Run water pump off long electrical run?

[MNBobcat]

I know there are charts to figure out the amperage loss on long electrical runs. I'm just curious if anyone has run a, for example, 900 foot long electrical line to a water pump? I'm thinking of pulling water from the river (it's allowed) to irrigate my yard and there is no power down by the river. I know I can size the water pump and water line to work just curious on the electrical side of things. Anyone done that? I assume it would be 220.

I'd prefer not to have to have a gas pump that would require going down to the river to start.

 

[TnAndy]

I have a 1,000 run down to my gate where it powers two 1/2hp motors. Have a 2300' run to the top of my mountain where it powers radio gear to bring internet into our valley.

So, yeah, 900' is certainly do-able......just size your wire according to the load, factoring enough to compensate for voltage drop, and go.

 

[grsthegreat]

Yes, possible. Need to know hp of pumps, 120 or 240 and starting and or running amps if noted on pump plate. Than pretty easy to figure. I doit all the time

 

[Dave M7040]

Where does your domestic water come from? Municipal supply or a well.

I have done many calculations for property owners who wanted to save $ by pumping their own lake water.

They could not pump water for anywhere close to the low cost of municipal water.

What type and size of pump are you planning to use. Submersible pumps do not like being in shallow water.

How much water and at what pressure?

Franklin electric is a major supplier of motors to the pump industry.

Dave M7040

 

[Diggin It]

^^ Yeah, even if the water's free, the electric or gasoline isn't. I gave up watering the lawn years ago. It only gets what falls from the sky. I collect some from gutters to use on plants and new trees.

 

[Diggin It]

Years back, I was reading up on ways to pull water uphill. Among all the conventional ways, I stumbled on a couple of articles that claimed you could effectively siphon quantities of water uphill over considerable distances. I never pursued it and have since forgotten the name of the process, but it seems like somebody else must be aware of it.

 

[EddieWalker]

The bigger question is how much rise is there from where the pump will be sucking the water from, and to where it will be discharging the water? The amount of lift, in feet, is all that matters with pumps. Decided on the size of a pump that you need to get the amount of water that you need where you will be watering, and then you can figure out what sized wire you will need to power it.

If you have a lot of lift, you will need a lot of power, and that can be a very expensive extension cord!!!

 

[LouNY]

If you want to skimp on wire size and find that the voltage drop is too much, you can add in an auto transformer,
or buck and boost setup.
However depending on the starting load a small 220 volt pump can handle a considerable voltage drop on startup,
specially if unloaded at the startup. If you want to run 40-60# pressure switch and the pump is having to start against the 40# load it will be a bit rougher on it.

 

[aczlan]

Yes, possible. Need to know hp of pumps, 120 or 240 and starting and or running amps if noted on pump plate. Than pretty easy to figure. I doit all the time

Yep. If you don't have the pumps yet, you need to know head (vertical lift in feet), pressure required by the irrigation system at the top and flow (in gallons per minute) required by the irrigation system.

You may be better off running a gas pump, or possibly a pair of transformers to step the voltage up from 240V to 480V at the top and then back down at the other end.

Aaron Z

 

[Ken]

Yep. If you don't have the pumps yet, you need to know head (vertical lift in feet), pressure required by the irrigation system at the top and flow (in gallons per minute) required by the irrigation system.

You may be better off running a gas pump, or possibly a pair of transformers to step the voltage up from 240V to 480V at the top and then back down at the other end.

Aaron Z

Consider Solar and 12volt dc pump .Have rancher friend that did this after thieves kept stealing his water pumps for cattle

 

[grsthegreat]

Consider Solar and 12volt dc pump .Have rancher friend that did this after thieves kept stealing his water pumps for cattle

Thats ok for filling a trough, but it wont pump water 900 feet

 

[/pine]

The bigger question is how much rise is there from where the pump will be sucking the water from, and to where it will be discharging the water? The amount of lift, in feet, is all that matters with pumps. Decided on the size of a pump that you need to get the amount of water that you need where you will be watering, and then you can figure out what sized wire you will need to power it.

If you have a lot of lift, you will need a lot of power, and that can be a very expensive extension cord!!!

:thumbsup:
This was my first thought and is the crux of the issue...!

 

[MNBobcat]

The elevation is about a 30 foot - 40 foot rise and I can do the math to calculate the PSI loss for pumping uphill and size the pump accordingly. I can also go with a larger water line to reduce friction over the distance. I can add a boost pump near where we actually need to irrigate so that we can increase the water pressure.

We are on a well but the river water is probably better (may have some nutrients) for watering the grass? We are going to irrigate a lot more area than the average home owner and my other thought was to not put the wear and tear on our well pump which is at the bottom of our deep well -- and expensive and difficult to replace. Sounds like it won't be an issue to power the pump as long as I go with a heavy enough gauge wire. That is good to hear!

 

[/pine]

What is the elevation difference between the river and the source of power??

 

[grsthegreat]

The elevation is about a 30 foot - 40 foot rise and I can do the math to calculate the PSI loss for pumping uphill and size the pump accordingly. I can also go with a larger water line to reduce friction over the distance. I can add a boost pump near where we actually need to irrigate so that we can increase the water pressure.

We are on a well but the river water is probably better (may have some nutrients) for watering the grass? We are going to irrigate a lot more area than the average home owner and my other thought was to not put the wear and tear on our well pump which is at the bottom of our deep well -- and expensive and difficult to replace. Sounds like it won't be an issue to power the pump as long as I go with a heavy enough gauge wire. That is good to hear!

ive even run a 2/2/2/4 aluminum urd direct burial wire to run a 30 amp 240 volt circuit over 1,200 feet with no issues. And 2/2/2/4 urd is real cheap compared to copper #4.

 

[Fuddy1952]

When I was a kid (50s) Grandad next door pumped water from creek uphill using a hydraulic ram. I'm thinking that's what the one question was. It used no electricity, the flowing water was enough power to operate the ram.
I'm sure it was 1000ft, my guess was rise was 60ft at least. He ran spring water into a large tank in his attic. From there gravity fed down to bathroom toilets and to outdoor spigots.
Drinking water was supplied separately from a well.

 

[grsthegreat]

That would be cool. Never seen something like that.

 

[i7win7]

ram pumps - YouTube

Many ram pump videos online. First one I saw was on Stoney Ridge Farmer's channel.

 

[Valveman]

There are submersible pumps that can easily pump the distance and pressure you need. It is no different than having a 1000' deep water well. We do it all the time. Just need to know the horsepower and voltage to figure wire size. And no matter if you are getting water from a pond or a deep well the cycling on and off has always been the problem. Stop the cycling and you won't wear out your deep well pump. But if you still want water from the pond you need to stop the cycling from that pump as well.

How a Pressure Tank Works and why you need a Cycle Stop Valve on Vimeo

 

[Industrial Toys]

If it was me, I might go to an electrical surplus place and get a couple of transformers. Bump it up and back down from 600Volts.