|
| We're planning to move to electric pumping soon from natural gas. The variable speed will come handy.
We draw water from the canal, so there is no starting pressure. Currently we use the vacuum line from the engine to an old milking pail (as a watertrap) to suck the air out of the suction pipe.
Electric doesn't give you this option, but they do offer power priming units. I thought they were quite expensive, so I thought of an unorthodox solution.
Idea goes like such:
Dig a hole where the pump currently sits, such that the top of the pump intake is now below canal level. Waterproof the hole walls, add a roof. Do some plumbing to get the current
irrigation outlet inside our hole and attach it to the pump. At this point we should be able to simply turn on the pump without worrying about priming.
Notes:
We are drawing water from just before the check, so water is quite high relative to ground level.
It will probably need a sump pump for inevitable leakage/flooding.
The pit could end up being deeper than most basements.
Getting dead equipment out and new equipment in might be difficult if it cannot be carried.
Any ideas?
Something I missed?
Declarations of "Crazy!"?
EDIT: Subsurface drip is preferred. Two hour pulses are recommended for our soil. This puts a great deal of value on holding prime or auto priming.
Edited by Sontiainen 9/1/2025 14:45
| |
|
Irrigation pump priming
