Will inexpensive gas engine pump work?

15 years ago

I have a pond that I'd like to use to water a small garden using a portable gas engine pump. The pumps I've been considering generally have 25-30cc engines,and pump about 25gpm., with a suction head of 20' and pump head of 80', and an inlet & outlet of 1".

The pump's location is such that it would have a suction head of 3-4', and a pump head of about 15'. I plan To split the outlet with a "Y" and run two 5/8 hoses with sprinkler heads a max. distance of 100'. The sprinklers have relatively large holes and put out a large volume of water. A 15 - 20 foot diameter for each sprinkler would be fine - even a little less would do.

These pumps are not sprinkler pumps, but do you think they might work? I called one of the pump suppliers about this but he never got back to me with an answer.

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Comments (3)

lehua49
15 years ago
Squire,

Check your pump curve. If what you state is correct. The you will experience 80'-15'=65' of Head which equates to 33 psi. You need to research your irrigation heads throw distance for this relatively low head. Look at the flow rate as well. If the system is split then flow rate is 1/2 of the total in each branch. Match the heads to use about 80% of the flow rates at 33 psi. GL JMHO Aloha
squirejohn zone4 VT
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for the response. This is a bit more technical than I thought. I'll contact a couple of more pump suppliers and see if they can provide answers.
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squirejohn zone4 VT
Original Author
15 years ago
I heard back from a couple of distributors and appartently the manufacturers of thes inexpensive pumps don't provide psi or pump curve information. One distributor said that these 1" pumps generally work okay for my intended use. I went ahead and bought one but my pond still has a foot of ice so it will be a while before I can see how it will perform.