I need to get water up to a garden that is 100' away

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Mainer81

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I am planning on planting a large garden that is 100~ feet away from the house spigot. My hose will reach, however, the water pressure is too low. What type of pump can I add to the house hose spigot to add more pressure?

If it matters, I am on a well system with a pressure tank in the house that supplies the house spigot/bib. Someone had mentioned to look to see if it would cavitate the house system.
 
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You could get a 50 gallon rain barrel, and fill it with water from the house spigot as needed.
Then get a small a/c powered utility pump to pump that water through your garden hose.
You just need a few fittings to adapt it all together.
 
I'd rather pull from the house; rain barrels will not be filled quickly enough from the rain nor do I have power out in the field.
 
You could get a 50 gallon rain barrel, and fill it with water from the house spigot as needed.
Then get a small a/c powered utility pump to pump that water through your garden hose.
You just need a few fittings to adapt it all together.


Good idea jeff. here is another
raise the barrel up off the ground about 5' and let it water the plants using gravity
all you really need for a garden is a drip system
 
I'd rather pull from the house; rain barrels will not be filled quickly enough from the rain nor do I have power out in the field.
You can fill the barrel with your wimpy house spigot, not rain.
And refill as needed as it drains down.
The utility pump would be right at the barrel, right at the house spigot which should be close to house power somewhere.
 
Pressure is great for the garden near the home. I dragged the 5/8 100' house out to test the pressure and it barley squirts. Is there a problem/concern connecting a water transfer pump from the house spigot?
 
A little out of the box... along with rain barrel,12 volt transfer pump, small solar panel to keep auto battery (in plastic case) charged. I did one for a customers polo horse trailer (to cool the horses down after playing). Worked like a champ, and had good pressure. You could also incorporate a "fill-valve" into the rain barrel so it shuts off when full so you don't have to stand there for an hour to fill the barrel. I used one on the trailer.
And NO, my name's not Rube Goldberg !!
 
The garden must be at a higher elevation than the house, a 5/8 hose should not reduce the flow/pressure that much in a 100 feet. But with elevation change, you will loose .44 psi for every foot of rise. It's possible to put a booster pump in series, I have done it, but hopefully someone can recommend a pump. It should probably have it's own pressure control switch and a small pressure tank, to prevent deadheading.
 
There's about a 20' elevational difference upwards from the house.

I will have a Premeiere1 20watt solar panel for a couple of fences, not sure though if I'd want to power a pump on it? Would that work well? I could place a rain barrel I suppose but this is going to be a huge garden.
 
I think it would take a large solar panel to power a pump, even a 12 volt. To power a 120V pump you would need a very large solar panel, a battery and an inverter, all costing quite a bit. The most logical thing to do in my mind is have the pump by the house, plugged into 120V, and pumps push water much better than sucking it.
 
The barrel is just a holding tank for the pump.
It can be refilling from house water pressure as it goes down, and you say house pressure is very strong, at the house.
As House Doc cleverly advised, a fill valve (like for a watering trough) could keep the barrel always topped up.
 
Just an update, I hooked up about 100' of Gilmour Flexogen Hose 5/8" hose, and the pressure was actually pretty decent. Not sure what the problem was before. I re-measured, I need about 200' of hose to get to the garden.
 
Check back after running full hose length, otherwise this is all for nothing.
Including extra hose length to reach far ends of garden.
 
I think it would take a large solar panel to power a pump, even a 12 volt. To power a 120V pump you would need a very large solar panel, a battery and an inverter, all costing quite a bit. The most logical thing to do in my mind is have the pump by the house, plugged into 120V, and pumps push water much better than sucking it.
You just use a small solar panel to recharge an auto battery. Not run the pump.
 
Before you spend money on a booster pump are you sure your well has adequate water? The reason you had such poor flow/pressure when you first tested it was maybe you had pumped the well dry.
 
You don't need another pump. You well pump can supply as much pressure as you need. It is probably just cycling on/off between 40 and 60 while you are using water, which delivers dismal pressure at the pump, and even worse at the end of a long hose. Turn the pressure switch up to 50/70 to make up for the 20' of elevation. Then add a Cycle Stop Valve to hold the pressure at a constant 60-65 PSI which will deliver much better pressure than when the pump is going on and off at 40/60 or even 50/70. Cycling the pump is nearly always the problem with a well or pump system. Stop the cycling and you will have much better pressure and your pump system will last much longer.

 

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