Garden Hose Booster Pump?

[MNBobcat]

I've been googling and not found my answer.

I need to grow grass in an area a long way from the house. I was wondering if anyone has ever ran a garden hose say 150 to 200 feet and then fed that hose into a booster pump and then continued on another 100 feet or so to a yard sprinkler?

I'm thinking a pump in the middle to restore the pressure needed for the sprinkler. If you've done it, did you use a normal well pump or some kind of special booster pump?

Thanks!

 

[Lelandwelds]

A. Buy 3/4" hose and/or
B. Run PVC pipe. Put faucet on end.

Odd. I never thought about it but my hose and my cord reach about the same distance.

 

[oosik]

I have over 800 feet of 3/4" garden hose. I've run 250' to a "ka-chunk, ka-chunk" Rainbird sprinkler with no pressure problems. My house water system has a max pressure of 60 ppsi.

 

[MarkE]

I use a pump similar to this Shop Utilitech 1-HP Stainless Steel Lawn Pump at Lowes.com on my shop water faucet to wash my car since pressure was low in that location. When I tried to use a pressure washer instead it would constantly run out of feed water since it pulled harder than the water supply to that location could keep up with. It should work for your sprinkler.

 

[radios1]

with 3/4" hose you'll lose 33 PSI at 300 feet.. at 10 GPM.. not good. Friction Loss Tables the tables are correct, but the calculator for 3/4" has a bug, and won't work for that diameter.. 1" and up works fine. you really should use 1" or larger for 300 feet.. and yes, a BOOSTER pump is what would work for that small hose to bring the pressure back up..

 

[TractorGuy]

I have run 500' of 1/2" plastic sprinkler system pipe and run a single sprinkler. No noticable difference in sprinkler distance. I mounted an $8, 360 degree spinkler head on an old light tripod about 5' high.

Pain to have to keep moving but got the job done. I cut the pipe into 4 pieces and put male and female hose repair ends in it to make it more manageable.

I have a horse and a half well pump with the cut off pressure set to 60 psi and on at 40 psi. I likes me some water pressure.

 

[s219]

What might work is to get some black poly irrigation line, 1" 100psi rating, which has a pretty large diameter and dramatically lower losses. I have used that long distance. It's not too expensive.

Also, is there any notable elevation change you also need to consider? I ask because I ran 1/2" PEX to my pier several hundred feet away, but because of a 40' elevation drop I add back quite a bit of pressure. Friction losses can still throttle the flow rate somewhat, but you'd never know. If you're going in the opposite direction, uphill, then it's a different story of course.

 

[RNeumann]

with 3/4" hose you'll lose 33 PSI at 300 feet.. at 10 GPM.. not good. Friction Loss Tables the tables are correct, but the calculator for 3/4" has a bug, and won't work for that diameter.. 1" and up works fine. you really should use 1" or larger for 300 feet.. and yes, a BOOSTER pump is what would work for that small hose to bring the pressure back up..

Yep the friction loss is the key to understanding what’s going on.

The booster pump should be near the source. It doesn’t help to put it in the middle in this case- in fact it’s a hindrance that could only serve to reduce volume and ultimately pressure.

 

[MNBobcat]

RNeuman,

Good point. I forgot pumps push better than they pull. Thank you everyone for all of the suggestions!

 

[radios1]

Yep the friction loss is the key to understanding what’s going on.

The booster pump should be near the source. It doesn’t help to put it in the middle in this case- in fact it’s a hindrance that could only serve to reduce volume and ultimately pressure.

if you do it that way, you'll have to increase the pressure to 33 PSI over the 60 PSI house pressure though.. 93 PSI.. which is why tall buildings don't do it that way, they use a pump every I think it's every 10 floors, so they don't have to use 10,000 PSI pumps at the first floor..

 

[LD1]

Since you need the hose anyway....try it and then decide if you need a pump.

10gpm is alot and doubtful a sprinkler would even do half that with only one length of hose.

I have a garden 400' from my house. Outside spigots are in the well which goes from 30-50psi cut offs

Stringing 8 hoses together and watering my garden with a sprinkler or wand.....no different than when I water stuff colse to the house with only one hose attached.

Try it first. Then decide IMO

 

[Mace Canute]

I use a pump similar to this Shop Utilitech 1-HP Stainless Steel Lawn Pump at Lowes.com on my shop water faucet to wash my car since pressure was low in that location. When I tried to use a pressure washer instead it would constantly run out of feed water since it pulled harder than the water supply to that location could keep up with. It should work for your sprinkler.

Over a decade ago I talked a friend (who was just moving onto an acreage) into buying a similar one of those pumps and he's used it extensively. He has to haul his potable water and his house pressure system doesn't have much volume or pressure so by using the pump to water his lawn and trees from a dugout he both saves money and has a better watering system.

 

[RNeumann]

if you do it that way, you'll have to increase the pressure to 33 PSI over the 60 PSI house pressure though.. 93 PSI.. which is why tall buildings don't do it that way, they use a pump every I think it's every 10 floors, so they don't have to use 10,000 PSI pumps at the first floor..

The discharge is only a small part of the equation. I factored ease, voltage loss, pipe/hose construction, pump type and inlet pressure.

I assume the latter part of your comments are sarcasm as they are wildly inaccurate.

 

[radios1]

The discharge is only a small part of the equation. I factored ease, voltage loss, pipe/hose construction, pump type and inlet pressure.

I assume the latter part of your comments are sarcasm as they are wildly inaccurate.

ok, not 10,000 PSI, but a heck of a lot of pressure would need to be used to pump water from ground level to 1000 foot tall building, AND have 60 PSI at the top..

 

[LD1]

Need and additional ~437 psi just due to the weight of the water at 1000'