the well - have you got to lift the water 2m or 15?

At the moment only about 1.5 metres, but I don't know how much the well's level
may drop after/during extraction, I'm not sure how the well is fed.

Edited by Elderly on Monday 6th April 09:49

[Tye Green]

could a household shower pump be used e.g. Stuart Turner Monsoon?

[Elderly]

Tye Green said:

could a household shower pump be used e.g. Stuart Turner Monsoon?

I've just had my S T shower pump replaced in the house;
there would be three disadvantages.

The cost .

The suitability of easily attaching and detaching garden hoses.

I doubt that they are really suitable for outdoor use ?

[Steve Campbell]

Could you lower something like this but use it to fill a couple of garden water butts rather than direct to the pots. Then use the water butt for a few days. How deep is the water in the well ?
https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-400w-mains-powere...

Edited by Steve Campbell on Monday 6th April 10:10

[Mr Pointy]

Screwfix have a surprising number:
https://www.screwfix.com/c/outdoor-gardening/water...

This looks similar but is a bit more expensive:
https://www.waterpump.co.uk/t-i-p-drain-6000-36

[AndyTR]

I've had one of these for 11 years, still works well and had no issues - Kärcher SP 9.500 Dirt Submersible Dirty Water Pump

They also do higher capacity models, but this should be fine for watering.

[98elise]

Machine mart do loads. I've assumed you need one that can handle solids if its a well...

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/c/submersible-pumps-...

They also do non solids pumps.

[Elderly]

Thanks for those. A submersible pump looks promising but do they sink to the bottom of the well?

If so, what if the bottom of the well has a build up of deep sludge into which the pump sits,
or can they be 'suspended' by the outlet hose before reached the unknown depth of the well?

[Mr Pointy]

Elderly said:

Thanks for those. A submersible pump looks promising but do they sink to the bottom of the well?

If so, what if the bottom of the well has a build up of deep sludge into which the pump sits,
or can they be 'suspended' by the outlet hose before reached the unknown depth of the well?

You can dangle them on a length of rope. If the slugde is just muddy most of them will suck it up.

[Elderly]

Excellent: thanks all, now I have to decide on what watt wanted

[biggiles]

Water butt pumps are fairly good for this, and will attach easily to Hoselock garden hose.

"More proper" submersible pumps aren't designed to fit to garden hose so can be more tricky for whoever is deemed the hose fitter in your household!

[Steve Campbell]

These dirty water pumps pump pretty quickly, so wouldn’t be great to actually water the plants, just to get the water out of the well and into something above ground. I use one and it easily empties 1500 litres in about 15 minutes and over a fence of 2m.

[NDA]

Steve Campbell said:

These dirty water pumps pump pretty quickly, so wouldn t be great to actually water the plants, just to get the water out of the well and into something above ground. I use one and it easily empties 1500 litres in about 15 minutes and over a fence of 2m.

Yes, I was about to make a similar comment. I've used a few submersible pumps over the years and they're great for emptying a swimming pool or any large body of water. Not great for sprinkling petunias.

But there will be more gentle types available.

[Elderly]

NDA said:

Yes, I was about to make a similar comment. I've used a few submersible pumps over the years and they're great for emptying a swimming pool or any large body of water. Not great for sprinkling petunias.

But there will be more gentle types available.

Hmmmmmmm ........

So the dirty water submersibles will drown and uproot the poor little delicate petunias,
but the less powerful clean water types would probably clog up .

So i need a gentle dirty water pump ........ is there such a thing .

[Mammasaid]

Elderly said:

NDA said:

Yes, I was about to make a similar comment. I've used a few submersible pumps over the years and they're great for emptying a swimming pool or any large body of water. Not great for sprinkling petunias.

But there will be more gentle types available.

Hmmmmmmm ........

So the dirty water submersibles will drown and uproot the poor little delicate petunias,
but the less powerful clean water types would probably clog up .

So i need a gentle dirty water pump ........ is there such a thing .

Or a water butt (or 2). Use the pump to fill the butt(s), then use the butt to water the petunias.

Just wait until they've landed first

[98elise]

Steve Campbell said:

These dirty water pumps pump pretty quickly, so wouldn t be great to actually water the plants, just to get the water out of the well and into something above ground. I use one and it easily empties 1500 litres in about 15 minutes and over a fence of 2m.

You can get submersible pumps for ponds in a multitude of sizes/flows. These would probably be more suited to watering plants directly.

Bear in mind lift and hose length make a difference.

[Snow and Rocks]

You just need to fit a watering head or lance to the hose pipe.

I run a hose directly from the big pump that runs out private water supply at 4+ bar and there's no issues with too much pressure.

Any of those little submersible pumps will be fine.

[Mr Pointy]

Elderly said:

So the dirty water submersibles will drown and uproot the poor little delicate petunias,
but the less powerful clean water types would probably clog up .

So i need a gentle dirty water pump ........ is there such a thing .

There are a couple of low-flow pumps which are called water butt types but you can dangle them down 7m - avoiding the sludge if you can (the Gardena will handle 2.5mm lumps):

https://www.screwfix.com/p/gardena-4000-1-400w-mai...
https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-400w-mains-powere...