Items TO KNOW ABOUT FOUNTAIN PUMPS

When replacing a fountain pump or picking a new 1, 1st there are some key terms to preserve in mind:

"Head": This is the maximum vertical lift of the pump. For example, a 6' head indicates the pump is rated to pump water up to 6 feet high. Note, however, that at 6 feet the pump would be offering extremely tiny water, with gallons per hour around zero. So if you want to pump, say, 200 gph at 72", you will most likely need to have about a 300-600 gallon per hour pump to do the job.

"GPH" : Gallons per hour, generally rated at diverse heights

"GPM" : Gallons per minute, usually rated at different heights

"Pump Curve" : The quantity of water volume "curved" according to numerous heights. A 500 gallon per hour pump, for instance, may well pump 500 gallons per hour at " lift, 350 gallons per hour at 24" close window of lift, and so forth. When buying a pump for the 1st time or when searching for a replacement pump, it is important that you know how numerous gallons per hour you want to pump and at what height (head).

Water Volume The total volume that you will be pumping is controlled by a couple of aspects. One particular factor is the size of the pump, needs as covered above. But you also must think about how wide your tubing will be. Tubing is measured in two methods: inside alkaline meals diameter (i.d.) and outside diameter (o.d.). Really skinny i.d. tubing will drastically reduce water flow. A lot of consumers are shocked when they discover that, after hooking up their 500 gallon per hour pump to 1/two" inside diameter tubing, they are only finding what they consider a trickle.

We had an engineer do some calculations for us to illustrate the dilemma. Using a 300 gph pump with 1/2" tubing is going to restrict your flow to 253 gallons per hour. By rising the pump to 450 gallons per hour, but still using 1/2" tubing, you will improve volume only slightly, to 264 gallons per hour! The lesson is this: When getting a pump, find out what size of tubing is supposed to go with it. One more difficulty is running the tubing too far. Long lengths of tubing generate resistance. If your pump calls for 1/2" i.d. tubing, for instance, but you are operating the tubing twenty feet from the pump, it is

a good concept to use three/four" tubing instead so as not to cut down also significantly on flow.

How much water do I require? What size of pump? This question is answered in part by whether you want a "trickle" or a roar. When you get a fountain, you will generally find a recommended flow. For waterfalls, use this as a rule of thumb: for each inch of stream width or waterfall "sheet," you will need to have to deliver 100 gallons per hour at the height you're pumping. So if you are developing a 12" wide waterfall that is 3 feet tall, you want to buy a pump that will be pumping 1200 gallons per hour at 3 feet of height. For modest ponds, whenever achievable, it is a excellent notion to recirculate the water once

an hour, a lot more typically if achievable. Therefore, if your pond is 500 gallons, attempt to purchase

a pump that will recirculate water at a rate of 500 gallons per hour. For genuinely

big ponds, this is not necessary and is far also costly.